Macbook Says Disk Is Full

If you regularly work in programs like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Photoshop, you’ve probably encountered errors relating to a 'scratch disk.' The most common error is Photoshop’s refusal to open along with the message 'Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full.'

If you’ve stumbled on this page because you’ve experienced this issue, you’re in luck: we’re going to show you how to resolve your scratch disk problem easily and, as a bonus, keep your computer clean and performing at its best.

I have an external disk (1,5 TB) I use for my back up by Time Machine. When the program 'Time Machine' is on on my MacBook Pro it uses all the time space of my disk. The easiest way to clean your Mac hard drive is by using software to do it for you, get a free trial here: You c.

I have a MacBook Pro with OS High Sierra 10.13.3. My disk is completely full which has basically made it impossible to complete any function. Question: Q: Macbook says 'Startup Disk is full' but it isn't full For the past couple of days, I've been getting the message that I'm unable to save/download something because the startup disk is full.

What is a scratch disk?

Before we highlight some solutions, it would be a good idea to have at least a general sense of what a scratch disk actually is. When you are using programs like Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, they require a working space called virtual memory or cache memory. This is where temporary project files are stored and accessed.

For this guide, we are focusing our laser sights on Photoshop. After all, it is the most common application. But rest assured that the info we cover will apply to most programs that rely on scratch drives.

Scratch disk is your hard drive space used by Photoshop as virtual memory when there is not enough RAM to complete a task. Photoshop allows you to assign several scratch disks: that way, it has more space at its disposal.

When working with large images and lots of layers, Photoshop is secretly chewing up your drive space by rapidly creating a mountain of project temp files.

It’s important to note that when you set up Photoshop, you will have the option to assign the scratch disks to the drive of your choice. We highly recommend not using your system drive unless you have no other alternatives.

Reasons behind “scratch disks are full” error

Temporary files are the most significant reason behind the “scratch disks are full” error. They usually mass up in your drive without leaving single evidence of their presence. If you have a habit of force-quitting Photoshop, you may have a lot of temporary files stored in your system. As Photoshop can’t fully close all projects after you quitted it so rapidly, it keeps such files on your machine.

Here are some other reasons that may cause the mentioned message:

• Lack of space in the drive where the scratch disk is located
• The partition of the disk being used by Photoshop is full
• Limited RAM allowed for the Photoshop

Macbook Pro Startup Disk Full

What to do when your scratch disks are full?

Next, we’ll explain how to clear out the scratch disk and fix the Photoshop issue on a Mac. If you’ve faced the problem on the Windows computer, follow the instructions below.

How to fix “scratch disks are full” error on Mac

Mac users receive a 'scratch disk full' message when Photoshop (or any of the other programs) has used up all the space on the hard drive that has been assigned as a scratch disk. This used up space is temporary and separate from your actual project file.

The problem is that Photoshop doesn't always get rid of these temporary files when they aren't needed anymore, which is more like a permanent problem if the user can't find a solution.

So how to clear your scratch disks? Let's find out.

Important takeout: If your HD is full, Photoshop will display scratch disk errors.

1. Clear your Photoshop cache

Photoshop has an in-built solution for deleting specific Photoshop caches. When these pesky caches aren’t removed automatically by the program, they can grow and take up a lot of space on your scratch disk.

To use this tool, simply enter Photoshop in Mac and with an image open:

• Click the Edit menu button.
• Hover your mouse over 'purge' to reveal 4 different options.
• Undo, Clipboard, Histories, All. If an item is greyed out, that means it has already been deleted.
• Select the specific item you want to delete or select 'all' to delete all of your caches.
• You will be warned that the purge cannot be undone, so make sure you don’t need a previous version of one of your projects and then click OK.

A good way to keep Photoshop cache from piling up is running regular disk cleanups. But here is a problem: the cache sits so deep in system folders (and their subfolders) that deleting it manually becomes a pain. A company called MacPaw produced a tool just for this purpose, CleanMyMac X. You've heard of similar tools, but that one actually pioneered Mac cleanup.

Here’s how you can schedule regular cleanings with CleanMyMac X:

1. Launch CleanMyMac X tool.
2. Click System Junk and press Scan.
3. Click Review Details to deselect the data you want to keep.
4. Hit Clean to clean up junk files.

Macbook Pro Disk Full

Just let it do its thing. That way, you’ll never forget to clear Photoshop cache and tons of other system junk on your system.

You can download CleanMyMac X free version and see how it works.

How your Scratch drive is filling up, an example from Sketch

Along with Photoshop, Sketch is another app that keeps temporary versions of projects on your disk. And it eats up a whole lot: from 60 to 220 GB on average.

