Skip to main content
Participant
December 4, 2024
Answered

Scratch Disks Constantly full

  • December 4, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 595 views

I just got a new PC. It has 64gbs of Ram and 4tbs or SSD Hard Drive space. I have partitioned 2 50GB partitions to use as scratch disks. I have set t to use all available RAM which is around 52gbs I work at 4096 x 4096  Pixels always. I use the same size every time it is pixels not inches. I rarely have more than 10 layers sometimes as many as 20. I have scoured this forum and others to figure out why this keeps happening and I cannot find a solution.

 

After working on an image for a while the scratch disk is full. I purge them and I can do one action like hue/Sat or bright/contrast before I get a scratch disk is full warning. I have to purge between every action I take. My old PC had half the RAM and a much smaller and slower scratch disk and I never had this issue. It had the last version of Photoshop installed not the newest update. I don't know what the problem is but I Cannot work like this. When I exit photoshop there are 3 files 2 of them 16gb one almost 10gbs left on my scratch disk partition they are always there. I delete them and the minute I reopen photoshop they return and cannot be deleted as long as photoshop is open. Even with no files open.

 

This has never been an issue on the other PC with the same settings. I don't know what to do I cannot get any work done when I can't even save a file because of this issue. Even after using purge all these files remain on the disk with NO IMAGE OPEN.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer D Fosse

Partitioning is not a good idea. It will only reduce speed and efficiency. And 2 x 50 GB is not nearly enough anyway! My general advice for any normal work scenario is 250-500 GB.

 

The scratch disk is not a Photoshop setting - it's real, physical disk space. That message is real. When you get that message, you need to free up more space. That's all there is to it.

 

The scratch file contains all history states for all open documents, plus overhead for advanced functions like smart objects, some AI functions and so on. If you must work with limited scratch space, the very first thing you need to do is reduce the number of history states.

 

And as Jeff says, never set memory allocation to max. That will choke your whole system. Dial it down to 65-70 %.

5 replies

Participant
December 4, 2024

I just don't understand how this was never an issue on the other PC which had half the ram and a 50GB Scratch disk and no secondary scratch disk. I could have 5 or 6 4kx4k PSDs open with 25 history states in each of them and never once get a disk full error. But I will allocate more space to the scratch disks and I will set ram to 75% Thank you.

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
December 4, 2024

Partitioning is not a good idea. It will only reduce speed and efficiency. And 2 x 50 GB is not nearly enough anyway! My general advice for any normal work scenario is 250-500 GB.

 

The scratch disk is not a Photoshop setting - it's real, physical disk space. That message is real. When you get that message, you need to free up more space. That's all there is to it.

 

The scratch file contains all history states for all open documents, plus overhead for advanced functions like smart objects, some AI functions and so on. If you must work with limited scratch space, the very first thing you need to do is reduce the number of history states.

 

And as Jeff says, never set memory allocation to max. That will choke your whole system. Dial it down to 65-70 %.

Participant
December 4, 2024

Well I don't want it to use the entire SSD. This has never been an issue before why is it now?

Jeff Arola
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 4, 2024

You don't need to partition the ssd for scratch disks.

 

Just let Photoshop use the whole ssd for scratch and will be faster besides.

 

Also you should only let Photoshop use from 70 to 80% of the total system ram.

Participant
December 4, 2024

I forgot to say this is Windows 11 other pc with no issues is on Windows 10 still