# help! i know nothing about OSX



## katiekatie (Apr 3, 2005)

i'm really sorry- i dont know a lot about macs, or even any computer.

but i'm having a lot of troubles with my mac OSX. everytime i run photoshop it wont let me do anything, it says "could not move selection because the scratch disks are full." 

So i assume this means i should delete photos and movies off of my hard drive? with half of my stuff gone it still says this. it also says i cant empty the trash because "the scratch disks are full".. but i click continue and empty the trash again and the items arent on my hard drive anymore. have i not deleted them? is that why it still wont let me do anything????

eeeeek. ANY help is really really appreciated!!! 

-katie


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Welcome to TSF!

There should be Photoshop help - the "scratch disk" that are giving you problems have to do with Photoshop - not the MAC OS X.

On the Mac, each application has preferences - when you have Photoshop up, check its preferences - you may be given an opportunity to increase the "scratch disk".


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## katiekatie (Apr 3, 2005)

oooh, i didnt know they were individual things.

but i can't seem to find out where it is- the scratch disk. there's no 'prefrences'.

and it is also doing this in other programs- explorer & itunes & even the trash can... 

do you know how i can locate it?


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## katiekatie (Apr 3, 2005)

YeeFam said:


> Welcome to TSF!
> 
> There should be Photoshop help - the "scratch disk" that are giving you problems have to do with Photoshop - not the MAC OS X.
> 
> On the Mac, each application has preferences - when you have Photoshop up, check its preferences - you may be given an opportunity to increase the "scratch disk".


oooh, i didnt know they were individual things.

but i can't seem to find out where it is- the scratch disk. there's no 'prefrences'.

and it is also doing this in other programs- explorer & itunes & even the trash can... 

do you know how i can locate it?.. or increase it at that?


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## katiekatie (Apr 3, 2005)

YeeFam said:


> Welcome to TSF!
> 
> There should be Photoshop help - the "scratch disk" that are giving you problems have to do with Photoshop - not the MAC OS X.
> 
> On the Mac, each application has preferences - when you have Photoshop up, check its preferences - you may be given an opportunity to increase the "scratch disk".


wait!! i found it. i am so sorry!!
ok, it says
scratch disks
First: startup
Second:none
Third:none
Fourth:none

and there's the option of changing the first from 'startup' to 'hard drive'
would that help my problem?

also- ive been deleting things all day because i thought it would help out a lot, but when i watch the "3.2 GB available" it is still the same as to when i emptied the trash can. that cant be right..


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Katie,

I don't have Photoshop - but if it were my system I would designate the harddrive to be the "scratch" disk.

Right now I am guessing that Photoshop is using RAM as your scratch disk - which is very nice (very quick) but does require you to have lots of memory. Using the hard disk will give you the room - but will slow down the program a little (or a lot - have no idea.)

I would stop deleting stuff from your disk (unless you know you do not need it) and try to figure out how to get a better "scratch" disk.

Try that - and then we can figure out what else you can do to optimize your Apple.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

how many hard drives, or partions do you have?
when it sayes startup, it means startup volume, which is the harddrive the os is installed on.
but with 3gigs of free drive space, that should not be the problem. i'd more likely think it is corrupt preferences or broken permissions. when was the last time you fixed permissions?
if it has been awhile, find the utilities folder in the applications folder. lanch 'Disk Utility'. select the 'First Aid' tab, then select the volume (not the drive, but listed under the drive) that the os is installed on. click 'Repair Disk Permissions' button and let it do its thing.
to fix the corrupt prefrences, goto your home directory, open 'Libraryreferences' then delete any with photoshop or adobe in the name. also any related to other apps that are having problems. then the next time you lanch the apps, they will make a new preference file.
hope this helps.


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## tetano (Apr 5, 2005)

and 3.2 GB could be not so safe if it's your startup disk... you should keep 10% of free space for not having troubles... and after a restart you should see the real free space on your hard drive...


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## FutureFish (Apr 11, 2005)

*Scratch disks-Startup disk?*

I have also had scratch disk problems with Photoshop. I cant open the program cos scratch disks are full, and I need to open the program to change the drive used for scratch disks from startup to not HD, but the other one (Not sure what it is, 2nd on desktop) Which has a load of space. Is there any way I can clear the startup disk cos my HD has more space than normal after deleting everthing in a frenzy >_<


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Seems like this is a common problem!

Here is a start - like I guessed (I was lucky!), it is some sort of "virtual" disk.

I will do more research tonight, and see if I could come up with a "fix".

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/317280.html​


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Okay - here is the info (attached):


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## FutureFish (Apr 11, 2005)

My Photoshop uses the startup disk for scratch disks, and the main problem is that I cant change it to my HD exstension or even HD without opening the program, and I cant open the program because the scratch disks are full. Loop created. I went into disk utility in HD>Apps>System Utilities>Disk Utility and The partitions were locked, and "Cannot initailize startup disk." Scary. Wonder Why. Is their any way I can change photoshop scratch disk prefs without having to open the program, as I cant open it to do that, and the .pdf youve given me deals wih photoshop 5.5x and 4.0x. I have Photshop 7.0.1 for OSX. Ive got 323 meg of space on the partition I want to use as the primary scratch disk and only about 52 meg free on the HD. This is what I normally run photoshop off, but then the HD space dropped below 50 meg and prefs could not be saved, creating the problem. I checked for the photoshop prefs file and it wasnt there. Whats going on?


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## tetano (Apr 5, 2005)

first of all, free some space on your system HD, or the problem with photoshop would be the minor problem on your mac, since you're seriously risking to mess everything up... a good solution is to get an external drive, transfer some data on it and then change the scratch disk for photoshop...


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

FutureFish,

I agree with tetano - you will have to free up some space first before doing to many other things.

You should strive to meet the space recomendations in the pdf (or the one for your version - it should be in your manual.)

You may want to make a backup copy of the Photoshop preferences - and your files - you do not want to lose them. You want to do this ASAP!


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## FutureFish (Apr 11, 2005)

Thanks for the advice. As of current I have NOTHING on my desktop, nothing on the other users desktops, and HD is only used for apps, so freeing HD space has all been cleared as much as possible....and now Office X is shouting random errors at me as well cos of lack of memory...and I have all the mem card slots filled up inside my tower. Ill try and get my mits on external HD, but for the meantime Ill have to back up everything to Zip, very good they are. I cannot even find the Photoshop prefs file, It doesnt seem to exist in the documentes places. I know what I need now, thanks to all.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

The standard place for prefs should be in your users subdirectory:
/Library/Preferences/​
I've noticed that most applications uses *.plist (text file), others just text files, and apps like shockwave have it in binary format.

You may want to check the root /Library/Preferences/ - 

Take a look - not sure how Photoshop set it up.


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## FutureFish (Apr 11, 2005)

Been there, done that. Thanks for all the help-Now I know what to do in future. I deleted iPhoto and iSync and now I have a 140 meg (! How can iPhoto take up that much?) So all good now. Ill try and look out for an external HD, but problem solved for now. Thanks again all.


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