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kevinpnb
Known Participant
August 4, 2020
Question

Photoshop Scratch Disk Full

  • August 4, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 548 views

I'm at my wit's end.  I've rarely had issues with this, but Photoshop CC 2020 (v 21.2) is for some reason having an issue with scratch disks.  I've got plenty of free gigabytes across my internal hard drive and my externals, but it's telling me I can't save files because the "scratch disk is full," and an Adobe force-quit interface comes up and crashes everything.  Is anyone else having this problem??

I'm on a 2011 imac running Catalina.

 

Thanks

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3 replies

Legend
August 4, 2020

Leave the error message on screen, and before you click OK check the free space. How much then (actual numbers, not "lots", please) 

jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 4, 2020

"plenty of free gigabytes"

 

How much exactly?

 

If PS thinks you don't have enough room on your scratch disk, you have to either free up more space or set up another drive that is dedicated as a scratch disk. See this Help file:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/scratch-disks-preferences.html

~ Jane

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 4, 2020

Sounds like you're running out of primary hard disk space.

 

Please ensure your computer exceeds the minimum system requirements to run Creative Cloud + all other apps you intend to use.   Keep in mind, Catalina alone takes up 4GB of RAM and 12.5 GB of HD storage.   You also need additional RAM and physical storage space for all your other apps, hardware and utilities. 
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html

 

Go to Photoshop Preferences > Scratch Disk.  How much free Scratch Disk space do you have?

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
kevinpnb
kevinpnbAuthor
Known Participant
August 4, 2020

Yes it does, but that's just it.  I've got hundreds of gigabytes free.  It appears to be an issue of not accessing the scratch disks I've told it to.

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 4, 2020

If not on the primary HD, what kind of external storage are you using for scratch disk and how is it formatted -- exFAT, NTFS, other...?

 

Does Catalina recognize your storage drive?

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert