How to Fix 'Scratch Disk Full' Error on MacOS

In this video, I’m going to teach you how to fix Photoshop scratch disk full error on Mac.

Clear our scratch disks (Photoshop - Edit - Purge)
Delete temporary files (Finder - Go - Go to Folder — go to the /tmp destination)
Delete junk files on your hard drive

Change your scratch disks (Photoshop - Preferences - Scratch Disks)
Free up RAM via Terminal: the command you’ll need: sudo purge

To free up RAM with CleanMyMac X use the Maintenance feature.

Reset Photoshop preferences (Preferences - General - Reset Preferences On Quit)
Disable auto-recovery (Preferences - File Handling)

More ways to fix the “Scratch Disk Full" error:

Contents:

00:00 - Intro
00:14 - What is a scratch disk
00:47 - How to clear scratch disks in Photoshop
01:20 - Delete Photoshop temporary files
02:11 - Delete junk on your hard drive
03:17 - Change your scratch disks
03:49 - Free up RAM
04:27 - Reset Photoshop preferences
04:58 - Disable auto recovery
05:24 - Outro

[MsCyberNewt]

THANK I can't tell you how many videos I started to watch to find out they person didn't know how to create a video- with sound... and the sound was so muffled and low I could not understand him- another was in another language!!!! You speak clearly and you know how to edit a video so the sound is GREAT! Thanks and thanks for the great info! Love you!

[afritagonist]

Most helpful tutorial about this issue that I've seen and it's better because it gives you multiple options while making the video very concise and straight to the point, Great work 👍

[cabrellcooper]

In the past 10 years I never seen a video more helpful on this topic. Thank you!

[TaePlayzz]

Thank you so much. I've had this problem the entire day and after following your steps, I was able to clear out my disk and now I'm opening photoshop with no problem. Love this video!

[MrsB_]

Thank you so much. Wish I would have looked this up yesterday. I deleted so many files off my hard drive that I didn't have to. Thank you again. You now have a new subscriber.

[rajhonhimiko]

Literally helped and saved me hours on my schoolwork ❤️ thank you so much for making this video and it was super easy to understand

[twelvvisuals]

but you can't open photoshop because the scratch disk is full 😵‍💫

[JesusClips]

Just made my day, thank you for the insight, clean my Mac is also so amazing for finding files!! ❤

[coleshill_production]

Best video I've seen about scratch disk. Nice one brother 💪🏾

[mrsvictoriahill]

Oh wow, you just saved me days and days of work!

[iSpotmedia]

Great video... Clear, Concise, Communicative. I have given you a big thumbs up and subscribed. Keep up the great work and thank you.

[molded.matteer]

this is the most helpful video I've seen yet, however it still didn't solve the problem. I am not even able to open photoshop bc scratch disks are still full. I tried deleting and reinstalling Photoshop, this did not work either. any tips, anyone?

[WhiteFoxNinja]

Thank you for saving my freakin life. That 'scratch disk full' issue was driving me crazy

[authenticginger]

Great video! Thank you. I have saved this one. Also, I added an external SSD to my mac mini but it does not show up in Preferences/scratch disks to be selected within photoshop. How do i add this so i can use it for scratch disks?

[kwesijohnson]

You're the truth! The real goat! All else is BS! This guy gets to the point!

[elviraanderson]

Thank you for your expertise. I’m running Windows and unless there’s not to much of a difference, I’m gonna try this methodology and see if it works for me.

You’ve come Highly recommended! Thanks Friend!😊

[colinmelhuish]

Look at others before found this. Superb, so well presented, especially if not tech savvy . Straight to the point with easy to follow instructions. Subscribed. Thanks for posting.

[mars]

Why does my external SD not show up, only macintosh HD :(

[InklessTattooRemovalExperts]

Very much appreciated 🙏🙏🏽🙏🙏🏽🙏 Still needed to plug in an external drive and move a lot of files to the cloud but this video solved my problem where others couldn’t.

[olaniyiifeoluwa]

After watching this video. I decided not to check another video on same issue because on YouTube you watch like 2-3 or more to get your solutions. This video is quite easy to understand and solves all scratch disk issues that has been disturbing me