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thedavegray
Participant
October 20, 2021
Answered

Scratch disk full but PS crashes when starting and holding down ctrl+alt

  • October 20, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 274 views

Hello

My scratch disk is currently C:\ and I have very little space. I therefore need to move my scratch disk (getting full errors) however PS crashes when I start it and hold down ctrl+alt. 

 

Also, how long do I hold this keys down during application start? 

 

Windows 10 professional. 

 

Thanks for any advice. 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer davescm

You shouldn't need to hold then for long. Just press Ctrl+Alt and keep them down while you click on the Photoshop icon. Keep them pressed and after a couple of seconds you should see the scratch disk preference dialogue. You can then release them.

 

Dave

3 replies

davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 20, 2021

You shouldn't need to hold then for long. Just press Ctrl+Alt and keep them down while you click on the Photoshop icon. Keep them pressed and after a couple of seconds you should see the scratch disk preference dialogue. You can then release them.

 

Dave

    T
    thedavegrayAuthor
    Participant
    October 23, 2021

    Thanks 

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 20, 2021

    If you try to reset the preferences in Photoshop at startup you have to press ctrl + alt + shift.

    See here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

     

    Sorry, I'm wrong.

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 20, 2021

    Most of all you need to clear out space on your C drive!

     

    When you get that message, disk space is so low that you will soon have much bigger problems than Photoshop. Your whole machine may freeze up. Consider this an immediate warning.

     

    Once you've done that, you need to add extra disk space, either an additional internal drive, or an external.

     

    Scratch disk is not a Photoshop setting - it's real physical disk space. If you don't have enough, Photoshop can't operate.

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