One day, you may receive the startup disk full alert. Besides, when a warning of Your disk is almost full pops up, it also means that there is not enough space on your Mac. It is equal to startup disk full. Likewise, you need to remove some files to free up disk space on your Mac computer. Open Disk Utility, then select your Mac’s startup disk and click Erase. Choose a new name and format for your disk. We suggest using the default format, which is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click Erase, wait for the process to complete, then press command+Q to close Disk Utility.
Summary :
Many Photoshop users complained that they encounter the issue “Photoshop scratch disks full”. There are a few solutions you can search for on Google, yet these solutions are not so comprehensive. In today’s article, MiniTool Solution will share you with several all-round solutions to fix the “scratch disks are full” issue both on Windows and Mac.
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Typical Cases for the Photoshop Scratch Disks Full Error
If you often work in Adobe Photoshop on your computer, probably you have encountered this vexing problem “scratch disks are full”. This problem is a common problem on both Windows and Mac PC.
Could not complete the command because the scratch disks are full.
Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full.
Could not complete your request because the scratch disks are full.
Possible Causes for Photoshop Scratch Disks Full Error
Scratch disk can be used to store certain program files like Adobe Photoshop. What causes the scratch disks are full error are? According to the reports we gathered and investigated, there are several possible causes that are responsible for Photoshop scratch disks full issue.
Lack of enough space: If there is not enough space on RAM memory, Photoshop will use hard drive space (usually C drive) as a temporary virtual storage holder, which may cause “scratch disks are full” problem.
Too many temporary files: Some users close their Photoshop without giving it enough time to properly close down. This behavior will bring a large chunk of temporary files occupying too much scratch space.
Too much Photoshop cache: If your program cannot delete the caches automatically, the cache will grow and take up lots of scratch space, which may lead to the error “Could not complete the command because the scratch disks are full”.
So how to fix scratch disks are full Photoshop? Let’s begin!
Solution 1. Free up Enough Scratch Disk Space
Usually, the C drive will be automatically set as the scratch disk if you don’t set it yourself. To free up enough disk space, you can follow the detailed steps below. Let’s start with Windows. (Here we take Photoshop CS6 on Windows 10 for example)
Step 1. Open your Adobe Photoshop to get its main interface. Then navigate to Edit (Win) > Preferences and double-click Performance...
Step 2. In the pop-up window, you will see which partition is your scratch disk and make sure there is at least 40GB free space. If it does not, you can remove some parts of undesired files to another drive like a USB drive to free up enough space.
After that, you can restart your Photoshop to check if the “could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full” issue is resolved.
If your Photoshop fails to open, you can follow these steps instead. Press Ctrl + Alt keys to call out the Preference window. Then you can find which hard drive is your scratch disk and decide to free up enough space.
If you run this program on Mac, just press Command and Options keys instead to call out the Scratch Disks Preferences window and free up enough space.
Low disk space warning is a frequently seen issue in Windows 7/8.1/10. Read this post and find the 3 ways to help you extend the partition and get out of this trouble.
Solution 2. Delete Your Temp Files
A large chunk of temp files is also responsible for Photoshop scratch disks full error. Here you can follow the steps to delete Photoshop temp files on Windows.
Step 1. Press Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box. Type appdata and hit Enter.
Step 2. Navigate to Local > Temp. Then you can find the files with ~PST or Photoshop Temp.
Step 3. Then select all the temp files by holding Ctrl key and press Del key to delete all.
Step 4. Restart your Photoshop to see if the Photoshop scratch disks are full error still persists.
If you are run Photoshop on Mac, you can type the file extension that begins with “pst” or “Photoshop Temp” in the search box and delete these files when all the files appear. This process will take some time.
If the method fails to fix the problem “could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full”, just move on to the following methods.
Solution 3. Change Your Scratch Disk Location
Changing your scratch disk location is another effective way to fix the issue “Photoshop scratch disks are full”. Here is how to that:
Step 1. Open your Photoshop. Then navigate to Edit > Preferences and click on Performance.
Step 2. Select another hard drive near the First option and click OK. Then Photoshop will set the new hard drive as the scratch disk after you restart your Photoshop.
Note: It is recommended that you choose the fastest drive with most free space as your scratch disk.
If you are on Mac, you can follow these steps.
Step 1. Open Photoshop. Then go to Photoshop, Preferences and select Scratch Disks from the left pane.
Step 2. In the new window, uncheck a hard drive that you don’t want to set it as a scratch disk and click OK. Then restart your Photoshop.
Now, check if the issue “Could not complete your request because the scratch disks are full” is gone away.
Solution 4. Allow Photoshop More RAM Memory Usage
As mentioned above, RAM memory is important to store Photoshop files. Usually, Photoshop is set to take up 60% of your total RAM by default. In fact, In fact, you can fix the problem “could not complete the command because the scratch disks are full” by allowing it more RAM memory. Here is how:
Step 1. Launch this program, then go to Edit > Preferences and click on Performance.
Step 2. Inside the Preference window, you can adjust the Memory Usage to increase the RAM memory by pulling the triangle handle right towards.
Note: Do not set it more than the 80% threshold, since it will make your PC run slower.
After allowing more RAM usage, you can restart your Photoshop to see if the error “scratch disks are full” is fixed.
If you are a Mac user, you need to choose Photoshop > Preferences> Scratch Disk, and then adjust the RAM memory space by the prompts.
Solution 5. Disable Auto-Recovery Saving
To avoid an unexpected Photoshop exit such as a crash or computer reboot, this program will try to auto-recover your document. But this process also takes up some parts of your hard drive space.
So, disabling the auto-recovery saving may solve the scratch disks are full Photoshop issue. Here are the detailed steps:
Step 1. Open your Photoshop. Then navigate to the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) > Preferences and click on File Handling.
Step 2. In the pop-up window, uncheck Automatically Save Recovery Information Every [N Minutes]. Then click OK to apply this change. After that, the size of your Photoshop temp files will be reduced. This might resolve the “Could not complete your request because the scratch disks are full” issue.
Note: This change may cost you at the risk of having no auto-recovery. So, please save your document timely in case of any data loss.
Solution 6. Clear the Photoshop Caches
The issue “could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full” still persist? You may check if there is too much Photoshop cache on your scratch disk, which will also lead to the problem. You can follow the steps to clear the caches.
Step 1. Select Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) and go to Purge.
Step 2. Click on All from the 4 different options. If the item is greyed out, that means the caches have been deleted.
Step 3. Then you will receive a warning message saying “This cannot be undone. Continue?” If you don’t need a previous version of these documents, click OK.
In fact, this process won’t remove the Photoshop caches completely in system folders. To prevent Photoshop caches from piling up, you may try to run a regular disk cleanup.
In a word, the Photoshop scratch disks full issue happens because there is not enough free space on your RAM memory and hard disk. We explored the above 6 solutions from the perspective of lacking RAM space and Photoshop itself.
So, the following 3 methods take the hard disk space into consideration. If Photoshop plays an important role in your daily work, the better choice is to consider buying a larger SSD or extend the partition so that you can run Photoshop faster and save more files.
In the following 3 solutions, the operating steps are performed on Windows.
Solution 7. Extend Your Scratch Disk Space
You may have found all above 6 methods are related to free up more scratch disk space. In addition to these methods, there is another very simple way that can help you create more scratch disk space. MiniTool Partition Wizard provides you with an easy solution to extend the partition that you save the Photoshop files.
After extending the scratch disk space, you can restart your Photoshop to check if this problem is resolved.
Mac Says Disk Is Full
Solution 8. Upgrade Your Hard Disk
Well, MiniTool Partition Wizard can help you upgrade your hard disk easily. You can copy the entire hard disk to a new larger hard disk without reinstalling OS. (If your computer can only install a hard disk)
You can follow the 15% rule. It means that you need to keep at least 15% of your disk space free at all times. If your hard disk is 300 GB, you should keep at least 45 GB free.
Solution 9. Defragment Your Hard Disk
If you don’t want to buy a new SSD, probably hard disk defragment is another good choice for you. Sometimes the “scratch disks are full Photoshop” error also happens even if the scratch disk has enough free space.
This is because Photoshop requires unfragmented, contiguous free space on the scratch disk drive. So, you may need to run a disk defragment if your scratch disk drive shows enough free space.
Final Words
In today’s article, we provide several troubleshooting methods to fix the error “Photoshop scratch disks full” both on Windows and Mac. I hope these solutions can help you fix the vexing problem.
Welcome to leave your ideas in the comment area or you can send us an email via [email protected] if you have any questions. Much appreciated!
Scratch Disks Are Full FAQ
To fix the scratch disks are full issue, you can try the several methods below.
Free up your scratch disk space.
Delete some temporary files.
Allow Photoshop more RAM usage.
Change the scratch disk location.
Disable the Auto-Recovery Saving feature.
Delete the Photoshop caches.
Extend the scratch disk space or upgrade your hard drive.
Defragment your hard drive.
Open your Photoshop and go to the Performance tab and select Scratch Disk.
Tick the checkbox to select a drive as the scratch disk or remove a drive.
Click on OK to save the change and restart Photoshop.
Open your Photoshop and check which hard drive is selected as the scratch disk.
Navigate to Preferences > Performance in order.
Then you can check which drive is using and how much free space it has under the Scratch Disks section.
Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box, and then type %temp% in it and hit Enter.
Press Ctrl + A keys to select all temp files or you can select some certain.
Press delete key and click on Yes to confirm this operation.
Optimized Storage helps you save storage space space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand:
When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically.
Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it.
Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.
If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.
Find out how much storage is available on your Mac
Choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.
Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below.
Manage storage on your Mac
The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.
Store in iCloud
Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:
Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.
Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.
Optimize Storage
Click the Optimize button to save space by automatically removing watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from Apple and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
Your Mac will also save space by keeping only recent email attachments on this Mac when storage space is needed. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.
Empty Trash Automatically
Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.
Reduce Clutter
Reduce Clutter helps you identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.
You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.
Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.
Where to find the settings for each feature
The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.
If you're using macOS Catalina or later, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
If you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.
If you're using macOS Catalina or later, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
In you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.
Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.”
Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space
With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:
Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
Reminds you to delete used app installers
Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed
Disk Full Message Mac
How to free up storage space manually
Even without using the Optimized Storage features described in this article, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:
Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
Move files to an external storage device.
Compress files.
Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.
Disk Drive Full Mac
Learn more
Mac Disk Full Error
The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.