How to fix Scratch Disks Are Full error in Photoshop

Table of Contents:
I. Causes of the error.
II. How to fix the error.
    1. Free up storage space on your computer.
    2. Delete temporary files in Photoshop.
    3. Change the Scratch Disk drive for Photoshop.
    4. Turn off Automatically Save Recovery Information Every in Photoshop.
    5. Increase RAM for Photoshop.
    6. Delete Photoshop cache files.
    7. Defragment your hard drive.
    8. Reset the value of the Crop tool.

I - Causes of errors

Scratch Disk is the hard drive that Photoshop uses as virtual memory when RAM is low. For large projects, Photoshop creates many temporary files, and if both RAM and Scratch Disk are full, the Scratch Disks Are Full error  will appear. Even if your computer has plenty of free space, this error still occurs because Photoshop only uses the hard drive that has been designated as a Scratch Disk.

II - How to fix errors

1. Free up storage space on your computer

When you encounter the Scratch Disks Are Full error  in Photoshop, you should first delete junk files on your computer to free up storage space. Identify the hard drive that is being used as a Scratch Disk and make sure it has at least 40GB of free space. If not, delete unnecessary files.

By default, Photoshop uses the C:/ drive as the Scratch Disk , unless you have set it otherwise. To check and change, open Photoshop, go to Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disk .

1.1. Check memory on Windows

Step 1: Press Windows + I to open the Settings application and click System.

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Step 2: Next, click on the Storage option on the left panel in the Settings window. You will see what is taking up storage space. This will help you decide what to delete.

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1.2. Check memory on Mac

Step 1: Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner and select About This Mac.

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Step 2: Select Storage > Manage.

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Step 3: You'll see what content is using how much space, as well as suggestions for freeing up storage.

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2. Delete temporary files in Photoshop

Step 1: Press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run dialog box , type %temp% and press Enter.

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Step 2: In the Temporary folder , find files named Photoshop or PST , right-click on those files and select Delete.

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Step 3: Next, right-click on the Recycle Bin on the computer screen and select Empty Recycle Bin .

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- On your Mac, you use Spotlight to search for temporary files and delete them.

3. Change the Scratch Disk for Photoshop

If the current drive used as a Scratch Disk is full, you can change to another drive with more free space or select multiple drives at once.

- On Windows : Go to Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disk

- On macOS : Go to Photoshop > Preferences > Scratch Disk

Here you will see a list of available drives. Select the drive with the most space or select multiple drives to make a Scratch Disk . Click OK to save changes.

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If Photoshop won't open, you can change the Scratch Disk on startup by:

- On macOS : Hold CMD + OPTION when opening Photoshop.

- On Windows : Hold CTRL + ALT when opening Photoshop.

This will bring up the Scratch Disks Preference menu . Here you can select a different drive or add a new drive as a Scratch Disk , then press OK to save the settings.

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4. Turn off Automatically Save Recovery Information Every in Photoshop

Step 1: Open Photoshop and click Edit > Preferences > File Handling on Windows or Photoshop > Preferences > File Handling on Mac.

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Step 2: Uncheck the Automatically Save Recovery Information Every feature.

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5. Increase RAM for Photoshop

Step 1: Open Photoshop on your computer, click Edit > Preferences > Performance on Windows or Photoshop > Preferences > Performance on Mac.

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Step 2: In the Let Photoshop Use section of the Memory Usage section , enter the amount of RAM you want Photoshop to use. Then, click OK to save the changes.

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6. Delete Photoshop cache files

When working on large projects in Photoshop, previous edits are saved so you can undo them when needed. However, they also take up a lot of space on your Scratch Disk , sometimes up to gigabytes.

To free up space and fix errors, you can clear your cache. Note that this will delete your entire edit history and you won't be able to undo it.

How to do:  Open Photoshop => Go to Edit > Purge > All

Photoshop will then free up the space that previous edits took up.

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7. Defragment your hard drive

Step 1: Enter the keyword Defrag into Windows search and click on Defragment and Optimize Drives from the search results.

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Step 2: You will see the hard drive partitions listed on the screen. Select the hard drive you are using as your Scratch Disk and click the Optimize button.

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8. Reset the value of the Crop tool

The Crop tool in Photoshop helps you crop an image to the desired size. However, if you choose the wrong unit of measurement, such as centimeters instead of pixels , the image can become too large, taking up too much memory and leading to the Scratch Disks Are Full error .

How to fix:

- Select the Crop tool

- Clear any values ​​in the size boxes

- Set the measurement unit to pixels to optimize capacity

This helps reduce file size, avoid taking up too much memory, and limit errors from occurring.

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Many users have restarted their computers in the hope of fixing the Scratch Disks Are Full error in Photoshop , but it did not work. If you are one of them, apply the measures shared by TipsMake in the article and the problem will be completely resolved. Or you can download Photoshop CC 2020 here to use instead of the version you are using to see if it has an error.

Micah Soto

Update 20 February 2025