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Product
Photoshop, Photoshop LE, Photoshop LE

Platform
Macintosh, Windows

Last Edited
01/29/2001

Filename
500a.htm

When you try to open an image, Adobe Photoshop returns the error, "Out of memory," "Scratch Disk is full," or "Not Enough Memory (RAM)," or "Could not open the document because the scratch disks are full."

Solutions

Do one of the following:

Solution 1
On the hard disk partition you designate for scratch disk files, make sure you have free disk space equal to 3-5 times the size of the file you're trying to open. If the file you're opening has many channels or layers, its file size in the Image > Image Size dialog box when opened may be larger than its file size in Windows Explorer, requiring even larger scratch disk files.

Solution 2
Choose File > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disks, specify a hard disk partition that has more free space as the primary scratch disk, and then specify a secondary (or for Photoshop 5.x, a third and fourth) scratch disk. For Photoshop 4.0.x, do not specify the same hard disk partition for both the primary and secondary scratch disks.

Solution 3
Re-create Photoshop's general preferences file:

Note: If you delete the general preferences file instead of renaming it, custom preferences settings (Photoshop 5.x and earlier) and unsaved actions (Photoshop 4.0.x only) will be lost. To save any actions you've created in Photoshop 4.0.x, choose Save Actions from the Actions palette menu. Photoshop 5.x saves actions in a separate preferences file. For more information, see document 312917.

In Mac OS, quit Photoshop, rename the file (e.g., to Filename Old), and then restart Photoshop:
- In Photoshop 5.5, the Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Prefs file is in the Adobe Photoshop 5.5:Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Settings folder.
- In Photoshop 5.0.x, the Adobe Photoshop 5 Prefs file is in the Adobe Photoshop 5.0:Adobe Photoshop Settings folder.
- In Photoshop 5.0 LE, the Adobe Photoshop 5 LE Prefs file is in the System Folder:Preferences folder.
- In Photoshop 4.0.x, the Adobe Photoshop 4.0 Prefs file is in the System Folder:Preferences folder.
- In Photoshop 4.0 LE, the Adobe Photoshop LE Prefs file is in the System Folder:Preferences folder.

In Windows, exit from Photoshop, rename the file (e.g., to Filename.old), and then restart Photoshop:
- In Photoshop 5.5, the Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Prefs.psp file is in the Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 5.5\Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Settings folder.
- In Photoshop 5.0.x, the Adobe Photoshop 5 Prefs.psp file is in the Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 5.0\Adobe Photoshop Settings folder.
- In Photoshop 5.0 LE, the Adobe Photoshop 5 LE Prefs file is in the Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 5.0 LE\Prefs folder. (Note that this filename does not have an extension.)
- In Photoshop 4.0.x, the Photos40.psp file is in the Adobe\Photoshop\Prefs folder.
- In Photoshop 4.0 LE, the Phot40le.psp file is in the Adobe\Photoshop 4.0 LE\Prefs folder.

Additional Information

To open a file, Photoshop requires free disk space for a scratch disk file equal to 3-5 times the size of the file. Because Photoshop's native file format (.psd) uses Run Length Encoded (RLE) compression, files saved in .psd format are often larger in size when opened in Photoshop than when saved on the hard drive. The more alpha channels and layers in a .psd file, the more hard drive space Photoshop requires to open the file. If a .psd file has many channels and layers, Pixel Dimensions field in the Image Size dialog box may indicate a file size that's more than 10 times the file size indicated by the operating system. For example, a file whose size is 25 MB file on the hard drive may open as a 500 MB file in Photoshop if it has many channels and layers.

Photoshop uses a scratch disk file (i.e., temporary disk space used for storing data and performing computations) when there is insufficient RAM for image editing. You can set up to two scratch disks in Photoshop 4.0.x, and each can be up to 2 GB. Each scratch disk must be on a separate hard drive partition. This means in Photoshop 4.0.x if you have 5 GB free on an unpartitioned hard drive, and all scratch disks are assigned to it, Photoshop can use up to 2 GB of space in one scratch disk file. To use the full 4 GB, partition your hard drives so that there are as many partitions as there are scratch disks you want to use. In Photoshop 5.x, you can assign up to four partitions for scratch disk files. Although the scratch disk files still have a limit of 2 GB each, Photoshop 5.x can write as many scratch disks per partition as there is free disk space. This means if you have 5 GB free on an unpartitioned hard drive, and all scratch disks are assigned to it, Photoshop 5.x can use up to 5 GB of space in three scratch disk files (2 GB, 2 GB, 1GB).

The Photoshop preferences file, which Photoshop creates during startup, stores information about Photoshop settings. When the preferences file is damaged, Photoshop may return an error regarding available RAM (i.e., memory) or Scratch Disk space. Deleting the preferences file and restarting Photoshop forces Photoshop to create a new preferences file that contains default preferences settings and default plug-in folder and file information.

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Error "Scratch Disk is Full" When Editing a File in Photoshop