Playback in After Effects does not function unless composition is duplicated

[mf99k]

I know this is a somewhat common issue, as I've encountered it before on occasion and found multiple threads before regarding similar issues. Usually when the issue pops up, I just restart After Effects and the issue goes away, but now it is permanent. 

The issue: When trying to playback, the hand tool is selected and/or the timeline skips backwards a frame. composition does not play.

What I've tried:
restarting after effects
changing audio remapping
updating after effects

restarting the computer
purging media/disc cache
reinstalling GPU drivers

The one that worked: duplicating the composition
I was able to find a (hopefully permanent) fix for this, but I would really appreciate it if Adobe could look into this issue further and find a way to prevent it, as I know others have had similar issues

Edit: this only worked for about 20 minutes before the problem reappeared, and trying to duplicate the layer again did not fix it this time

[Mylenium]

Have you actually checked your physical drive space? This very much sounds like the relevant cache locations get blocked/ fill up/ get corrupted and AE can only generate a cache to a fresh location, which may indicate an issue with your storage device and its driver...

Mylenium

[mf99k]

do you know where I can find the directory for the cache so I can clear it properly? 
Edit: found the directory, not sure how to empty the files manually without messing something up though

[nishu_kush]

Hi mf99k,

You can remove the media cache from the After Effects preferences > Media & Disk Cache. If clearing the cache doesn't help, try changing its location and see if that brings any change.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Nishu

[mf99k]

I've done both of those options already, but I will try to create a new directory and see if that helps

[mf99k]

This worked temporarily, no issues for about 5 hours but now the problem is back

[nishu_kush]

Would you mind sharing your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM) and a screenshot of preferences > Media & Disk Cache? Also, could you check After Effects in a new user account with admin rights to see if it's an issue with the user account?

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Nishu