How to Fix "Scratch Disks are Full" Error in Photoshop

Are you receiving a "Scratch disks are full" error in Photoshop? This can be incredibly frustrating because it can prevent you from completing certain tasks and cause Photoshop to crash or not load at all. The scratch disks are a section of your hard drive that Photoshop uses to store temporary files. This error occurs when there is no scratch disk space or memory space for Photoshop to store temporary files. Luckily, there are several things you can do to fix this error, including freeing up hard drive space, deleting temporary files, allowing Photoshop to use more RAM, and more. This wikiHow article teaches you how to fix Photoshop's "Scratch disks are full" error.

Quick Steps

Clear up storage space on your computer.
Change the scratch disk drive in Photoshop.
Clear Photoshop's cache.
Increase Photoshop's allotted RAM usage.
Reduce the number history state saves.
Disable auto recovery save.

Section 1 of 9:

Free Up Storage Space

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Check your storage usage on Windows. Windows 10 and 11 have a feature that lets you quickly view and manage your storage space. From there, you can uninstall apps and delete temporary and large files that are no longer being used. Use the following steps to check your storage usage on Windows:
- Click the Windows Start button.
- Click the Settings/Gear icon.
- Click System.
- Click Storage.
- Check and manage your storage usage.
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Check your storage usage on a Mac. On Mac, you can check your storage usage and view options to store files on iCloud, optimize your storage, empty the trash automatically, sort through your documents, and delete files you no longer use. Use the following steps to check your storage usage on Mac:
- Click the Apple icon in the upper-right corner.
- Click About this Mac.
- Click the Storage tab.
- Click Manage.
- Check and Manage your storage usage.
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Delete files you don't want to keep. Go through your pictures, videos, and documents, and look for large files you no longer use or want to keep. Right-click these files and click Delete to remove them. Alternatively, you can back up your files using an external drive or a cloud storage service, such as Google Drive or iCloud so that you have a copy of these files. Then, you can delete them from your computer's hard drive.
- Be sure to empty the Recycling bin on Windows or Trash bin on Mac to free up hard drive space.
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Uninstall apps on Windows. If you have a lot of large apps that take up a lot of space (particularly games), you may want to uninstall them. Use the following steps to uninstall apps on Windows:
- Click the Windows Start button.
- Click the Settings/Gear icon.
- Click Apps.
- Click Installed apps (Windows 11) or Apps & Features (Windows 10).
- Check the apps you want to uninstall (Windows 10) or click the More (⋯) button next to an app you want to uninstall (Windows 11).
- Click Uninstall.
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Delete temporary files on Windows. Look for temporary files with "Photoshop" or "PST" in the title to delete temporary related to Photoshop. Make sure you save any Photoshop files you are working on and close Photoshop before deleting any Photoshop temporary files to keep from losing your progress. You can delete any temporary files to free up space. Use the following steps to delete temporary files on Windows:
- Press Windows key + R to open Run.
- Type %temp% and click Ok to open your Temp folder.
- Select the files you want to delete and press the Delete key.
- Empty the Recycling Bin.
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Delete temporary files on Mac. Look for temporary files with "Photoshop" or "PST" in the title to delete temporary related to Photoshop. Make sure you save any Photoshop files you are working on and close Photoshop before deleting any Photoshop temporary files to keep from losing your progress. You can delete any temporary files to free up hard drive space on a Mac:^{[1]
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- Open the Finder.
- Click Go.
- Click Go to Folder.
- Type ~/Library/Caches/ and press Return.
- Select the temp files you want to delete and drag them to the Trash bin.
- Empty the Trash Bin.

Section 2 of 9:

Change Scratch Disk Drive

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Change the scratch disk location in Photoshop. By default, Photoshop uses the hard drive that your operating system is installed on as the scratch disk location. If that disk drive is full and you have a secondary hard drive or a separate hard drive partition, you can select that as the scratch disk location instead. Use the following steps to do so within Photoshop:
- Open Photoshop.
- Click Edit on Windows or Photoshop on Mac.
- Click Preferences.
- Click Performance
- Click the checkbox next to the hard drive you want to use in the box labeled "Scratch Disk."
- Click Ok.
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Change the scratch disk location during launch. If you receive the "Scratch disks are full" error during startup, and it prevents Photoshop from launching, you can change the scratch disk location as Photoshop launches. Use the following steps to do so:
- Open Photoshop.
- Immediately press and hold Ctrl + Alt on Windows, or Command + Option on Mac as Photoshop launches.
- Wait for the Scratch Disk menu to appear.
- Use the drop-down menu next to "First" to select a new hard drive to use as the scratch disk.
- Click Ok.

Section 3 of 9:

Clear Photoshop's Cache

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It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Each time you make a change to a file in Photoshop, it saves the older version of the file in the cache. Over time, the cache can become too large. Clearing the cache can free up space and possibly fix the "Scratch disks are full" error.
It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
It's near the bottom of the Edit menu.
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Click All. This clears the cache of all your cache files.
- Alternatively, you can select Histories to delete history state saves, Clipboard to clear data that has been copied, or Video Cache to delete the video cache files.

Section 4 of 9:

Increase RAM Usage for Photoshop

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It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. You can prevent the "Scratch disks are full" error by increasing the amount of RAM Photoshop is allowed to use.
It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
It's in the fourth option in the fly-out menu
You can do so in the box labeled "Memory Usage." You can use the slider bar at the bottom of the box or enter the amount of RAM Photoshop can use in megabytes (MB) in the space next to "Let Photoshop Use."
It's to the right of the dialogue box. This applies the changes.

Section 5 of 9:

Reduce the Number of History State Saves

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It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Each time you make a change to a file in Photoshop, Photoshop saves a history state. That way, you can return to a previous history state if you make a mistake. Reduce the number of history states Photoshop saves to reduce the amount of scratch disk space Photoshop uses.^{[2]
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It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
It's in the fourth option in the fly-out menu
You can do so in the field labeled "History States." It's in the box labeled "History & Cache."
This saves the number of history states Photoshop saves.

Section 6 of 9:

Set the Correct Unit Sizes

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Check the units you are using when creating or resizing a document. You may get a "Scratch disks are full" error if you select the wrong unit size when creating or resizing a document. For example, if you select "inches" as the height and width when you actually meant "pixels," this will create a really large file that the scratch disk might not be able to handle.^{[3]
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- If you are working on an image that is meant for a screen, use "pixels" as the unit size. If you are working on a print document, use Inches or Centimeters (Cm).
Additionally, if you are using the height and width boxes to crop an image while using the crop tool, make sure you use the correct unit sizes in the boxes. If you are not sure what units your document is using, use pixels (px) as the unit size, or do not enter a unit.^{[4]
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Section 7 of 9:

Disable Auto Recovery Save

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Open Photoshop. It has a blue box icon with "Ps" in the middle. Photoshop automatically saves your work every so often to prevent you from losing your progress if the program crashes. You can disable this feature to save space in the scratch disk.
- The downside is that you will risk losing your work if you don't save your work frequently.
It's in the menu bar at the top. This displays a drop-down menu.
It's near the bottom of the Edit menu on Windows or the top of the Photoshop menu on Mac.
It's the third option in the Preferences menu.
It's at the bottom of the box labeled "File Saving Options."
It's to the right of the dialogue box. This applies the changes.

Section 8 of 9:

Defrag Your Hard Drive (Windows Only)

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Click the Windows Start menu
..It's the icon with the Windows logo in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. If you have a lot of memory or storage space issues on your Windows computer, you may want to try defragging your hard drive. This will allow your computer to use your hard drive more efficiently for Photoshop and other applications.
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Type Defrag. This will Defragment and Optimize Drives app in the Start menu.
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Click Defragment and Optimize Drives. This will open the Defragment and Optimize Drives app in the Control Panel.
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Select the hard drive the Photoshop scratch disk is using. All your hard drives will be listed in the "Status" box below "Drives." Select the hard drive Photoshop uses as the scratch disk.
- You can hold Shift and select multiple hard drives at a time.
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Click Optimize. This begins defragging your hard drive(s). This process may take a while.

Section 9 of 9:

Reset Your Photoshop Preferences

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Quit Photoshop. If Photoshop is currently open, save a close-out of it. To quit Photoshop, click File on Windows or Photoshop on Mac. Click Quit Photoshop or Exit.
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Press and hold ⇧ Shift+Ctrl+Alt on PC or ⇧ Shift+⌥ Option+⌘ Command on Mac. This is the keyboard shortcut used to delete the Photoshop preferences file. On rare occasions, the Photoshop preferences file may become corrupt if Photoshop or your computer crashes. This can cause a "Scratch disks are full" error. You will need to delete the preferences file to fix the problem. This will completely reset your preferences and settings to their defaults.
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Open Photoshop. While still holding the keyboard shortcuts, click the Photoshop icon to launch Photoshop. A dialogue box will appear asking if you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file.
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Click Yes. When you see the dialogue box asking if you want to delete the Photoshop Settings file. Click Yes. This will delete the file and reset your Adobe Photoshop settings and preferences.^{[5]
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