Each time you press Command + S, some space is wasted away from your Scratch drive. Say your file weighs 23 MB. Then, 7 temporary editions would increase that size to 161 MB. This problem hasn’t been widely known until recently, but, luckily, there is an automatic solution.

CleanMyMac’s System Junk module lists Documents’ Versions from Sketch and other similar apps. You can keep the final and the oldest version of a project and delete all revisions in-between. Voila, you’ve got free space again!

2. Delete your temp files

When it comes to wasting space on your scratch disk, the worst culprit is often Photoshop's own temp files. If Photoshop isn't going to get rid of them, I guess you’re going to have to do the job yourself.

To find them, you'll need to look for files that begin with 'pst' and then a string of numbers followed by the file extension '.tmp.' Search 'Photoshop Temp' with a space between the two words.

You can just search your scratch drive but to make sure everything is found, rather perform the search on the entire computer. It may take a couple of minutes for the search to complete, so pop into the kitchen for a quick snack while you wait.

When you return, you should have a long list of files. If your work is saved and the program is closed, you can safely delete these files and watch as your scratch disk space is reclaimed.

3. Clear your disk space

If you don't have another drive or don't want to buy one, then it's time to do some spring cleaning. Look at the drive contents to see if you can delete anything you don't need. Is there storage space that can be cleared? Usually, there is, so go ahead and delete your old files and free up some space.

Alternatively, you can simply transfer files to external drives, DVDs, or cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and iCloud.

Take a look at our How to Clean Your Startup Disk (10 Ways). Inside we have lots of practical advice for macOS users who want a clean drive that performs well. Even if your scratch disk isn’t your startup drive, and we hope that is the case, there are many tips to help you spring clean like a pro.

Notice for macOS Sierra (and higher) users:Users of macOS Sierra might be aware that Apple has added new tools to 'help' manage storage space. If you navigate to Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage tab, you will see the new Sierra bar graph.

If you click on 'manage,' you will be taken to the new tools. While there are some truly helpful elements, like using Optimized Storage to customize what email attachments download to your Mac, most of the tools move junk from one place to another place.

Because many of these processes are automatic, Sierra users might not be aware of what the OS is doing on their behalf. If it sounds like a good idea to have macOS deciding what files to send to iCloud and what iTunes videos to remove, go for it.

For everyone else, we’d recommend turning off these tools or at least making sure you understand them fully before turning them on.

It can be challenging to check and analyze all contents of your disk space. Luckily, some tools can provide a disk scan and can save up lots of space on your Mac. Apps notarized by Apple is best for this job. CleanMyMac X, the app I talked earlier about, has a Large & Old Files feature, which finds and removes massive files stored on your Mac.

4. Change your scratch disk

If the disk being used is nearly full, change the directory for a more spacious one. Then, restart Photoshop. You can change the Scratch Disk location by pressing Command + Option when launching Photoshop. It can be a hassle, but if you keep an eye on the available space on your scratch disk, you can do something when space is becoming limited. It’s also worth noting that problems don't just occur when the drive is completely full, hard drives should ideally never be above 85% capacity. Pass that threshold, and problems will be just around the corner.

So, you've identified rapidly depleting free space on your Mac hard drive — now what? Well, it may be a good idea to change your scratch disk to another drive in your system (just not the system drive, as that is one drive you really don't want to slow down). If you don't have another drive, you could purchase one, with SSD being the best option for Mac OS X scratch disk purposes.

Follow these steps to change your scratch disk in Photoshop:

1. Click on the Photoshop menu.
2. Go to Preferences and then Scratch Disk.
3. Tick the checkbox to select or remove a drive as the scratch disk.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart Photoshop.

You can change the Scratch Disk location by pressing Command + Option when launching Photoshop.

5. Consider buying a new SSD

The scratch disk problem happens because of 2 simple reasons: lack of RAM and lack of HDD space. Both can be addressed if you buy a Thunderbolt SSD (solid-state drive) to use as your Scratch Disk. By today’s standards, 60 GBs should be enough.

Buy an external SSD to use as a Scratch Disk. 60 GB should be enough.

6. Follow the 15% rule

Not strictly a rule, but rather a common practice states that you should keep at least 10-15% of your disk space free at all times. If your HDD size is 256 GB, your lower limit is 25 GB. You’ll have enough room to render your Photoshop files, save multiple project copies, etc.

Disk Is Full Mac

Loud fans noise is a sign your CPU is overloaded and approaching its carrying capacity.

7. Free up RAM in Terminal

When Photoshop gets paralyzed due to lack of RAM, there is a command you can run in Terminal.

1. Open the Terminal app (find it in the Launchpad).
2. Paste in: sudo purge
3. Then, enter your password.

At first, you may not see the difference, but you’ve just flushed your RAM, releasing all the files kept in virtual memory. There are a few more ways to free up RAM, check them out too.

You can also download CleanMyMac (get a free edition here) and use its Free UP RAM command.

1. Install the app and click on Maintenance.
2. Select Free Up RAM and click Run.

You can apply this trick anytime to unfreeze an app. Also, check out the other tools in the Maintenance section. They will help you take some load off your Mac’s memory.

8. Search for hidden files in your Photoshop folder

Some projects’ leftovers are invisible and yet take up lots of space. There is a shortcut combination to display hidden files in whatever folder you are in. So, open your main Photoshop folder and click Command + Shift + Period. If you find any greyed out folders, check their weight.

To see hidden files in any folder, press Command+Shift+Period.

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As you see, there are many methods to solve the “scratch disks are full” error. There is also one more way to reorganize data on your Mac and save up some space. Disk defragmentation gathers related items and lets you delete unneeded data as well as leftovers. Note that the latest macOS doesn’t need to be defragmented as Apple has provided it with in-built utilities, which automatically remove fragmented files. So, defragmentation may only work for you if your Mac’s running the OS version earlier than OS X 10.2.

How to clear the scratch disk on Windows

If you are experiencing a “scratch disks are full” error on your Windows computer, freeing up space in the drive that accommodates the scratch disk may fix the problem. To do that, you need first to find out which drive Photoshop uses as a scratch disk.

1. Open Photoshop and go to Edit > Preferences.
2. Choose Scratch Disks.
3. Check which drive is used as a scratch disk.

The scratch disk should have at least 40GB of free space. If you see that it’s running out of space, access the drive and remove or transfer the largest files.

Another thing you may do to fix the error is clear out Photoshop temporary files. Just make sure you save your work first and close all Adobe apps. Then, go to the temp data folder
C:UsersYour UsernameAppDataLocalTemp. Look for the files that have “Photoshop Temp” in their names, highlight and remove them.

The 'Scratch Disk Is Full' error is fixed!

If you followed this guide, there is absolutely no reason why you should ever have to deal with the annoying 'scratch disk full' error again. Next time you want to create something amazing in Photoshop, you should experience something new - a Photoshop that runs so smoothly it practically purrs.

Whether you solve the problem yourself or let a great piece of software like CleanMyMac X do it for you, just make sure you clean up your scratch disk. Your Mac will thank you for it*.

*Not literally. That would be weird.

Frequently asked questions

Why does “scratch disks are full” error may appear?

The number one reason for the “scratch disks are full” message is the lack of space in the drive where scratch disks are located. You can also run out of space in the partition of the disk allocated for Photoshop, which may also cause the above-mentioned error.

What are Photoshop temporary files?

Temporary files will appear if you don’t close Photoshop fully or open the Smart Object and don’t close them with the Smart Object layer. Photoshop temp files have a '.tmp' extension, so it’s easy to find them on your Mac.

How to fix the “scratch disks are full” issue?

One of the solutions is to change the scratch disk allocation. You may also need to clear the Photoshop cache and remove temporary files.

These might also interest you:

Why Does Photoshop Show Scratch disk Full error on Mac?

There are several issues that you as a user has to face while working on your Mac. A Mac allocates dedicated memory to any installed apps or software to flawlessly execute tasks without lag. Instant effect 1 1 1 – filter your images low income. Whenever a user runs up an app or software, they use a portion of system memory to perform user commands. As the task is carried out, a number of temp files and cache are created in the background.

These temp files soon take up the memory space required for the software to run properly. If that memory is exceedingly full, there’d be issues in software functioning and possible errors would pop-up on your mac screens. Such errors may result in software crash every time you put some load on it or may even cause your Mac to reboot without warning, thus, costing you your unsaved or ongoing work. This error stating ‘Scratch Disk are Full’ is most commonly found while working in Photoshop. So, all the photoshop users require extra care to avoid errors.

If you happen to use Adobe Photoshop for professional or work-related purpose on your Mac, then you must’ve surely seen this error on the screen while opening Photoshop “Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disk is full”. Have you ever wondered what is a scratch disk? And what does it particularly have to do with Photoshop? You can rest your quest now!

We’re here to resolve all your doubts by offering 4 most useful solutions that’ll help you fix “Scratch disks are full’ error on Mac. But before jumping on to these solutions let’s clear a few basic concepts!

What is a Scratch Disk?

When you’re using advanced software tools like Adobe Photoshop, Final cut Pro or Premiere Pro on any device they occupy a certain amount of virtual space or memory. This virtual space is like the cache memory which stores all temporary files and data. So, Scratch disk is that dedicated virtual memory space allotted to Photoshop which is used when there is not enough RAM to complete a task. So, while working on heavy projects or large files this space is often consumed with temp files and thereby you encounter the “Scratch disk is full” error on your Mac.

