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}

[Rikki5E5C]

the new one. I had enough of this. I have deleted everything on my
computer, got 3 other drives on it, and its still pop back up . I'm done. I
asked for help on this issue 4 times. It was one person that helped me a
few nights back. but it started right back off. I'm sick of being told the
same crap that I already down. Its just time to get rid of photoshop.

Raquel L. DuBois

[Christina5D24]

I'm having this same issue and PS won't let me change my scratch disk. I hold down "CMD and OPT" at launch. I get the notification below, but I can't "uncheck" the box nor add a new drive for scratch space.

[juanbriasco]

For those who hasn't solved the problem try this!
1) Go to Mac icon on the upper left corner

2) Click on About this Mac > Storage > Manage > Documents

3) Click on "Incompatible Apps" or something like that (I have it in Spanish)

4) Delete every file shown there. Most are from Adobe.

5) Now try to open Photoshop ad it must be solved.

For me it worked.

😄

[Summer5CD2]

So what do I do when that thing pops up

[UWLES]

I am having the issue where it says I can't open up photoshop because of the scratch disks - but when I hold down CTRL + ALT this is all I get - so I can't even reset it.  

[deanned28105396]

I had this as well - and the only way I could reset it was to uninstall the program and reinstall, and when I first opened it, I first plugged in an external hard drive and then hold down CTRL + ALT and I could select it.....

[stefanies95327490]

Photoshop keeps giving me the message "scratch disk full". The program will open, but it doesn't allow me to make any edits. I have searched and searched all over the web for a solution. I searched for temporary files to delete them, but I couldn't find any on my computer. I purged 'all'. I have about 90 gb of free space on my computer, but in the past I had about 20 gb of free space and photoshop still worked so I don't think that is the problem. I only have one scratch disk location so I can't just change scratch disks.

Does anyone have any advice? Am I just totally missing something?

Thanks!

[Guest]

Hi

What operating system and Photoshop versions do you have, is it just one document that's causing the issue or all documents

Have you try resetting Photoshop preferences

To restore preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut: Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (Mac OS) as you start Photoshop. You are prompted to delete the current settings. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Photoshop

Also take a look here

How to Fix Photoshop Scratch Disk Full Errors

If all that fails try using the Adobe cleaner tool

Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

[stefanies95327490]

This helped, thank you!

[deirdrew78276016]

Hi I am having the exact same problem. I've done what you said to do but my file is quite large as it's for a banner.

Any other suggestions

[pengcognito]

(Mojave on macbook pro with 4tb drive) I have a terabyte free on my scratch drive, and I was getting the error with two files open, one an envelope at 300 dpi and the other a 5x7 image at 300 dpi. One just opened and the other just created and pasted into. I'm thinking that really ought to fit in a terabyte.

I have not gotten this error before updating to CC 2019, and I usually work with many really big (4000x3000) multiple layer files. I make a photo cartoon and frequently have 20-30 files open while assembling the art for it. This is new.

"Reset your preferences" is just a throw-some-chicken-entrails-at-it answer intended to make the "solution" so painful (having to re-setup your preferences every time you start the app) that you give up and stop bothering tech support. But this is a subscription serveice now. Those kind of answers are not good enough.

[Jo_Naughton]

Hi, I tried the above commands (Option+Command+Shift) and got this message:

So I don't get the option to "reset preferences on quit".

Can you tell me if I should "delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings File?"

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Jo

[victorias6529157]

I have the same problem but I closed Photoshop and now It won't open again because of that error. How do I empty my scratch disk if I cannot open photoshop?

[angelas24914665]

I can't open Photoshop either! Just keep getting this "scratch disk full" message. I then have to force quit Photoshop and can't open it again.

[lauradbrown]

PS won't even start

[Twisty Magee]

Mine won't start either...

[elizabetht35469515]

Since this last update PS won't even start because of the error. My temp folder in Appdata doesn't have any PS files in it now, and the ALT+CTRL at splash screen doesn't work either.

Support​. please help.

[MicahBurke]

Had the same issue. Opening with Control/Option and changing the disk didn't help.  I finally uninstalled PS completely removing prefs and reinstalled it. This seemed to get it to work.

[NightDaemon]

my scratch disk is full, but I can't close photoshop until I save what I have. The thing is, I've done a fair amount and I'm not sure how much the autosave will help me or if it will fix my issue

[Per Berntsen]

I'm not sure if this will work while Photoshop is running, but if you know which drive is your scratch disk, you can move a few GB to a different drive. I don't think Auto save will be of any help, I think that's designed for crashes.

[Bix Vid]

Yeah I have a question what if you can't get the program to even finish loading? So you can't change the preferences if the program won't load!...guess what pal you can't get here from here! Are you all even cognizant of the fact your relying on a community to answer your tech questions? My god it is totally up to Adobe to figure out that go figure people are using lager hard drives thanks to 4K, 9k, 18k (will it ever stop) video files that require massive amounts of storage!!! As a community I say the buck stops with Adobe and spend some of our harrd erned dineros to keep up with the technology! Not figuring out partion workarounds......What? For me I'm thinking of loading up my Photoshop 7 to get the work I need to get done....done! I've been using Adobe products for over probably 25 -30 years, when they really were an industry leader. But now they are relying on community bailouts to do their R&D. Well as a paying customer I say SCREW THAT! Just one mans opinion here ....Mine!

Jack LoPinto 

[René Svendsen]

Hi

Photoshop 7 In Win10:

Problem with Photoshop 7 on a disc > 1 TB

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:

Worked here.

Best regards René

[Russ_Peters]

Thank you very much for this.  I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why I couldn't start PS while I had plenty of space all over.  This fixed my issue perfectly.

Russ Peters

[Astri Numinis]

I've found several discussions on this but most have been for mac instead of windows and most are unanswered. I have a 128GB surface pro 3 with a 128GB micro SD card. Recently, I've been getting the pop-up that says my scratch disk is full, so I need to set up another one. However, my SD card isn't showing up as an option to use. Is there any possible way that I format my SD card to where I can use it as a scratch disk? Or is there anything I can do in photoshop to pick up the SD card?

[gener7]

It has to be formatted to the OS  HFS+ for Mac/NTFS for Windows. However I'm not sure Photoshop can "see" an SD card slot, so try a SD to USB adapter if Photoshop doesn't list it in your scratch options.