Photoshop 2020 - Scratch disks full but I have 100GB available - macOS Catalina

[sjb0788]

I started getting a message saying my scratch disks are full. This left me unable to save or even open Photoshop after I quit it. I managed to purge my disks and history etc which usually would have done the trick for me. Then I switched my scratch disk over to my external drive. But I'm still confused why I can't set it back to my main drive which has currently 103 GB free!

I'm on an iMac, 10.15.2 Catalina

Other specs:

3.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5

40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Radeon Pro 575 4 GB

Thoughts?

I feel like I've had endless issues (with both Adobe and Wacom) with the Catalina update.

{Thread title edited by moderator}

[nikunj.m]

Hi there,

We are sorry about the experience with Photoshop due to the scratch disk error. Would you mind telling us the size of the file you are working with and if the file has multiple layers?

Please go to the "System Preferences" of your Mac, then "Security and Privacy", then select the "Privacy" tab. Once there, select "Accessibility" from the list on the left and add Photoshop to the list. Please add the Wacom drivers to the Accessibility list as well. Also, grant permissions to Photoshop under "Full disk access". Once done, please restart the computer to check if that helps.

If you still face issues, please reset the preferences of Photoshop using the steps mentioned here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#restore_preferences

Please backup your actions, brushes, etc. before you reset the preferences. Please check: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

Regards,

Nikunj

[ginal36608217]

It would really help if you'd tell us where "Full disk access" is, because it's definitely not on the Accessibility pane your post directed us to.. Please don't assume that everybody just instinctively knows where permissions are set on a Mac.

[Test Screen Name]

gina, are you actually running macOS Catalina (10.15)?

[nikunj.m]

Hi there, 

The steps shared were for sjb0788 as he is running macOS Catalina and he is getting the error inspite of having almost 100GB free on the main drive of his computer.

Would you mind sharing the operating system of the computer you are using and check how much free space you have on the main drive of your computer? Also, what are the dimensions and resolution of the document you are working with? You can check: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scratch-disks-preferences.html

Regards,

Nikunj

[sjb0788]

Hi Nikunj, very sorry for the late reply. For some reason I didn't get an email alert about this response until today.

To answer some of your questions: I'm not sure of the exact file size I was working with at the time but I'm working with large files right now, nearly 4k and around 2GB some of which have have up to 6 sec of animation at 30fps, so yes, many layers.

As for the Privacy tab, Photoshop 2020 is already in there. When I try to add Photoshop 2019 which is the version I'm actually using (thought i had been using 2020 but I can't keep up tbh, I feel like I'm installing a new version of PS every other month) it won't add show that it's been added.

Anyway I'm still not comfortable with the scratch disk I currently have set up and would rather it just be my computer's hard drive rather than my external that I just use for auto backup, but I can't risk messing around with settings and it eating up hours of my work day like it did last week and potentially just not working at all. I'll get back on this after my deadline and update you here if it worked. I know Catalina is at the heart of the issue, not really Adobe, but as a professional the constant updates (from both Mac and Adobe) and bugs that follow are beyond frustrating when I just need things to work like they used to.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, those files would be humongous once opened... isn't it something more tailored for After Effects, that has a memory management tailored for animations?

[sjb0788]

Yes they are quite large 😕 It's a cel animation project (over footage), so no I can't do it in AE unfortunately. Do you think the scratch disk error is solely due to the fact that the files are so big?

[andreawags1234]

Im on a new pc and also dont see how to increase or chage scratch disk. when i go to preferencesit is set to c and not other choices.Im stuck and use psd everyday!

[Test Screen Name]

Andrea, "dont see how to increase or chage scratch disk. when i go to preferencesit is set to c and not other choices."

1. What other disks do you have available? How are they connected?

2. Please show a screen shot of your Scratch Disk preferences. (If you need tips on getting the screen shot, please let us know).

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, if you are getting the scratch disk full error when cropping, make sure to have the correct unit. 1920x1080 inches can be a lot of pixels if working in 300DPI...

[sjb0788]

Hi there, thanks for the reply - no it wasn't during cropping and the issue wouldn't even let me save or re-open Photoshop, so I believe it was beyond that.

[PECourtejoie]

Yes, I understand, I still post it as it can be useful to other users in the case.

[samk66028136]

Any solutions found since this post? It really is unbelievable that such a pervasive problem that stops so many designers dead in their tracks at the worst possible times, compromising professional credibility in many cases I'm sure, has been allowed to go unaddressed for so long. Adobe and Apple are really failing their users here.

[Test Screen Name]

Well, 100GB is next to nothing. When this problem happens the disk is actually filling up. The causes usually fall into one of these three

* people who either don't know how to look at free space, or don't understand the scratch disk is just their disk, ot don't realise just how much is needed, or think they have a lot, often because the computer is new. (We can help find out, though it often comes back to "your new computer isn't up to the job").

* people who accidentally use the wrong units for documents, as mentioned.

* some kinds of smart object end up being ridiculously large

In no case that I can remember has there been an actual fault. Designers stopped in their tracks need to get on top of their disk space.

[davescm]

"Adobe and Apple are really failing their users here."

I agree but probably not in the way you expect. The published minimum system requirements make no mention of the scratch disk space required to run Photoshop. On opening PS on my system (which has 64GB RAM) , without a single image file opened, Photoshop will reserve 5GB scratch, it is quite common for tens of GBs of space to be used and occasionally the scratch file will run into 100s of GB. That is not a problem as I have plenty of free scratch space.

So the only "failing" from Adobe is a failing to tell users in those system requirements that they should have a disk with many GB of free space to use as scratch space, particularly if they wish to work with large files.

Dave