Scratch disk full despite having 6GB of free space

[Liam27426595x4w5]

I keep getting a message saying all my scratch disks are full even though I can clearly see I have 6GB free in space on my Macintosh HD scratch disk from within the scratch disk section of Photoshop.

I have no idea how to resolve this given that I clearly have space.

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Ged_Traynor · Accepted solution]

Hi

With only 6GB of free space you're going to run into issues on an OS level never mind Photoshop, depending on the images you're working on you need a minimum of 20GB + of free space for the scratch disk. 100GB up to 1TB would be a better option

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206996

[TheDigitalDog]

Also see:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scratch-disks-preferences.html
And for that error you get:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-scratch-disk-is-full.html

[Liam27426595x4w5]

Okay, thanks. I have way more than this on an external hard drive, so is there a way I can add this as a scratch disk? It doesn't come up as an option on Photoshop even when it's connected to my laptop.

[Test Screen Name]

6GB is NOTHING. Your disk is catastrophically full, and the Mac performance is going to suffer very badly from being so full, even before Photoshop, which can easily need 50GB free or more, depending on the size and complexity of your work.

[Liam27426595x4w5]

Okay, thanks. I have way more than this on an external harddrive, so is there a way I can add this as a scratch disk? It doesn't come up as an option on Photoshop even when it's connected to my laptop.

[NB, colourmanagement net]

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-scratch-disk-is-full.html

Specify appropriate drives for scratch disk

By default, Photoshop uses your internal OS drive as the scratch disk. If you have more than one drive or partition, make sure to select the fastest drives with maximum free space as your scratch disk(s). You can also resolve a 'scratch disk full' condition by selecting additional drives for use as scratch disks.

Hold down the Cmd + Option keys (macOS) or Ctrl + Alt keys (Windows) during app launch and set a new scratch disk for your system under the Scratch Disk Preferences dialog that opens.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[Liam27426595x4w5]

I've followed this, but I don't get any option to select my external hard drive when it boots up. It only shows my macbook HD. Any idea why?

[Kenneth Kawamoto]

Does your Photoshop have Full Disk Access (under System Preference > Security & Privacy > Privacy)?

[Lumigraphics]

First thing to do is quit Photoshop and move a bunch of files to your external hard drive. Be sure you have backups, you may need to buy a second drive for that. Once you have cleared space (I'd look for at least 50GB free minimum) then you can allocate scratch disk space for Photoshop.