Summary: In this guide, we volition tell you why your Photoshop prompts the error that the scratch disk is total and show y’all how to fix the trouble on Mac in six ways.
As you are reading this, you probably take encountered the scratch disk total error in Photoshop on your Mac. A full scratch disk ways y’all tin’t perform edits, salvage images, or fifty-fifty beginning Photoshop.
Wondering why this problem occurs and how to fix information technology on Mac? Proceed reading this blog and you volition find all the answers you are looking for.

What Is the Scratch Disk in Photoshop?
Before we offer y’all the solutions to the full scratch disk trouble in Photoshop, allow’s find out what a scratch disk is.
According to Adobe, a scratch disk is a hard bulldoze or SSD that is used for temporary storage while Photoshop is running. Photoshop uses this space to shop portions of your documents and their history panel states that don’t fit in your Mac’s memory or RAM. By default, Photoshop uses the hard drive (Macintosh HD) where the macOS is installed as the main scratch disk.
Reasons Behind the Full Scratch Deejay Error in Photoshop
Temporary files are the main reason why Photoshop’southward scratch disk is total. As yous know, Photoshop is a large design programme. When you use it to create and edit images, it generates a large number of temporary files that can make Photoshop run faster. Just over time, these files pile up and take upwardly a lot of the space of the scratch disk.
In addition, when the hard drive used as the scratch disk runs out of storage space, y’all may besides become the prompt window that says the scratch disk is full. To observe out if you lot have whatsoever available storage space, click
Apple Card > Virtually This Mac > Storage.
Another reason behind the scratch disk full fault is limited RAM for Photoshop. In this case, you lot may need to add more than memory.

How to Clear Photoshop Scratch Deejay on Mac
After understanding what a scratch disk is and why the scratch disk full error occurs in Photoshop, we come to the nigh of import function of how to clear scatch disk in Photoshop.
i. Clear Photoshop Cache
Photoshop has a congenital-in cleaning function that allows you to clean up the history and caches in Photoshop. But please note that this cleanup is irreversible, and all deleted history and caches cannot be restored.
Here’s how to clear the caches in Photoshop:
-
Open Photoshop on your Mac.
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Click the Edit button in the menu bar, hover your mouse over Purge, and select the detail you want to articulate or select All to remove all your caches in Photoshop.
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You will exist prompted to a new window that warns your deletion cannot be restored. Click the OK button if you are sure to go.
2. Gratis up Disk Space
Adobe says that you lot should reserve at least 20GB of complimentary infinite on your macOS difficult drive while working with Photoshop. Depending on the type of file you are working on, you lot may as well need to set aside additional storage space to ensure that Photoshop runs properly.
There are various ways to free up your Mac disk infinite, such as deleting useless files, removing duplicate files, uninstalling unwanted apps, moving files you don’t employ currently to some other deejay, etc.
Here we would like to introduce you a handy tool – BuhoCleaner, one of the best cleaners for Mac. Not but can it help you articulate junk files from the system, users, and applications, but it tin can also speed upwardly your process of finding and deleting big files and duplicate files. Click the button below to take a try now.
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3. Delete Photoshop Temporary Files
Photoshop creates a lot of temporary files as you use it. You can become to Finder to find and delete these temporary files manually. Most of the time, the temporary files beginning with pst, followed by numbers, and end with a .tmp extension.
Hither are the how-to steps:
- Click the Finder icon on the Dock.
- Type Photoshop Temp in the search box in the upper correct corner of the Finder window.
- In the appeared listing, find the temporary files yous want to remove and drag them to the Trash.
This process may take you some fourth dimension. You lot’d ameliorate make certain the files yous want to get rid of are no longer useful to you earlier deleting them.
4. Change Photoshop Scratch Disk
All the same haven’t freed upwards enough disk space for Photoshop? Choose another disk as a scratch deejay. If you lot don’t take another disk to cull from, you’ll need to add a new disk on your Mac first. SSD is your best bet.
Here’s How to Change Scratch Disk in Photoshop.
- Click the Photoshop Card > Preferences > Scratch Disks.
- Bank check the box to select or delete the disk as the scratch deejay, and and then click the OK button.
- Relaunch your Photoshop.

Yous can also press and concur the
Control + Option
keys while launching Photoshop to quickly modify your scratch disk.
5. Change RAM for Photoshop
By default, Photoshop uses 70% of the memory space. You tin can accommodate this value as needed. However, nosotros strongly recommend that you do not exceed 85% at nearly. Otherwise, information technology may crusade poor performance of other applications due to insufficient retentiveness.
- Click the Photoshop Menu, and then select Preferences > Performance.
- Drag the memory usage slider to chop-chop adjust the amount of retentiveness allotted to Photoshop.
- Click the OK button, and then restart Photoshop.

6. Optimize Photoshop Space
You can also optimize the space Photoshop uses past disabling the auto-recovery saving and limiting the history states.
- To stop the auto-recovery saving, click the Photoshop Menu > Preferences > File Handling and untick the box next to Automatically Save Recovery Information Every.

- Photoshop can save up to 1000 history states, and it presets the number to 50. To reduce the number, click the Photoshop Menu > Preferences > Functioning and change the number to any number yous similar.

Decision
You have simply learned how to gear up the scracth deejay full fault in Photoshop on Mac. We hope that you have succesfully resolved it by using the above methods. If not, there are many more ways yous can try, such as increasing RAM, resetting Photoshop preferences, defragmenting your hard bulldoze, and more.
By the way, BuhoCleaner is a worthwhile cleaner that can be your perfect tool for cleaning and optimizing your Mac. Go alee and try it yourself.
Source: https://www.drbuho.com/how-to/fix-scratch-disk-full-error-in-ps