How to Assign and Change Scratch Disks in Adobe Photoshop

If you are working with a very large film in Photoshop, you may find your system slowing down. This happens when it does not have enough RAM. Photoshop uses a function to correct called scratch disks. Scratch disks exist on partitions of drives that have free memory. Here is how you can change your primary scratch disk and designate additional disks should you require more space.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Change the first scratch disk assignment by going to "Edit," then "Preferences", then "Plug Ins & Scratch Disks."
2. Choose the first disk from the menu of available disks. You can choose up to four disks of any size that your system will support. In Photoshop, you can create up to 200 GB of space using scratch disks.
3. Remember that scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing, so you may need to additional external or internal hard drives, depending on your system. Additionally, do not choose a network drive, only a local drive.
4. Click "OK," and then restart the program for your changes to be effective.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to use the disk defragmenter on your scratch disk drives regularly.
• Scratch disks should be on a local drive. That is, they should not be accessed over a network.

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