To do this on Windows, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Performance. You can also add a new scratch disk if you have an external hard drive or another partition. Step 4: Add a scratch disk or change your scratch disk Consider upgrading your computer with more memory to boost performance in Photoshop if scratch disk access becomes a frequent issue. RAM is much faster to access than your hard disk. On Mac, simply go to Photoshop CC -> Preferences -> Performance. Allowing the program to use more memory can improve performance and prevent it from having to ever go near the scratch disk in the first place. Photoshop will first try to use your memory (RAM) before allocating data to the scratch disk. Step 3: Allocate more memory to Photoshop Allowing Photoshop to use more memory will improve performance, but will slow down other applications running simultaneously. You can also search for files that begin with “pst” or end in “.tmp”, Be sure to include hidden files and folders in your search. You can also search your computer for “Photoshop Temp”.
Removing them will free up space for both your scratch disk and other programs on your computer. Photoshop will sometimes leave a rather large assortment of temporary files sitting around on your hard disk. Step 2: Delete temporary files Deleting temporary files is pretty fast and easy. On Mac, you can do the same thing by navigating to Photoshop CC -> Purge -> All If these items appear greyed out, this means that there are no cached items to delete. Go to “Purge” and click “All” to remove cached files from the scratch disk. If you can still access Photoshop, open an image in the program and navigate to the “Edit” menu on the top of the screen. Below is our recommended way to do this on Windows and Mac computers: Step 1: Purge the Photoshop cache Photoshop should automatically clear the cache periodically, but sometimes a manual purge is necessary.
How to clear your Photoshop scratch diskįixing the “scratch disk full” error is mostly a matter of freeing up disk space. You may for example notice that zooming in and zooming out feel choppy.
Photoshop thus needs ample disk space to run smoothly.Įven if you don’t see a scratch disk full error, you may need to empty the scratch disk or increase its size if Photoshop becomes too slow. Often the size of the Photoshop needs for the scratch disk can fluctuate wildly based on what you are editing.