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Troubleshoot scratch disk full errors in Photoshop

  1. Photoshop User Guide
  2. Introduction to Photoshop
    1. Dream it. Make it.
    2. What's new in Photoshop
    3. Edit your first photo
    4. Create documents
    5. Photoshop | Common Questions
    6. Photoshop system requirements
    7. Get to know Photoshop
    8. Keep Photoshop up to date
  3. Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
    1. Work with Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
    2. Work with Photoshop files in InDesign
    3. Substance 3D Materials for Photoshop
    4. Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
  4. Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
    1. Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
    2. Get to know the workspace
    3. System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
    4. Create, open, and export documents
    5. Add photos
    6. Work with layers
    7. Draw and paint with brushes
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    9. Retouch your composites
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    11. Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
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    15. Work with Type layers
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    17. Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
    18. Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
    19. Manage app settings
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    22. Edit your image size
    23. Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
    24. Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
    25. Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
    26. Work with Camera Raw files
    27. Create and work with Smart Objects
    28. Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
    29. Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
    30. Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
    31. Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
    32. Content aware fill for iPad
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    1. Common questions
    2. System requirements
    3. Keyboard shortcuts
    4. Supported file types
    5. Introduction to the workspace
    6. Open and work with cloud documents
    7. Generative AI features
    8. Basic concepts of editing
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    13. Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
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    23. Reference Image
  6. Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
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    3. Reference Image
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    1. Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
    2. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
    3. Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
    4. Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
    5. Replace background with Generate background
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    7. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
    8. Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
    9. Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
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    1. Content credentials in Photoshop
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  9. Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
    1. Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
    3. Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
    4. Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
    5. Unable to create or save a cloud document
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  10. Workspace
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    15. Process versions in Camera Raw
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    6. Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
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  23. Color Management
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  24. Web, screen, and app design
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    9. Troubleshoot printing problems | Photoshop
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  28. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues 
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    3. Optimize Photoshop performance
    4. Basic troubleshooting
    5. Troubleshoot crash or freeze
    6. Troubleshoot program errors
    7. Troubleshoot scratch disk full errors
    8. Troubleshoot GPU and graphics driver issues
    9. Find missing tools
    10. Photoshop 3D | Common questions around discontinued features

Learn how to quickly resolve scratch disk full error in Photoshop.

If you encounter a 'Scratch disk full' error, it often means that your hard drive (or drives) used as scratch disk is (are) running out of storage space required to perform a task.

Try out the latest features and enhancements.

   Read the full article to learn more or see how to fix the scratch disk full error in the quick tutorial below.

Issue: 'scratch disks are full' error

Error, "Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full"
Error - Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full

Solution

To troubleshoot scratch disk full errors, do one or more actions listed below:

Free up additional disk space

Note:

It's recommended to have 50 GB of free space on your OS hard drive while working with Photoshop. Additional free space may be required based on the file type you're working with. For details, see Photoshop's system requirements.

Free up additional hard drive space by deleting unnecessary files from the scratch disk, or by moving your files off the scratch disk to another storage location.

For example, if your assigned scratch disk on your Windows machine is drive C:\, you can simply clean up and delete the files you no longer need. You can also move your files to a new location on your machine, let's say drive D:\. This will clear some space on your drive C:\ and you can continue using it as your scratch disk.

Similarly, if your assigned scratch disk on your macOS machine is Macintosh HD, you can simply clean up and delete the files you no longer need. You can also move your files to an external drive, if required.

For more information on how to free up space on your machines, check out:

macOS

Windows: Free up drive space in Windows 10

Specify appropriate drives for scratch disk

By default, Photoshop uses your internal OS drive as the scratch disk. If you have more than one drive or partition, make sure to select the fastest drives with maximum free space as your scratch disk(s). You can also resolve a 'scratch disk full' condition by selecting additional drives for use as scratch disks.

Hold down the Cmd + Option keys (macOS) or Ctrl + Alt keys (Windows) during app launch and set a new scratch disk for your system under the Scratch Disk Preferences dialog that opens.

Specify appropriate drive for scratch disk
Specify appropriate drive for scratch disk

Note:

Supported drive formats for Scratch Disks

  • macOS: APFS, macOS extended (Journaled)
  • Windows: NTFS, exFAT, FAT32

To learn more, see how to Adjust preferences in Photoshop.

Set correct units while creating or resizing your document

Sometimes you might get the 'scratch disk full' error due to discrepancies in the document units. To avoid such instances, set correct units while creating or resizing your document Also, check your unit settings while you're cropping your documents or adjusting the canvas size.

Optimize the space Photoshop uses

  • Disable auto-recovery saving: You can reduce the size of Photoshop's temporary file (scratch) at the risk of having no auto-recovery by disabling the 'Automatically Save Recovery Information' option: Edit (Win) / Photoshop (Mac) > Preferences > File Handling > Automatically Save Recovery Information Every [N Minutes].
  • Limit history states: Photoshop can save up to 1,000 history states; the default number is 50. To reduce that number, go to the Performance preference dialog. In the History & Cache section, set the the number of History States to a lower value.

To learn more about how to fine-tune Photoshop features for optimized performance, see Optimize Photoshop Performance.

Reset Photoshop preferences

On rare occasions when Photoshop or the system crashes, Photoshop’s preference file can get corrupted and this can affect Photoshop’s handling of scratch disks. Resetting Photoshop’s preferences and then reconfiguring the scratch disk preferences may help resolve 'scratch disk full' errors.

To learn more, see Reset preferences in Photoshop.

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