How to Clear Photoshop Scratch Disk on Windows
If you are working on Photoshop for a while, you must have come across the most annoying thing is the scratch disk error. This article will talk about what it is, how does this work, and how you can tackle several issues that you may face while editing.
What does it mean to clear photoshop scratch disk?
Before we get to the how-to clear part, let us see a scratch disk and how it works.
When you refer to clear photoshop scratch disk error, you refer to the part where you start getting pop-ups like “your scratch disk is full.” Scratch disk space can be set to erase all data so that the disk space is available for new work.
A scratch disk is a virtual storage that the software uses to store data temporarily while it is running. The system uses the scratch disk space to store some parts of your project. When working on some large projects and the drive that the software is using as its storage is almost full, it causes photoshop scratch disk errors.
Reasons behind “scratch disks are full” error
Temporary files are one of the most noteworthy causes behind the scratch disk are full error. They usually pile up if you keep closing the application forcibly. They take a lot of space. Photoshop is unable to quit all the open files at once when you abruptly close it. So, it stores such files on your computer.
Below are a few reasons that are possible:
If you are getting a “scratch disk is full” message, you should clear your disk space. Go to whichever drive is defined as your Photoshop's default storage and clear some space on it. You can also add a drive for Photoshop to use as scratch space.
You can try defragmenting your drive. Photoshop requires unfragmented free space on the scratch drive to work properly. To defragment your space, all you need to do is search for the defragmentation utility on the start menu and run them.
How to clear Photoshop scratch disk on Windows?
Now that you are familiar with what is scratch disk space and how does it work. Let us move on to how to clear your scratch disk. There are a few different ways in which you can handle the issue. We have arranged them chronologically for you.
Solution 1: Increase space
The best and the easiest thing that you can do is allot new disk space to Photoshop. Follow the steps mentioned below to know how to set up a new hard drive. If you wish, you can choose multiple drives at a time.
Step 1: Open Edit menu on Photoshop
Step 2: Select the preferences option from the drop-down on the screen
Step 3: In preferences, select the scratch disk option to open up the Scratch Disk menu.
Step 4: In the Scratch disk menu, select the drive(s) you want to use as your scratch space and click OK.
Solution 2: Delete temporary files
If you, more often than not, close Photoshop forcibly without allowing it to close all the running projects, it will leave a huge chunk of temporary files behind. These files take up a lot of space if you do it very often.
However, these temporary files can be easily identified and deleted. Most of these files start with ~PST or Photoshop Temp. You can delete them safely without any risk of losing your important data. Your temporary files are located in the C drive. To delete them follow this path; C:/ > Users > “User” > App Data > Local > Temp.
Solution 3: Increase the RAM assigned to Photoshop
Photoshop is set to use 60% of the total RAM by default. You can choose to allow more RAM to it. By doing so, you will be permitting more storage. Follow the steps mentioned below:
Step 1: Go to Edit > Preferences and click on Performance.
Step 2: In the Performance menu, adjust the sliders in Memory Usage to increase RAM. Just do not allow too much space as it can cause your PC to function slower.
Solution 4: Adjust your scratch disks
You can allow Photoshop to use other partitions to prevents these issues from happening. Generally, only the C drive is set to serve as a scratch disk, but you can assign other partitions to share the load.
Step 1: Go to Preferences in the Edit
Step 2: Go to Performance and then Scratch disks.
Step 3: Check the boxes in front of your desired drives and click OK.
At last, you can perform do several possible functions to get enough space for photoshop. In rare instances, when Photoshop’s preferences files get corrupted, it can affect the handling of scratch disks. Resetting the preferences and then reconfiguring the scratch disk preferences can resolve the “scratch disks are full” error.
There are many possible errors in Photoshop, but you do not need to worry, for we are here to help you overcome them.
Originally published at https://recoverit.wondershare.com.
