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W
W J P
New Participant
October 30, 2017
Answered

There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?

  • October 30, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 22338 views

I can not open my PSD file

It is about 180MB

Never had a problem and then all of a sudden "There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead?"

Help What do I do!?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Akash Sharma

Hi Gatostreet,

Please refer this discussion There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead? and let us know if that helps.

Thanks,

Akash

4 replies

howlfei
howlfei
New Participant
October 5, 2024

I know this was posted yers ago, but for anyone who may still run into this issue upon opening a file. Something to try that may fix it is changing the scratch disk settings to use a different drive e.g. C/Drive to D/Drive etc. It can pop up with an error reading a layer if the scratch disk is full.
Can change this by going to:
Edit/ Preferences/ Scratch Disk
This will show which disk it is starting up on and which ones are avalable for it to also pull from.

D Fosse
D Fosse
Community Expert
October 5, 2024

@howlfei 

Low scratch disk space will just stop Photoshop in its tracks. It won't start corrupting files - it just stops working altogether.

 

If you get scratch disk full messages on the system drive, you have much bigger problems than Photoshop! Then you're so low on space that your whole machine may freeze up at any moment.

F
fadia80301274
New Participant
March 16, 2022

Hi Weston, try freeing up storage space and closing the PSD files you are not using.

Basically, the file needs enough RAM to read the layers. 

    D
    David Marcoot
    New Participant
    December 31, 2019

    This isn't a solution to a problem you should fix. Every time this question gets asked an Adobe support person directs us to your answer as if that is actually of any use. Fix the damn problem and issue an apology for thousand of hours of labor your customers have LOST.

      davescm
      davescm
      Community Expert
      December 31, 2019

      In all the years I've used Photoshop daily (which is many) I've never had a corrupt PSD - not even once. Maybe I've been lucky, but I also believe in creating my own luck. I always save to a local hard drive - never to a network or removable drive. Files can be copied to the network later if required. This is standard advice from Adobe.   https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/kb/networks-removable-media-photoshop.html

       

      I also save incrementally (Filename001.psd, Filename002.psd etc). This is mainly to protect against errors on my part but would equally protect against a corrupt file if it happened.

      I really do feel for those with corrupt files, who have lost work, but the impact should be no worse than opening the previous incremental file.

       

      Dave

      Akash Sharma
      Akash SharmaCorrect answer
      Brainiac
      November 1, 2017

      Hi Gatostreet,

      Please refer this discussion There was a problem reading the layer data. Read the composite data instead? and let us know if that helps.

      Thanks,

      Akash

      R
      rafalk23813620
      New Participant
      August 11, 2021

      clean cache and try again

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