P: How to fix Photoshop Scratch Disks Full Error?

[samarthsrivastav]

I am running Photoshop CC on my MacBook Air with macOS Sierra. Every time I attempt to open Photoshop through any means, the following message appears: "Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full", and Photoshop does not open. I tried clearing space from my Mac in general including several GB worth of apps and removing several cache files, but nothing seems to work. I also tried holding down the command and option keys to reveal the Scratch Disk Preferences, and it lets me select the Startup and MacIntosh HD. Again, nothing worked. Anyone know how to fix this message, and/or clear scratch disk space?

{Moderator note: Edited the thread title PS-65057}

[AIMEE6]

I tried the Shift+Alt+Ctrl and it didnt work, the other way didnt work either, I tried it many times, the scratch disk message just keep popping up.

[nicolici]

I have the same problem... and every single thread is giving the same solution :'( I've deleted my settings and it still doesnt work at all... 

[D Fosse]

Well, how much free disk space do you have?

[nicolici]

I have 3 partitions. I cleared them until they all reached at least 99 GB free. For some reason now the C is full again 

[nicolici]

And I switched them in PS settings so the program has space. Last time I only assigned one disk, that was almost empty and with 100 GB free. After I started trying to use PS again and the error showed up, I checked the space that is available in that disk without closing the program and it appears full. 

[stevenr1984221]

Thanks! I have the Dell G7 and got that message. I started PS, waited for it to start to initialize then pressed CTRL and ALT. The pop up came up and I changed my scratch disk to my D drive. All was good after that! 

[Red Cullen]

Here is more feedback on trying to get PhotoShop 7 passed the NO SCRATCH AVAILABLE

problem- here i will only add to what I reported earlier,

1) Someone suggested running as administrator and use Cntl-Alt to re-define the scratch unit -

    sorry, but that didn't work = same ERROR + termination.

2)Next, on my older PC I have a 2 TB external traditional hard drive (not SSD) - I copied

    PhotoShop 7 to it - and it runs fine = no ERROR message - it goes directly to

    execution.

So 2 TB is NOT THE problem - everything seems to point to SSD - is there

something special about SSD formatting or storage that would make it slways

appesar full to PhotoShop 7? 

[Red Cullen]

This seems like BLACK MAGIC, but it worked - I copied the entire PhotoShop 7

directory to a tiny USB storage stick - I then run it from there as administrator

and used Cntl-Alt to change the scratch device from Source to E:\ - and it ran =

no SCRATCH FILES FULL ERROR - as a test I edited a few pictues, stored

them and exited the USB storagec stick executable.

Next I tried to it run from where it is installed on my internal 2 TB SSD - this

time as a normal users (no administrator) and no Ctnl-Alt - just click-click on

icon on my desktop and IT RUNS = PROBLEM SOLVED.

HOW and WHY??? I don't care - it works - seems like if you can get it running

once from any acceptable device (my tiny USB storage stick worked) and once

you changr the scratch device (Cnlt-Alt), and get it running you (or at least I)

can run as I normally would.

[D Fosse]

This isn't about where Photoshop is installed. It's about the scratch disk, which is something else. Photoshop 7.0 cannot see drives bigger than 1TB, such a disk will effectively be invisible, and so Photoshop will report no scratch disk available.

If Photoshop is installed on a bigger drive, but the scratch disk is put on a drive or partition smaller than 1TB, that will work fine.

The scratch disk is Photoshop's working memory. Photoshop moves around so much data that RAM will always be insufficient no matter how much you have, so it writes temporary files to disk. RAM acts like a fast access cache to the scratch disk's main memory.

[JimDirt]

I have read some posts about this , but the answer seems to be to partition my hard drive  , I don't want it partitioned , its the entire reason i got a 2tb hard drive , was to have 1 large drive , , some replies also said to redirect the Scratch Disk to another location/partition/other hard drive , the issue with that is how can i redirect the Scratch Disk/program if i can't access it ?? ,  it opens/loads , but then the error message pops up and i can't do anything except click "OK" which closes Photoshop  as long as the message is there i can't click on anything else in Photoshop, it worked fine on my 1tb hard drive in Win 10 , which is still installed  , , do i take the desktop shortcut from my Win 10 1tb hard drive and use it on my 2tb hard drive desktop ???  any helpful info , that does not want mt to partition my drive or upgrade to Photoshop 10 , would be appreciated ....Thanks ...Jim

[Jeff Arola]

The reason for the scratch disk error is photoshop 7 and older versions of photoshop as well can't see free

disk space over 1 TB and thus think the disk is full and generate the scratch disk full message.

You can hold down the Ctrl+Alt keys just after starting the launch of ps 7 to get the Scratch Disk Preferences

where you can point to another smaller partition or drive if you have one.

[JimDirt]

I just tried what you said , and i chose the other drive that it works on ,(i went from C drive to E drive for "First" Startup) , and it gave the exact same error  , but yet if i were to boot to that drive Photoshop works perfect

Any other ideas ??

EDIT EDIT:

OK , i had to restart my PC to finish some Windows updates  , and after restarting , i tried to set the Scratch Disk location  , and it seemed to work this time , i reset it to E Drive , instead of C , and Photoshop opened up without the error and is usable now   , the main issue i have with this is that this is a "work around" not really a "fix" for the error/issue

How about a Update/Patch for those of us with PS7 (or those of us that can't afford to "upgrade" to a newer version of Photoshop) m, that would allow PS7 to recognize a larger drive (say up to 4tb for example) , so we can use it without this frustration , Photoshop should have been remedied of this "known" issue , long ago

But thanks to your help i am now able to use it again  , but i would hope for a real fix to be applied as this is a known and frustrating issue

Thanks ...Jim

I am not posting this as the "solution" since its more of a workaround than a solution/fix  , but thank you for at least getting it working again for me till Adobe applies a actual "update/fix" for the issue ....

