How to Solve a ‘Scratch Disk is Full’ Alert on MacBook

Have you ever received an alert on your MacBook saying ‘Scratch Disk is Full?” What is a scratch disk? More importantly, how are you going to fix this issue? There’s actually an easy solution to this problem. One solution is to clear the disk, as it can help improve the system performance. Unfortunately, not every Mac user is tech-savvy and can get through this issue with as much ease. The goal of this review is to create a scratch disk manual, outlining the measures that need to be taken.

What is a Scratch Disk?

A scratch disk is a hard drive space. Its importance is in storing a variety of stash files, created by various programs, installed on the device.

For instance, anyone who uses Final Cut Pro regularly needs virtual storage. In other terms, this is a place where all scratch files are kept. There are a variety of applications using scratch drives. When this program needs to work with different data folders, it takes the space of your MacBook. Gradually, the data is accumulated and affects the general performance of the device.

How to Clean a Scratch Disk?

If a laptop alerts about the need to clear its disk, the notification shouldn’t be ignored. It means there is no free space on the hard drive and it is important to take proper measures. The programs that use this space can’t remove all these unwanted folders by themselves. For that reason, you have to do it manually.

1. Use CleanMyMac

This is a powerful, third-party application, which permits removal of specific caches from the laptop. The core target of this application is to remove all unwanted files from a computer. Even if you forget about cleaning the cache, the app will alert the user to do so. In simple terms, the program is proactive (it knows which files are blocking the performance of a computer and alerts the user).

Take advantage of the free trial version. To start, download CleanMyMac from the official website and launch it. After that, open the menu bar and select the required task. You can also schedule out cleaning operations, and the program will notify about the cleaning process. It will remove junk and other temporary files from the device.

2. Delete Cache Manually

This method is time-consuming, but it works well. All temp files occupy the space of your hard drive and slow the performance. In order to find all these files, type in the search field words, such as “.tmp” or “pst.” Commonly, all cache files begin with these words. Check the list for all of the files and remove unnecessary ones.

3. Change the Scratch Disk

There is another solution – to change a scratch disk to another drive. In this case, the old disk can be replaced with a new one.

To replace the disk in the application (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, etc.), open the app and find the menu bar. Then, open the preferences menu and go to the Scratch Disk. The next step is to remove a drive. Then restart the program.

Following these steps makes sure the message “scratch disks are full” never resurfaces again. Using the applications provides a smoother and faster operation of a computer.

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