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jeff k · Jun 8, 2014, 01:33 AM

On on a 2 yr old 11" macbook air.

I've got a full 15 gb free, yet when I try to work on CS5 PS, it says disc is almost full and I have no scratch space.

Yes discs is just 60BG I think I have a full 15 GB empty, puzzled. thanks.

Ω · Jun 8, 2014, 05:42 AM

Download OmniDiskSweeper - it's free (or was last time I looked)

jeff k · Jun 9, 2014, 03:23 AM

Thanks, that did not help.

Anyone else out there.?

I can delete myself, and if face did that a few weeks ago, that's why it has 15 GB of free space and not 2GB!

ghporter · Jun 9, 2014, 07:11 AM

When you deleted stuff, did you empty the Trash? Did you "Secure" empty it? Supposedly there is no improvement in empty disk space after the secure option, but since the OS is actually overwriting the no longer used space, the file system may actually recognize it as empty, which may not be happening at the moment, or PS would see that much empty space too.

Spheric Harlot · Jun 9, 2014, 09:20 AM

If there were a difference between "secure" empty trash and regular emptying the trash, something would be conceptually completely messed up about how the OS treats disk space. As in, totally broken.

Secure empty trash differs from regular trash emptying only in two ways regarding results: one, it takes WAY WAY WAY longer, and two, it makes the deleted material unrecoverable to anybody. Other than that, there should be zero difference.

P · Jun 9, 2014, 09:52 AM

First run Disk First Aid. Not the most likely problem, but the first one you should check.

Second...Doesn't Photoshop require contiguous space for its scratch disk? I realize that I sound like a tip from the eighties, but this might be one case where you might want to defragment. Not the files, but the empty space.

As a quick fix, use a USB stick as your scratch disk. It will be slower, but it should at least work.

andi*pandi · Jun 9, 2014, 11:53 AM

Photoshop uses a lot of disk space for temporary files. How much RAM do you have?

P is right, use an external drive as scratch space (your time machine prob has space). And it might be good to defrag as he says.

jeff k · Jun 9, 2014, 03:15 PM

Thanks Guys, well, I did in fact bring some external HDs, so maybe I can use them as scratch disc, though it a small nuisance, oh well.

So even with 25% of the disc empty, PS prefers an external for scratch?

Anyway, if I do that, then that should obviate need to run first aid, or defrag....

andi*pandi · Jun 9, 2014, 04:29 PM

It might obviate the EMERGENCY nature of the defrag... your internal hard drive could be failing/bad sectors, so first aid is a good idea.

P · 11:21 AM

First run Disk First Aid. That might even be the problem (that your free space bitmap is messed up), and if it is, then great. Even if it isn't, you might find something else that's weird.

ghporter · Jun 9, 2014, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

If there were a difference between "secure" empty trash and regular emptying the trash, something would be conceptually completely messed up about how the OS treats disk space. As in, totally broken.

Secure empty trash differs from regular trash emptying only in two ways regarding results: one, it takes WAY WAY WAY longer, and two, it makes the deleted material unrecoverable to anybody. Other than that, there should be zero difference.

Yeah, but if PS isn't seeing 15GB free as "enough," maybe the OS or file system or both need reminding. It can't hurt to do (especially if the trash has recently been emptied) and as I implied, "nudging the file system's elbow" may get it to notice all that free space. Actively accessing free space should make the file system visit all sorts of tables, and that could force a delayed table write or something, and make the extent of the free space visible no matter how an app looks for it.

Of course if it does fix the problem, something is seriously borked with the file system...that's a given. If it doesn't change the way PhotoShop sees the drive, and if everything else sees that 15GB as free (and it's 25% of the drive), then it would be an issue with PS.

Thorzdad · Jun 10, 2014, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by jeff k

Thanks Guys, well, I did in fact bring some external HDs, so maybe I can use them as scratch disc, though it a small nuisance, oh well.

FWIW, it's always a good idea to use a dedicated external drive to use as a scratch disc, if you're going to be doing a lot of Photoshop work.

jeff k · Jun 11, 2014, 08:57 AM

Thanks, I did a disk utility check and it came out ok for Mac HD. Still photoshop is bringing up message that the startup disc (Mac HD ) is almost full, which is odd, and hence, I cannot work in PS. (18 GB free out of 58 GB)

Using the external for scratch solved the scratch issue, should I do this defrag now, and if so how do I do that?

Have not done it since OS 9

andi*pandi · Jun 11, 2014, 11:01 AM

Mac OSX 10.5 and up, I think:

Restart, hold down command-R. You should get disk utility (mac osx now hides a small partition to do repair work with so you don't have to boot from a cd etc)

OS X: About OS X Recovery

P · Jun 12, 2014, 06:27 AM

Can you defrag empty space in Disk Utility? I can see how such a thing could be hacked in (shrink the main partition by 10 gigs or so, then expand it back) but I don't think it's an official feature.

