How to Solve a Scratch Disk Photoshop Error
Do not panic if you see a "scratch disk error" in Adobe Photoshop. All this means is that you have reached or neared the maximum capacity on your hard drive. When you open Photoshop and save or modify files, you must save the new information to the hard disk. If there is no more space on your drive you will see this error. There is a simple solution to this problem.
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Instructions
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Click "OK" to close the "Scratch Disk" error dialog box.
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Open Windows Explorer (type in "explorer" then press enter in the "Run" box under the Start menu).
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Click the "Search" tab on the Explorer toolbar. Click "All Files and Folders." On the next screen select "Local Hard Drives" under the "Look in" box. Type "~PST" (without the quotations) to find temporary Photoshop files. These may be what is taking up so much space on your hard drive. Delete any "PST" files that were not created that day (or during your session).
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Go back to the "Search" box in Windows Explorer (select "All files and Folders" and "Local Hard Drives" again). This time, click the "What Size is It?" option. Select the "Large (more than 1 MB)" radio box and then click "Search." This will find all large files on your hard drive.
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Delete any unneeded large files (over 1 MB) from your hard drive to free space.
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Return to your Photoshop program. Click "Image" then "Image Size" on the main menu. Decide if you can afford to reduce the resolution number. For a high resolution image, you can do 300 dpi, but if you are only going to use this for an online image, you can set it as low as 72 dpi. Reducing the resolution will reduce the size of the file and free more space on your disk.
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Try to save the file now that you've made more room on the drive. This should resolve the scratch disk error.
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Tips & Warnings
These instructions apply to Windows operating systems.
References
- Photo Credit Ciaran Griffin/Lifesize/Getty Images
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Comments
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Solution (Windows) Navigate to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5\Adobe Photoshop CS5 Settings. Delete either file (depending on version): Adobe Photoshop CS5 Prefs.psp (for 32bit version). Adobe Photoshop X64 CS5 Prefs.psp (for 64bit version). Open Photoshop (hold ctrl-alt-shift for admin mode if needed). Edit > Preferences > Performance. Check Scratch Disks and verify C:\ (system) is not checked.
