Photoshop scratch disk location customization

[MrChristo]

I just need some clarification... when selecting a scratch drive in photoshop's preferences, can you not choose a folder location (e.g. D:\ScratchFolder\)? Or is my only option to use the root directory? 

[Akash Sharma]

Hi there,

You cannot specify a folder or sub-folder to save scratch data for Photoshop. You can only choose a drive to set up as the scratch disk drive on your computer. 

The main reason of not allocating a specific folder while setting up the scratch disk drive is because scratch files go into invisible OS-specified folders, except for non-boot volumes on Windows, at the root directory of the drive. When a non-boot drive is used as a scratch disk, the temporary files are placed in the drive’s root directory.

For more details, see https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-photoshop-cc-performance.html#scratch_disks

Thanks,

Akash

[MrChristo]

Thats what I suspected.There are a couple problems with this. 

I use a separate drive for both storage and scratch to keep the OS and file storage seperated (this allows me to deal with computer issues without having to worry about files). The storage drive gets backed up on the fly. I can exclude folders and file types by extension. This makes both of those options problematic. The file isn't in a folder and doesn't have an extention so I can't tell it to not back up if that drive is being monitored for file changes. I'd prefer it not get backed up all the time. Illustrator is a little easier to deal with as it creates it's own folder - but then doesn't clean up after itself on close adding to the clutter of my filing system. Selecting a scratch location for other programs within the adobe suite seems standard, why not here? 

[Guest]

You could create a partition on the D drive for the scratch disk

[MrChristo]

That's what I've done in the past but have run into issues with allocating too much (cuts into storage space) or too little (scratch disks full). I just moved away from that to make more efficient use of my drive. Ideally a shared pool of space is the the best idea. All i need to do is be able to tell photoshop and illustrator where, specifically, to put it's stuff. 

[Guest]

Don't you have any spare sata connections on the motherboard to install extra storage, I have a 7 year old PC with 4 sata connections, one connected to a 500GB SSD for OS and applications, another connected to a 256GB SSD for the scratch disk and the other two have 2 * 4TB HDD drives, one for storage and the other to backup the storage

FYI, I wouldn't get your hopes up about Adobe implementing feature request, they're not exactly known for it.

[MrChristo]

haha...  its true... and sad, but it's my only option. I get ya though. I have plenty of open sata, but I have 2 nvme pcie ssds which I was hoping to make use of for their speed/bandwidth across all my adobe products.

After effects, Premiere Pro, Audition, and Lightroom all allow specific selection. Not sure why illustrator and photoshop gotta be so stubborn. 

[MrChristo · Accepted solution]

I think the solution is a feature request. 

[MrChristo · Accepted solution]

Edits have been turned off so I'm ammending my solution here. 

Choosing a custom location is not possible. A feature/feedback request has been submitted for photoshop if anyone else agrees and would like to upvote it: 
https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/photoshop/scratch-disk-location-customization/5f8899d76...