PS5 won't start Scratch Disk Issues

I would really appreciate some help - I'm working to a deadline and got it into my head that I could speed things up if I reallocated my scratch disk to a bigger HDD (I have a Mac Pro with 4). So in a brain-fade moment I assigned the 3 non system disks in priority order BUT deactivated the Scratch Disk on the System drive. Photoshop will not now restart and gave the following error messages: "Could not open a scratch file because the disk is not available". followed by "Could not initialize Photoshop because the disk is not available". I went back 24 hours in Time Machine expecting that to fix things but, alas, no change. How can I reassign the scratch disks with the program off?

Yes, because I managed to fix the problem with Mac Command+Option+Shift .... DOH!
Thank you all very much.

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Another PSCS5 Won't Start/Scratch File/Permissions Thread

Win 7 x64, PS CS5 12.0.3. 12GB RAM, SSD for C:, HDD for D:, >900GB available on D:.
PS starts fine with only C:/ selected as scratch file location. But when I add a secondary scratch file location of D:/, I get the following errors on PS startup,
I have searched and read everything I can find about this problem but to no avail. In exploring this problem, I have set permissions for C: and D: to Full Control for my user account, administrator account, System, and authenticated users. No change in behavior. I have deleted the Preferences file, although as shown above, PS itself is deleting it. After the prefs file is deleted, whether by me or PS, PS starts fine, but with only C:/ as scratch. If I again add D:/ it again errors on next start.
I know of no problem with D:, no error messages except the one from PS. It is also used for a second Windows pagefile location and Windows TEMP/TMP files.
PS will start with D:/ selected as a scratch file location if I Run As Administrator.
I don't see any relevant error in Event Viewer, although I am incompetent and ignorant of that tool.
Any help will be appreciated.
Hold on, before hitting the Post button, I tried one more thing. I did the CTRL-ALT thing on PS startup and added D:/ as a scratch file location in that dialog. Then close PS, start it again. No problems. So it appears that PS just doesn't like to have a secondary scratch file location added from the running application by calling up the Edit/Preferences/Performance dialog.
I'll go ahead and make this post, hoping it might help someone else, and I will watch things for a while, maybe back off on some of the permissions, and report back with any findings.
Stan

No, I haven't been unable to access the scratch folder. I have been unable to successfully have Photoshop use my D: drive as the location for a secondary scratch file if it has insufficient room on C:. Going into the Edit/Preferences/Performance dialog and telling Photoshop to add the D: drive as the secondary location for a scratch file does not work. It appears to work, and a new preferences files is written, but when Photoshop opens the next time, it says it encountered a disk error and that the preferences file is invalid and then it deletes the preferences file. Then I can open Photoshop and it will make a new preferences file and works OK, but with only C: as the scratch file location, per default. If instead, I press CTRL-ALT immediately after starting Photoshop, it opens a dialog to ask me where I want scratch files. I can tell it C: and D:, it makes a preferences file with that information, and then everything is fine. I just don't know why I can't accomplish that from within Photoshop using the Edit/Preferences dialog. As I said, this behavior does not depend on file permissions.
As to what I have been through, it is pretty much what I have described, elevating file permissions to Full Control for all user categories, resulting in no change in behavior, and then trying the CTRL-ALT procedure, which solves the problem, and then lowering the permissions to where they were before, and the CTRL-ALT procedure still works. Every time. And the Edit/Preferences dialog never works (for this purpose).
Uh, oh, there is more to this. Although the CTRL-ALT procedure solved the problem specifically for setting the secondary scratch file location, I just tried setting some more preferences from within Photoshop, and got the same behavior as before, namely that the two error messages appear the next time Photoshop tries to open. So it appears to be more general, occuring whenever Photoshop creates a preferences file from the Edit/Preferences dialog. [Note: not right, further experiment results later.]
Now what?
Noel, if you believe this is due to security settings, I am willing to try whatever you recommend, but I believe you think I should solve the problem by elevating file permissions (which I have already tried) and running on an administrator account, and dealing with security issues in Windows and with procedures. But does everyone else using two drives for scratch files have to do that? I think I have something messed up somewhere but I don't know what.
Here are three scenarios:
Scenario #1:
1. Delete preferences file.
2. Open PS running as user.
3. A prefs file is created, but with 0 bytes, as observed in Windows Explorer.
4. Using Edit/Preferences/Performances, add D: as a secondary scratch drive.
5. Close PS.
6. The prefs file now has 190 KB. .
7. Open PS running as user.
8. Error messages received, PS does not start. Prefs file is deleted.
Scenario #2:
1. Start PS using CTRL-ALT procedure.
2. In the Scratch Disk Preferences dialog that comes up before PS, set D: as a secondary scratch drive.
3. A prefs file is created, but with 0 bytes.
4. Close PS.
5. The prefs file now has 190 KB.
6. Start PS, running as user.
7. Look in Prefs, shows C: and D: as scratch drives.
8. Close PS.
9. Time stamp of prefs file is updated.
Scenario #3:
1. Delete prefs file.
2. Start PS, Run As Administrator.
3. Using Edit/Preferences/Performances, add D: as a secondary scratch drive.
4. A prefs file is created, but with 0 bytes.
5. Close PS.
6. The prefs file now has 190 KB.
7. Start PS, Run As Administrator.
8. Look in Prefs, shows C: and D: as scratch drives.
9. Close PS.
10. Time stamp of prefs file is updated.
11. Start PS, running as user.
12 Get errors, prefs file is deleted.
Note that I used scratch file locations in these scenarios. I do't think it has anything to do with scratch files, as it turns out. It seems to just be how the prefs file is created.
Further experiment.
Open PS as user, Edit/Preferences/Cursors, don't change anything, hit OK, close PS.
Open PS as user, opens OK. Edit/Preferences/Performance, don't change anything, hit OK, close PS.
Open PS as user, get errors.
Open PS as user, Edit/Preferences/Performance, don't hit OK, switch to Cursors dialog, no changes, hit OK, close PS.
Open PS as user, get errors.
Open PS as user, Edit/Preferences/Performance, don't change anything, Cancel, close PS.
Open PS as user, opens OK.
OK, so it doesn't have anything to do with scratch files, it just has to do with visiting the Preferences/Performance dialog. Unless the only action taken is to Cancel the dialog.
My head hurts.
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This is normal.
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Photoshop is using RAM, but needs to allocate the scratch space, and make sure the allocation succeeded.
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All that occurs on restart, after the 'bong' is a grey screen. If a disk is in the optical drive, there is a brief sound of it spinning up, then silence for a good while, maybe 2 mins, then the disk is spit out. Nothing more. I have zapped the PRAM or whatever it's called these days, with no change.
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Hi, sounds like the Hard Drive is dying, & that can prevent booting up.
Hold alt key on bootup, what shows as boot choices?
Have you unplugged all peripherals, cords, & AC power, let sit 30 minutes & try just with AC connected?
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(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
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My Computer won't start, and Disk Repair says to backup files?

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Try this:
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Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
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6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

MacBook frozen on logo screen! Won't start from disk or boot into safe mode

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Details:
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Message was edited by: Cory James22

<rant>
I wasn't given an option to increase my hard drive size, as I took it in to a "local" AASP. They keep telling me Apple is slow shipping out a new HD, but with my experiences Apple always FedExs a repair order very quickly. If I had known it was the d* hard drive I would have had the thing up and running 2 weeks ago.
I plan on contacting Apple and letting them know that their AASP is giving them a bad name. I know that Apple is not the problem here, but other people who take their Mac in to these bozos will believe Apple is at fault for their slow service.
</rant>

PS5 won't start Scratch Disk Issues

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