PS "scratch disk" help needed!!!!

themadride · October 31, 2006

Ever since I've had ps I've had this problem, but it has now become a major obstacle for me. Whenever I try to open a file or do almost any editing to it, the program says "scratch disk full".
My understanding of the scratch disk is as follows: A location or portion of your computer (hard drive) designated to temporarily store information on working files in order to edit them and undo your edits, etc. etc.
It makes sense to me that if you have 500mb of free space on your machine and a 2gb file, PS is not going to let you work on the file. I THINK i get that. My problem is as follows:
For some reason files I'm working on seem to eat scratch disk space faster than I can clear it. Every time I open a file or edit it, EVEN if the file DOES NOT get any larger, scratch disk space is used so quickly, that the next time I try to open the document ps won't let me.
Most recently, I was working on a project that was 200MB with 1.5GB of free space on my machine. While working on the project, having saved no changes, I accidentatly unplugged the machine. When I cranked the comp back up...I find that I only have 300MB of free space on my machine and my "scratch disks are full". I can't even open the project I had up before shutdown.
1) Why is this happening?
2) Can I do something like "reset" my scratch disks...I.E. THROW AWAY WORKING INFO?
3) ANY HELP OR OPINIONS.....PLEASE!!!!!!

Thanks

greenpea · October 31, 2006

themadride wrote:

Ever since I've had ps I've had this problem, but it has now become a major obstacle for me. Whenever I try to open a file or do almost any editing to it, the program says "scratch disk full".
My understanding of the scratch disk is as follows: A location or portion of your computer (hard drive) designated to temporarily store information on working files in order to edit them and undo your edits, etc. etc.
It makes sense to me that if you have 500mb of free space on your machine and a 2gb file, PS is not going to let you work on the file. I THINK i get that. My problem is as follows:
For some reason files I'm working on seem to eat scratch disk space faster than I can clear it. Every time I open a file or edit it, EVEN if the file DOES NOT get any larger, scratch disk space is used so quickly, that the next time I try to open the document ps won't let me.
Most recently, I was working on a project that was 200MB with 1.5GB of free space on my machine. While working on the project, having saved no changes, I accidentatly unplugged the machine. When I cranked the comp back up...I find that I only have 300MB of free space on my machine and my "scratch disks are full". I can't even open the project I had up before shutdown.
1) Why is this happening?
2) Can I do something like "reset" my scratch disks...I.E. THROW AWAY WORKING INFO?
3) ANY HELP OR OPINIONS.....PLEASE!!!!!!

Thanks

Are you working with a PC or a Mac? And how big is this harddrive? I'm guessing if your harddrive is down to less than 1Gb of free space, your harddrive is way too full. I don't know as much about Macs, but Windows doesn't like to have the harddrive that full, in fact you probably want to keep at least 1/3 of your harddrive space empty for best performance. Bad things start happening when you get a harddrive with out a good amount of free space.

A suggestion would be to delete any files on your computer that you don't need and move a bunch of files that you are not actively working with to an seperate harddrive or CD-Rom, then defragment your harddrive and see if that doesn't fix the problem.

EDIT:
Found this on Adobe's web site: http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/316693.html

jww · October 31, 2006

themadride wrote:

3) ANY HELP OR OPINIONS.....PLEASE!!!!!!
Thanks

Not sure about mac's, but adding a usb/firewire drive is really simple on a pc. Just plug it in! You can get a 300gb drive for around $250 - $320. 1tb for $850! Or for a start and the budget conscious - $140 for 100gb ...though possibly cheaper if you shop around online. tigerdirect cdw bestbuy compusa to name a few..

Just offload all your photos files to and once you confirm (and double check!!), remove them from your normal drive to free up your C: drive and give it room to work. A refrag might also be in order after you do this to make it a bit more happy

and remember to make backups and take them offsite!!

good luck!

colourbox · October 31, 2006

themadride wrote:

Most recently, I was working on a project that was 200MB with 1.5GB of free space on my machine.

Oh maaaaan. I don't know how accurate the following limits are, but working with either Mac or Windows, I get queasy if the disk has under 10GB free space and I take action if it has under 5GB free. 1.5GB free, especially with Photoshop...sounds like a lockup waiting to happen. Because both your operating system and Photoshop use virtual memory, and both need the space to roam.

A second, fast hard disk would really help. At least send the Photoshop scratch file there. If you're a bit of a techie you can also assign your OS scratch file to another disk but I've never tried that.

pathfinder · October 31, 2006

Adobe recommends that your scratch disc NOT reside on your main hard drive with your operating system or drive C:. For a Win XP system, you should make drive

your scratch disc in the Preferences in Photoshop CS2.

I would be very scared of a computer with less than 10 Gb of free space on the main hard drive.

The scratch disc files can be far larger than you might think in Photoshop. I used to try to use 20Gb HD in Windows as Drive

and whenever the free space got below 10Gb I would get complaints about the scratch disc. I now try to keep at least 60 Gb free on my scratch disc.

Hard drives are cheap, get a second drive for your scratch disc for Photoshop.

colourbox · November 1, 2006

One more things. Speed is essential. The scratch disk is substituting for lack of RAM and it is nowhere near as fast as RAM so you work against your interests if you get a slow scratch disk. First choice should be additional internal drive. Second choice should be FireWire, and last should be USB due to the actual sustained (not theoretical peak) rates of these protocols.

themadride · November 1, 2006

not the issue
Guys,
I understand the issue of space on the computer. And your point is taken, however....This problem has existed when I have 80GB free, 40GB, 1GB free. The problem is.....I DONT GET MY SCRATCH DISK SPACE BACK AFTER I CLOSE THE PROGRAM. AGAIN...here is an example:

2GB free space...
working on a 200MB project.
Open the project....make a couple changes...then close the program..
project now 220 MB
computer only has 800MB free space.

CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THAT?????????????

pathfinder · November 2, 2006

If you are saying that Phothshop does not seem to reset or delete the temporary Scratch disc files, you might check your settings in Preferences.

If you still have difficulty, I think the next step is to call Adobe's help line. I am sure they can sort this out for you.

01af · November 2, 2006

themadride wrote:

This problem has existed when I have 80 GB free, 40 GB, 1 GB free. The problem is.....I DONT GET MY SCRATCH DISK SPACE BACK AFTER I CLOSE THE PROGRAM.

This is not good. A pity you still haven't bothered to tell us which operating system you're using. Normally, Photoshop uses the free space on the hard disk and writes the scratch files to their root directories. It removes them when you exit the program; you're left with monstrous files eating your disk space only after Photoshop has crashed (rarely happens). By the way, it's not a good idea to tinker with those files while Photoshop is still running. You may safely delete them when Photoshop is not running. In Photoshop's preferences, you can specify which drives (or actually, partitions) Photoshop shall use.

When Photoshop creates scratch files but doesn't remove them after the job then there's something wrong. I never heard of this kind of problem before. Maybe the user rights for accessing the hard disk are screwed up? Maybe your whole software installation is screwed up? I have no idea. I'd suggest to visit Adobe's User-To-User Forums and ask your question there. If nothing helps then de-activate Photoshop, uninstall it, clean up your hard disks, purge all caches, preferences, and user settings, uninstall all other applications you haven't used for more than six months, transfer older user data (e. g. last year's image files) to external memory, defragment the drives, and then re-install Photoshop anew.

-- Olaf

PS "scratch disk" help needed!!!!

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