P: Photoshop won't stop looking at external drives

[Scott-name-already-in-use]

I keep two external hard drives connected to my computer at all times. I've never used them as scratch disks and have never set them as such in Photoshop's settings.

Ever since updating to Photoshop Beta 27.1.0, when I keep Photoshop open while doing other things, then come back to it after 10 minutes or so, Photoshop freezes for about 10 seconds and I can hear my external drives spinning up. It seems that Photoshop is checking them for something before it lets me do anything and it's very annoying.

[CShubert]

Hey @Scott-name-already-in-use could you share your setup and sysinfo that we can share with the team?

Are you on the latest version? Adobe Photoshop Version: 27.2.0 20251109.m.3288 7a0357a arm64 (beta, PublicBeta)

Launch Photoshop beta, and select Help >System Info...and copy/paste the text in a reply.  

Thanks,

Cory - Photoshop Product Manager

[Adam2642937546yg]

Until we have a proper fix for this, you can drop the attached file into your Photoshop 2026 (Beta) settings folder and re-launch ths app. It'll disable what's spinning up your drives

[Scott-name-already-in-use]

.

[Scott-name-already-in-use]

@Adam2642937546yg thank you!

[Scott-name-already-in-use]

@CShubert I posted what you asked here but did not receive acknowledgement. 

How can I email this to the correct technical team?

[CShubert]

Hi @Scott-name-already-in-use you can send me the file(s): shubert@adobe.com and I will forward to the team.

Thanks,

Cory - Photoshop Product Manager

[Mark38904556sxnp]

The same thing started happening for me after updating Photoshop BETA, too. Super frustrating and breaking my workflow. I downloaded the user config file provided, and that seems to do the trick. Looking at it, all it's doing is telling Photoshop not to check ALL connected drives for Scratch Disc usage. 🤦🏻‍:male_sign: