Scratch disks full error when saving

[Naomi5DAF]

Hi,

The 'scratch disks are full error' has been occuring intermittently for about 6 months and occuring when I try to save a file.

I am working on large documents 15,000x15000 (643M), one at a time.

I have checked the cache in Photoshop. Deleted temp files and cleaned up my files. I currently have 257GB available space on hard-drive (see pic). System data is using around 256GB, when Photoshop is open. When Photoshop is closed it drops down to 5.6GB.

I am using macOS Monterey version 12.4, apple M1, 16GB memory.

I have called AppleCare to check that it wasn’t a Mac issue. We ran first aid on the drives. I have nothing else running at the time, only Photoshop. The employee at Mac/Applecare thought that the problem could be an error in the Adobe app reading the information (storage) incorrectly from Mac hence causing the problem of the app thinking that there is no space.?

Thanks, Naomi

[Bojan Živković]

I am Windows guy, by the way. Regarding this statement:

"The employee at Mac/Applecare thought that the problem could be an error in the Adobe app reading the information (storage) incorrectly from Mac hence causing the problem of the app thinking that there is no space.?"

You are running exactly same copy as anyone else. What is version of Photoshop you are running so others with Mac can check?

Have you tried to reset preferences what can solve strange problems sometimes Preferences in Photoshop (adobe.com)

[Naomi5DAF]

Hi,

It's the latest version of Photoshop 23.4.1.

I feel like I may have done this a while ago. I'll watch the video and try reset and get back to you. Thanks

[Naomi5DAF]

I have reset my photoshop preferences and worked on a file for a bit in Photoshop to see what sort of space it's now using. The application/system data is still using 100-175GB of space.

Is this a normal amount of space for it to be using?

[davescm]

Depending on how many layers are in your document and what tools you are using then you can easily use up scratch disk space, particularly with large documents.

What space does it use when you open Photoshop (before opening any documents) ?

Dave

[Naomi5DAF]

It's using 122GB with nothing open.

[davescm]

That does not sound normal. 

First check that it is the scratch disk file that is causing the problem. Close Photoshop and re-open it with no document open. Go to the disk you have specified for scratch use and in the root folder, i.e. the top level folder on that disk, look for a file called Photoshoptempxxxxxxxxx where the xxx s may be a string of characters. How big is that file?

Dave

[Naomi5DAF]

Thanks Dave. I don't understand where to go exactly. I'm in Photoshop>Preferences>Scratch Disk.. not sure where to go from here. The start up disk selected is my Mac's HD. Thanks!

[D Fosse]

Just so we know what we're discussing, how much free space does it report here (in PS prefs > scratch disks)?

If Photoshop does not shut down properly, orphaned scrath files can be left behind. If you run a disk cleanup from the OS, they should be removed. If not, you need to look for them and delete them manually.

If you keep scratch at the default location on the system drive, it will be in your system TEMP folder. I don't do Mac, so someone else will have to tell you where that is.

If you specify a different drive, it will be at the root, not in any sub-folder, but right there when you click to open the drive directory. It will be called "Photoshop Temp <long string of numbers>".

[Naomi5DAF]

In Photoshop > Pref > Scratch Disks there is 152.24GB stated for Macintosh HD start-up.

I will try and find the TEMP folder but i'm pretty sure I have already done this in the past.

[Naomi5DAF]

Nothing comes up when I search 'Photoshop Temp' but when I search '/tmp' I get this window of folders (attached). Would this be it?

And do you know if installing/buying an application like 'CleanMyMac' will do the job for me? As this is all a little bit beyond what I'm comfortable doing.

[davescm]

They are not scratch disk files. If you watch the same folder and open Photoshop do you then see a file named Photoshopxxxxxxxxxx ?

Dave

[Naomi5DAF]

ok, so I kept the /tmp folder open and then opened Photoshop. They only extra folder that appeared is this one 'lilo.955'  (see attached)

[D Fosse]

Yes, that sounds like orphaned scratch files. That can happen if the application doesn't shut down properly.

They can just be deleted with Photoshop closed.

[Naomi5DAF]

Hi D Fosse,

I'm a bit confused, was your above message you sent on the 6th July in relation to the message I sent on the 10 July? Should I delete the file I found (see attached).

Could you please also let me know how to properly uninstall Photoshop and re-install as I would like to try that as well. Thanks

[D Fosse]

You're right, I still can't predict 4 days into the future... 😉 That is an old and early post.

You're not the only one to get confused about post order...this is the threaded view, where posts appear according to which "reply" button you press. There is a "linear view" in the settings that show all posts in chronological order. Frankly I dislike the threaded view and would prefer linear, just to make it easy to keep track of who said what and when, but since threaded is the default that's what most people will see anyway.

I can't make any sense of that screenshot. Whatever "lilo 955" is, it has nothing to do with Photoshop. A Photoshop scratch file is still called Photoshop Temp xxxxxxxxx, and it's not inside any folder.

I'm not sure uninstalling will solve anything. According to the information in your original post, you're working with large files and you just don't have enough free disk space to work with such big files. You need to clean out your system drive, and/or get more space, more drives, bigger drives.

The standard troubleshooting first step is to reset preferences. This restores the application to clean, out-of-the-box factory state. Start there (but first save out anything you want to keep, like actions and so on).

[Lumigraphics]

You really don't have enough RAM for what you are doing. I'd get an external Thunderbolt SSD which should be a huge help, as it will give you much more free space.

[Naomi5DAF]

So change the scratch disk preferrences in photoshop to an external SSD? I have one. I'll have to figure out how to partition it (not sure if I can do that with files in it already).

I have 248GB flash storage free on this mac, is that not enough to run big files in Photoshop? I only just purchased this Mac late last year, everyone I spoke to told me that the specs I have were more than enough to run large psd documents. Oh dear! I guess I should have asked in here.

[Lumigraphics]

You don't need to partition anything. And its just that you have huge files, those are going to strain any system and use a HUGE amount of both RAM and scratch disk space.

[D Fosse]

248 GB is not nearly enough for these file sizes! I'd never do this with less than 1 TB.

As Lumigraphic says, don't partition. There's no purpose.

[Lumigraphics]

Each pixel has eight bits of color information times three colors (for RGB.) That's 15,000 x 15,000 x 8 x 3 bits, divide by 8 for bytes. That comes out to 675,000,000 bytes and usually Photoshop wants three times the file size for scratch disk space minimum. So you are looking at maybe 2 terabytes of scratch drive use. Twice this for 16-bit per pixel files. Add in the space that macOS needs...

[davescm]

675,000,000 x 3 = 2,025,000,000 = 1.89GB not TB.

The rest I agree with, when working on large files you need large scratch space.

Dave

[D Fosse]

...but you also need to factor in the number of history states, plus any smart object overhead if applicable, plus other images open and their history states.

In any case, 248 GB is too little for these file sizes. That will quickly bang the head in the ceiling.

[davescm]

I agree. I had no disagreement with the principles, just a bit pedantic on the maths 🙂

Dave

[Naomi5DAF]

Ok, so roughly how much space would I need available on my external hard-drive I'm a little confused? 2 terrabytes?

I mentioned partitioning the SD drive as I'm using it for time-machine (file backups) and storing files.

Thanks guys!