# My "scratch disk" is full (whatever that is!)



## WalStro (Jul 31, 2002)

I'm trying to save an image in Photo Deluxe and a message pops up saying my "scratch disk" is full. I don't have a clue as to what this means. Can anybody help?


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

i dont know about photo delux - but on photoshop you can assign space for scratch disk - this is the space that the program uses to temp store info whilst its working.
how many drives do you have on the PC - the default will be to use C: but i ask just in case.
have a look at how much freespace you have on C:
in photodeluc there may be an option to change the settings for this.
do you have any idea how big (disk size) the image may be ?


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

When an image editor runs out of RAM it has to use the hard drive as virtual memory. When it does this it slows everything down. Adobe calls this virtual memory a scratch disk.

If you have only one drive on your computer it means the hard drive doesnt have enough space left to handle the virtual memory writes. If you have multiple drives it means the one you have the scratch disk assigned to doesnt have enough space. If you have other drive letters with more space available you could try what *etaf* suggests and move the scratch disk to it if PhotoDeluxe lets you do that.

If you have only one drive or dont have one with more space you have a couple options:

Clean out your hard drive. Empty the recycle bin and move your pictures to CD. Clean out anything you dont need on the computer.

If you are working with large files and dont need the full size for a large print reduce the size of the image. 1200 pixels in the longest dimension will give decent 4 X 6 prints and is more than large enough for posting or e-mailing. Make sure to keep the proportions in the resizing dialog.


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## WalStro (Jul 31, 2002)

I guess I need to be able to find out how much of my disk space is being used. I'm using XP and when I go into the Control Panel and click on System there is no information there about the amount of space on my HD. I have two drives and there is plenty of space on the second, I'm sure. What I'd REALLY like to be able to do is locate the Scratch Disk and clean it out. Any help will be appreciated.


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## PJ Staley (May 27, 2004)

I use Photoshop almost every day, and I use to have the same problem you're having. To alleviate the problem, I used Partition Magic to allocate 5Mb of my C drive for Photoshop alone. I perused the Tech Guy Support website to find out how to convert my FAT32 to NTFS, and the formerly FAT32 allocation I use for Photoshop went from 14% available to 100% available. Cool! Thanks!


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## acraftylady (Jan 22, 2003)

If you go into my computer and right click on the C drive and click properties you can find out how much of your hard drive you are using up.


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## WalStro (Jul 31, 2002)

I've got 76 GB free on my C drive! Therefore, I don't think my problem has anything to do with lack of HD space. I'd still like to be able to find the "scratch disk" and either empty it or enlarge it and get this thing solved.


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

try these links for setting up scratch disks

For PhotoDeluxe, go to File/Preferences/Scratch Disks. This will tell you the physical memory usage of the program.

http://www.pcphotomag.com/content/articles/helpline/aug99.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_15128_set-preferences-photodeluxe.html
www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2f026.htm

if htese do not work let me know exact version of photo delux


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## acraftylady (Jan 22, 2003)

If you have a big hard drive and have 76GB free then you should be good. The links the other poster gave should help you fix it.


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## photolady (May 5, 2004)

In the link posted by etaf, the third link should fix your problem if you use suggestion 5. Adobe Photodelux, has had this problem for awhile and renaming the preferences file fixes the problem......usually.


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## WalStro (Jul 31, 2002)

The problem is solved, thanks to everybody who helped.


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

glad to have helped :up:


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