P: Photoshop won't open because scratch disks are full

[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}

[Benjamin Root]

How much free space does your Macbook have? Do you have an external drive you could plug in and set as scratch temporarily?

Best practice is to keep your system drive(s) as empty as possible, using additional drives (external especially in the case of portable computers) for storage.

[samarthsrivastav]

Around 6.25 GB. I'll look around for an external storage to use, thank you

[gener7]

It should be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Photoshop won't list it as a scratch disk.

[Benjamin Root]

Yeah, 6.25 GB isn’t enough. I’d imagine your entire system would run faster with more space.

[michaelp84049931]

I have a brand new HP laptop and while attempting to open my Adobe Photoshop 7.0 I get the error that the scratch disks are full. Can you help me fix this please?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[rileyl28584999]

PHOTOSHOP WON"T OPEN! YOU CAN"T DO THAT IF YOU CAN"T OPEN IT!

[Dzine Geek]

Exactly!!!! and a MAC does not have ALT!!!!

[Trojan5F98]

I have a mac. If you still haven't fixed this problem, listen to what I'm about to say as I had the same problem. Clear up your storage, about ~10 GB should be optimum at the least.

You are getting the "Could not initialise" message from within the app. Although it isn't opening, the app is still running. So as you attempt to open it, hold down the Command and Option key simultaneously. This should prompt the menu that others are mentioning.

[Paul5CEE]

...yes it does?

[Michelle_Donaldson_UC]

I just had the same problem and found this on the Adobe photoshop support website (Optimize performance Photoshop CC😞

Note:

If Photoshop cannot launch because the scratch disk is full, hold down the Cmd + Opt keys (Mac) or Ctrl + Alt keys (Windows) on launch to set a new scratch disk.

I was able to reset the scratch disk and so far Photoshop is launching fine. Hope this helps someone!

[lmoren]

But Photoshop won't open with 8GB of free space? So I can't change it.

[Guest]

Hi

Try holding down Ctrl+ALT for Windows/ Option+Command key for Mac OS and keep them held down and start Photoshop, you should see this

Learn more about setting up Scratch Disks.

[brettm43820649]

THANK U ❤️

[rw46245409]

Thanks!   Worked like a charm.  boot disk is small 110gb , but storage is 6 TB.

[jonathans8167397]

CAN SOME ONE GIVE THIS MAN A BEER!! THANKS!

[darkavenuefilm]

Thank you for this! Worked for me, but have to do it by opening Photoshop from the menu rather than desktop shortcut (which I did at first).

[mirandak45946045]

What if this doesn't work? I'm having the same issues, I had it set as my external hard-drive and somehow it didn't remember. I'm pushing CTRL+ALT and nothing. I get the spinning rainbow wheel of death.

SOS

[Cherylet]

yeah for this forum...worked like a charm!!

[pattanak95879118]

Thanks! help me a lot

[TImoney]

Thank you!!

[Raxsoller]

This really helps. Thanks

[erikm55088390]

I had to search WAY too long for this! This should be more obvious, more easy to find or know somehow. I had the issue that the scratch disk was no longer there, and in order to change the scratch disk you have to launch it. Finding this simple key combination earlier would have saved me about 2 hours of googling! Thank you!

[Zylaris]

Hello,

I just have had a weird problem :

I always do banners that I sent to the printer and today I had a problem. I could work on the file (doc; 742.8Mo/931.2Mo) the file is 267x208cm at 150 dpi.

I could work no problem but when saving as PDF it said that there wasn't enough space. I could get around it so saved and rebooted the iMac.

On the start, I opened Photoshop and it said that the scratch disks were full thus impossible to star Photoshop.

I went to the appel logo and clicked "about this Mac/storage." it says that my HD has has 231 Go free out of 1.03 To.

The document I work on is stored in an external drive  of 3To (518 free Go).

I have 32 Go of memory DDR4 and allowed photoshop to use 90% if needed.

I'm under Catalina.

When I chose the scratch drive it tells me that my HD - Data has only 26 Go free space when I empied a lot of space from videos etc.

Now when I go in Disk Utilities it says that my Fusion Drive has Mac-HD and MacHD - Data. Mac HD is almost empy and Mac HD - Data is almost full with only 26 Go of free space. How is that possible?

I just tried to uninstall via the Creative Cloud App but it give me an error to unstall #105

Any clues?

[Zylaris]

Here is what I found as I solved it. My drop box needed to be renewed but the credit card was expired thus I had everything being copied into my HDD filling up my computer. I updated my credit card and had access to the whole drop box thus had again space. 

hope it helps!