[Jeff Arola]

Adobe did issue a "fix" in photoshop cs, the version after photoshop 7.

So any version of photoshop cs and newer doesn't have a problem with large hard drives and unfortunately adobe will never offer a patch or update for ps 7.

Maybe you can rethink having a bigger hard drive and use a smaller say 256 gb ssd for your boot drive and install all your

programs on that and then have another one or two 1 TB drives for storage of pictures, documents videos and other stuff.

[JimDirt]

As mentioned , the main reason i went to the larger drive instead of having multiple smaller drives was for the "convenience" of having ALL my programs and files on 1 drive (that and i was over 3/4 full on the 1tb drive , so i needed more space) ( i made a duplicate/mirror of my old drive , but had to reinstall some games and programs to make them work correctly PS7 was one of them , then when trying it , i got the error which made no sense , since it worked on the old drive)

Like i also mentioned , some of us can no longer afford a "newer" version , so we have to keep what we have , the very reason i drive a 1990 Toyota truck , because i can't afford to pay (even on payments) for a newer one , as much as i would like to be driving a newer model truck , or have the latest versions of programs i use  , its simply not a realistic ability in my current/long term financial state  , and companies need to recognize this , that not everyone "can" upgrade , weather they want to or not

But again , thank you for the help !!

[gener7]

If you have not already, there is a minor update to 7.

Adobe - Photoshop : For Windows : Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1 update

[JimDirt]

I just tried the Update , and it says it can't find Photoshop 7.0  , its pointing to the correct location , but i think that now that the shortcut points to the other drive it won't find it  , does this mean i have to update the one that is on my other hard drive ??/

[gener7]

If you can update, do so. But if it's not working, then something I can't see is going wrong, so best to leaves things as they are.

Gene

[Jeff Arola]

That error that the ps 7 7.0.1 update can't find ps 7 usually means your serial number has been blacklisted., but you can try the other suggestions as explained below.

Photoshop 7.0.1 updater cannot find Photoshop file

[JimDirt]

Well this is just getting more and more frustrating ...., and i don't want to have to un-install/reinstall again  , it seems like this is all i do since switching to Windows 10  , it seems to have issues with everything i install  , even my games are a pain to get to work/install , and some of them are some of the latest games on the market

Again , thanks for the help  , i guess since Adobe has no plans to update PS7 so it easier for those that still use it  , and at least for now i can actually use it again ... i think i am done trying things  , i have spent the majority of the day on this  , its almost not worth the effort when a "fix" can't be obtained anyway , and the "workaround" made it function again ... so i am calling it quits on this one .... Again , Thanks for the help ...

[Test Screen Name]

There will never be updates to Photoshop 7 or the six versions that follow (up to CS6). You are fortunate it still runs in the latest Windows, Mac users lost the use of it years ago. People with new monitors and cameras often also need to upgrade.

System changes are are a major cause of paid upgrades. It isn't just for new features. Running old apps is fine, I do plenty of it, but it needs major caution in other upgrades. You can't just keep mixing old and new without breaking some eggs. Or something like that. Switching to Windows 10 may have been a very expensive free upgrade.

[whenevertobe]

Thanks Jim, you've expressed alot of my frustration in these few short paragraphs. Subtle use of quotations around "upgrade", that was a good one.

The only thing that worked for me was to create a separate partition on the harddrive and now photoshop runs.

I was having this problem somewhat before I bought a new harddrive:  I was trying to save work on an external harddrive and photoshop was giving me an error that the drive was full, which is ridiculous because it was a 2T. Now I bought a new harddrive, and they forced me to buy windows 10, which came with all the frustrations you wrote above and then some, and then photoshop wouldn't load at all, because this drive was also 2T.

It's good to see others are bothered by what the masses just accept. I guess misery loves company.

[René Svendsen]

Hi

In Win10:

Go to Discmanager and create a virtual Hard drive on your 2 TB C: disc, I created one with 1 GB space, got the name E:

Start Photoshop with CTRL ALT

Change scratch disk to E:

Best regards René

Worked here.

[Red Cullen]

I bought PhotoShop 7 many years ago and I have used it without any problems

on a series of PC/Windows systems, including Windows 10 - but now it will not

run on my new PC, that has a 2 TB SSD internal and 2 TB SDD external drives =

I get the same message as many users: NO SCRATCH FILE SPACE..

I couldn't patition my internal drive, but I managed to partition my external

drive into E: 0.5 TB and F: 1.5 TB - I un-installed PhotoShop 7 from my internsl

C: drive, and re-instslled it on my external F: 0.5 TB drive. But I still get the

same ERROR message, even after trying Cntl-Alt to direct it to use E:, and

Cntl-Alt-Shift to delete the PREPERENCE file. 

Bottom Line: Installing on a smaller (almost empty) partition DOES NOT

SOLVE MY PROBLEM - anybody have any other ideas???

PLEASE respond to my e.mail: RedCullen1@comcast.net

[whenevertobe]

Thanks, worked for me.

[Jeff Arola]

To make your choice of Scratch disk stick you might need to run photoshop 7 as an Administrator and then set the

Scratch Disk choice.

Right click on the ps 7 shortcut and click Run as Administrator or right click, select More and the click Run as Administrator.