Actually, now that I think of it, it might be best to make an official scratch partition this way. Shrink the main partition by as much as you can get away with, then make a second partition that you dedicate to scratch.

ghporter · Jun 12, 2014, 07:01 AM

I just (finally) had this idea pop into my mind. Does Disk Utility's defrag also consolidate used space? That could be a major issue. If there's 15GB free in 300 different small chunks, I can understand why an app that wants some elbow room would not want to run. My understanding is that the file system's background upkeep routines only defragment files of a certain size, and that they don't consolidate used space. If DU uses the same strategies, then there's still a possible major issue with available space.

jeff k · Jun 13, 2014, 02:43 AM

thanks P, GH,
ok still bit lost, what do you guys recommend? I'm not to fluid in changing partitions or defragging.

I could just wait till I'm back on desktop for this project... couple months away but that's ok.

Still bummer can't work on images while traveling.

Main box coming up now is it says startup disk is almost full. Using the external for scrath did job, though it's a nuisance. How much GB need for scrath?

P · Jun 13, 2014, 05:05 AM

I would recommend that you use Disk Utility to shrink the current partition (in the sidebar in Disk Utility, click the actual disk rather than a partition and you will get a new set of tabs in the main window. One of them controls partitions) and make a new scratch partition in the area that you save.

ghporter · Jun 13, 2014, 07:30 AM

Yup. That does all we're saying seems to need doing (without you needing to tweak or fiddle with anything else). Shrinking the partition will automatically consolidate everything, and you'll make the scratch partition with what's left.

andi*pandi · Jun 13, 2014, 09:10 AM

how much scratch space you need is related to how big your photoshop files are. If you are getting errors, you need more.

akent35 · Jun 13, 2014, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by P

I would recommend that you use Disk Utility to shrink the current partition (in the sidebar in Disk Utility, click the actual disk rather than a partition and you will get a new set of tabs in the main window. One of them controls partitions) and make a new scratch partition in the area that you save.

P is correct. Once you select Partition (that's what it's called), the next screen will show how many partitions the disk already has. Also, the Partition Layout will show current. To create another partition (scratch, as P is calling it), you have to click the + button to have that change to how many partitions to start with. For example, on my Mac Mini (machine I am on now), there are two "visible" partitions on my 256 gig SSD: the "main" one containing the OS (Mavericks), the applications I have, and whatever else I choose to have there, and the eDrive partition, which gets created by TechTool Pro (a utility program I HIGHLY recommend). When I click on the + button, the Partition Layout changes from Current (2 partitions) to 3, and a small new partition is shown on the scheme. If I want to "add" that partition, I would then hit the "Apply" button. One can, though, first adjust the size of this new partition. Also, if one does not like the name Disk Utility gives to the new partition, it can be changed prior to selecting the Apply option.

One can also add another partition by changing the Partition Layout from (say) 3 to 4 (in my case).

Finally, and VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you have a good, recent backup of the information on your "primary" disk/partition before doing this. Although this should work smoothly, sometimes things can go wrong, and if that happens, you could then have real problems without a good backup.

goyaboy28 · Jun 13, 2014, 04:44 PM

This may be your problem...

Open up the Image Size dialog box and look at the Resolution. I've had issues where the PPI is only 1 and the image dimensions are huge. Somehow, the image size got mangled and makes the system think that the file is gargantuan. Correct the numbers to what you think is correct, checking Resample image. It's worked for me in the past with bad images.

jeff k · Jun 19, 2014, 01:30 PM

If I shrink the Mac HD, then it gets smaller. PS is saying that it's already to full (even though its 25% empty)

I did look at the PS image, it ok.

akent35 · Jun 20, 2014, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by jeff k

If I shrink the Mac HD, then it gets smaller. PS is saying that it's already to full (even though its 25% empty)

I did look at the PS image, it ok.

Without getting an external drive, are there any items of significant size that you could move to the new partition? I do see, though, that the size of your current disk is "only" 60 gig. So, not sure how much of this will help. It seems the optimal solution would be to use the external disk/disks that you have. Maybe you could just leave the 60 gig drive alone, but move (not copy) whatever large files you can to the external disk. That could free up a good amount of space on the internal drive.

jeff k · Jun 21, 2014, 10:38 AM

A, thanks, well I actually had a lot of stuff on the external, but then for convenience moved much to the internal, thinking 25% would be fine, real puzzled. YEah,... I guess I could move stuff back....