4 Solutions to Fix Photoshop Scratch Disk is Full Error on Mac

If you’re wondering how to clear Photoshop cache to fix all such “Scratch disk’ related errors on Mac we’ve compiled 4 simple and effective solutions for you. Let’s discuss each one of them in detail.

1. Clearing Photoshop Cache

If you don’t ever notice the cache memory, it’ll expand like wildfire eating up a huge amount of disk space on your device. So, before the damage happens let’s see how we can get rid of Photoshop cache to keep the Scratch disk empty.

Photoshop comprises of an in-built tool that deals with cache memory. Here’s what you need to do:

• Launch Photoshop on your Mac and tap the “Edit” button in menu bar.
• Now hover over “Purge” and wait until you see four new options which include: Undo, Clipboard, Histories, All.

• You can either select individual item or tap “All” to get rid of all kinds of cache memory on Photoshop.

Deleting Photoshop cache memories will most probably fix all kinds of scratch disk issues on your Mac. But if it still doesn’t work let’s discuss other solutions!

2. Delete Photoshop Temp Files on your Mac

If the in-built solution on Photoshop doesn’t do the job for you, let’s hunt down the culprits manually. Look for files on your Mac that begin with “pst” extension and then a string of numbers followed by the file extension “.tmp”.

To make sure your scratch disk is empty, search for “Photoshop Temp” on your Mac and look within your entire Mac’s hard drive. Mac will take a couple of minutes to list down all temp files on Photoshop. Wait for a while until the entire list pops up on screen and then safely delete each and every temporary file from your Mac.

3. Optimize Disk Space

Once in a while it is advisable that you review the drive contents on your Mac. In this way, you can get rid of unneeded files and data and save a few extra chunks of storage space on your device. Head on to Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage tab.

In the storage graph, you’ll see a “Manage” button. Tap on this option to optimize storage space on your Mac. Make the most of these Mac tools and save some additional storage space on your device. This is one of the best Mac optimizing techniques.

4. Change Your Scratch Disk

If you’re tired of regularly optimizing storage space on your Mac and if still, the same scratch disk issues persist on your device, it may be a great idea to change your scratch disk to another drive. This will surely help you overcome the “Photoshop scratch disk full” error on Mac.

To change your scratch disk on Photoshop, follow these quick steps:

• Launch Photoshop on Mac and tap the “Preferences” option on the menu.
• Select “Scratch Disk”.
• Check the box of your respective scratch drive name to select or remove a drive as the scratch disk.
• Tap on OK to save changes.

5. Smart Mac Care

Last but not least, you can also take the help of a Mac utility tool for fixing the “Scratch Disks are full” error on Mac. Smart Mac Care is an all-round solution that allows you to get rid of junk files, malware infections in just one click to optimize your system’s performance.

With Smart Mac Care, you can recover chunks of storage space on your device by removing unnecessary files and junk data. As the Scratch Disk full error on Mac is a storage-related error, using the Smart Mac Care cleaning tool for your Mac can prove out to be the right choice. Smart Mac Care can instantly free up junk files, redundant data stored on your Mac while keeping it secure from malware infections as well.

Once you’ve followed these steps, make sure you restart Photoshop application and then get to work.

So folks here were the 5 most simple and useful solutions to fix “Scratch disks are full” error on Mac. We hope these solutions will resolve all your queries related to scratch disk on Mac. Next time when you plan on starting something new on Photoshop, make sure you follow all these steps for a smooth experience!

These five ways can help you get rid of the Scratch Disk Full error. However, using Smart Mac Care would also help you get rid of any possible errors that may hamper your Mac’s performance and ultimately avoid system performance. Smart Mac Care would ease your process of not only solving “Scratch Disk Full” error but would also help you get rid of all the halts on your Mac’s performance without getting into their complicacy.

Download Smart Mac Care and boost up your Mac for best performance.

FAQS

How Do I Empty the Scratch Disk in Photoshop?

Head on to Photoshop> Preferences> Performance. Now select the checkbox right next to the scratch disk you need to delete. Scratch disk is more like a temporary memory, so the moment you will terminate the application, the scratch disk will be emptied.

Can’t open Photoshop because scratch disks are full?

So, if you’re unable to launch Photoshop on your Mac because of the “scratch disk is full error, here’s what you need to do. Hold down the Command + Option key combination on Mac while launching the app.

What is a Scratch Disk in Photoshop?

A Scratch disk is more like a sort of temporary storage that is used for storing important elements related to your current project. The Scratch Disk only comes in use when the app is running and the moment you quit the application, the scratch disk is emptied.

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Let us know in the comments section which one among the above steps helped you remove the Scratch Disk Full error on Mac while using Photoshop.

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