Can't open Photoshop 2021 - scratch disks full, where are temp files?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 8, 2020
4 replies
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HELP! I recently installed the latest version of Photoshop (2021) and can no longer even open the application. When I try to, I receive a pop-up error message (attached) that scratch disks are full. I have read many, many articles on this forum and elsewhere about this issue, but can't seem to resolve it. I am aware of the "Purge" setting, but can't even get into PS to do that. I am also aware of the need to delete any extra temporary files, but have not had any success in locating them. I found this online and tried it, to no avail:

"It's in C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp. To access that, you can type %LocalAppData%\Temp in the Start > Run field. Look for "Photoshop Temp" file list."

What am I missing here? Can you help me locate the temp files or provide any other advice. I have urgent project needs for a client that require PS, so any help would be appreciated. Please explain any directions very simply, as I'm not technically savvy on the back end. Thanks.

Problem or error

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Conrad_C

Community Expert

I have to agree with the others...5GB is not enough free space on a Mac or Windows startup volume. Even if you are not running Photoshop, 5GB is almost no space left.

On my Macs, I try to keep over 100GB free on the startup volume so that macOS and all applications have room for the many large cache, swap, and temporary files that they may need to create during a session. If I ever discover I only have 5GB free on my startup volume, I consider that an emergency that must be dealt with (by moving files to another volume to free up space), or macOS might not let me get the day’s work done.

Another consideration: Macs come with a very fast and expensive solid state drive (SSD) inside, but running an SSD almost full is a really good way to slow it down and not get the speed you paid so much for.

K

kg01915Author

Inspiring

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I'm a bit embarrassed that I hadn't realized the connection to this storage issue. I've cleared off a bunch of stuff and Photoshop seems to be working fine now. But it's definitely time for an upgrade!

JJMack

Community Expert

How much free space is available for use on your scratch disk. IMO to be able to use photoshop and batch Actions you should have 80+GB of free space. Just starting Photoshop on my PC. Photoshop uses 7GB and a documents has yet to be opened.

JJMack

K

kg01915Author

Inspiring

davescm and JJMack—Thank you for this feedback about space. I do have a major issue with space on this computer. It's an older Mac (early 2015), running and older OS (Mojave) and, as a designer, I have a ton of files. I'll be upgrading soon, but need to work with what I have for now. Will freeing up general space on the HD increase scratch disk space as well?

davescm

Community Expert

Yes it's all the same space

Dave

davescm

Community Expert

The scratch file is in the root drive of the disk(s) you specify for scratch use. The scratch file is deleted when Photoshop closes. You do need to make sure there is plenty of free space on the disk you specify, 5GB is not enough. Here, Photoshop uses more than 5GB scratch space just to open and can easily run up to 100GB when processing large files.

With only 5GB left you are going to hit more problems than Photoshop. Soon your operating system will freeze as it too uses free temporary space to run.

Dave