Skip to main content
saibalg
saibalg
Participating Frequently
July 19, 2023
Answered

Full backup fails to start- error message for System space

  • July 19, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 655 views

Hello,

 

I am running Photoshop Elements 2020 on  desktop Windows PC having built-in memory of 16GB & free memory of 7GB, The catalog is stored on the desktop PC Drive D  & its size is 793MB. The catalog cache size is 307 MB.  The D Drive has 135MB free space. All media files are stored on an external drive.

Every time I start the Full backup & during the process of identifying the files, the error message aopears to the effect that the System does not have anough space. Is 135MB of free space on Drive D  not adequate? Does backup process need free space equivalent to Catalog Cache size? I am unable to delete any files on Drive D to create more space!

I have been trying to find a solution quite desperately, but to no avail. Would greatly appreciate any suggestions in this regard. Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer MichelBParis

Hi, @Peru Bob 

Practically all complaints for lack of space are not for memory but for disk space to store the backup. Of course, that can also happen but it would help if you show a screenshot of the error message.

You also state that you can't access the settings of the scratch disk:  it's in your preferences, section performance. In your case, if you did not set your preferences, that will be in your SSD system Drive C : nothing unusual, but that can trigger a low system memory error as already mentioned.

A screenshot of your preferences (performance) and of your system info help panel may help, as well as the last step of the backup process where the needed disk space is indicated.

Is your backup folder location on the external drive on a conventional drive or a NAS?

The space on D : is not meaningful. Can you give us the size of your catalog?  It's the total size of the catalog folder , not only the main database catalog.pseXXdb or the thumbnail cache:  thumbs5.db.

The final destination should not be the root drive of the external drive;  it should be a newfolder.

 

1 reply

Peru Bob
Community Expert
Peru BobCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 19, 2023
quote

Hello,

 

I am running Photoshop Elements 2020 on  desktop Windows PC having built-in memory of 16GB & free memory of 7GB,


By @saibalg

 

If you mean disk space, and not memory (RAM), then you need to get a C drive with a lot more space than that.

saibalg
saibalgAuthor
Participating Frequently
July 20, 2023

Hi Peru,

Many thanks for your quick response.
Actually I do have a C drive on my Windows 11 desktop PC, with adequate free space. It is a 500 GB SSD drive having 333 GB free. I assume this is where Scratch Disks are  written? 
In PSE 2020, the Edit/ Preferences dialog box does not display any option for Scratch Disk management. So I am not sure which disk is accessed for Scratch Disks.
Mentioned earlier that my PSE Catalog is on Drive D on my PC and this drive has 135 GB free. All Media files are on external 2TB drive having 550 GB free. 
Tried Optimizing the Catalog through the Files/Manage Catalog option before running Full Backup. But error message about System space continues. Since the error message pops up during the "Preparing for backup" stage, and even before the backup destination drive  dialog box comes up, I assume that the constraint is in either C drive or D drive. The installed RAM on my PC is 16 GB & I believe this is adequate. 
  Greatly appreciate any further suggestions for resolving this issue.
Thanks

 

saibalg
saibalgAuthor
Participating Frequently
July 25, 2023

Request any expert suggestions  for resolving this matter. Thanks

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices