Unable to set scratch disk error

I know this has probably come up before but I can't find the topic when I search. The error message says this...."Unable to set scratch disk. The selected directory is on write-protected or non-writable media."
In addition to that, whenever I try to render by pressing either option+r or apple+r I get an error message saying...."File Error: Access Denied."
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried...
Trashing preferences?
Run Disk Utility?
Instead of control-clicking on the drive, try control-clicking on the Capture Scratch folder and the project Subfolder and changing permissions.

Similar Messages

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    When I try to use the internal hard drive as a scratch disk I get this error "unable to set scratch disk- the selected directory is on write protect or non-writable media.  Any ideas on how to fix this.  It only happens in fcp.

    By internal, I assume you're referring to your systems (boot) drive. Is it, by chance, a partitioned dive?
    Also…although many people successfully use their systems drives as scratch disks, over time you'll have better results using a dedicated drive for your media.
    Good luck.
    Russ

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    I have just upgraded to Lion and have tried to use FCE for the first time with it.
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    Also and I dont know if it is related, when I try to export to quicktime, there is no video in the exported quicktime file only video. There is video however when I tick make self contained movie.
    It is a new problem and hasn't happened before going to Lion.

    Most users using Lion have trouble of one kind or another.
    Short answer is Lion is not suppoorted for FCE use.
    Moving to FCP X is the only supported option at this time or roll back to Snow Leopard.
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  • Photoshop Scratch Disk Error OSX 10.7.5

    I had a Mac with CS5.5 installed. Suddenly i got an Error Message on Startup: "Could not open a scratch file because the disk is unavailable...."
    Unable to solve the Problem I Updated to CS6.0 in hope of fixing the Problem that way. It did not.
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    In this Thread FocusCreative22 found the answer to that Problem. He suggested checking "Ignore Ownership on this Volume" in the Volume Info.
    My Problem now is that either through having a newer OS version or only having the Startupdrive i dont have the checkbox "Ignore Ownership on this Volume". How to fix this Problem then?

    Chris,
    Thank you for responding. I think you're onto something. I looked in disk utility to see if I could repair permissions on the scratch volume, as Lundberg suggested, however the option to do so was greyed out due to this message: "Not available because the selected disk is set to ignore ownership". So I went to the partition, pulled up the Get Info box and saw that the "Ignore Ownership on this Volume" box was not checked. I checked it to see what would happen, and although the option to repair permissions is still greyed out in disk utility, now Photoshop starts up perfectly, even with the problematic scratch partition set as the primary Photoshop Scratch Disk.
    Is this the wrong way to get to the right answer?
    Concerning your other suggestions, I was able to use Go To Folder to get to the /private folder, and I saw that it said I could only read. I was able to add my user account and give it Read/Write permission through the Get Info dialogue box (I fear Terminal unless I have explicit instructions). Is this what I want? I also looked into the /volumes folder and apparently there is nothing within it, unless the folders are hidden I suppose. I checked permissions of my main drive (startup disk, on which all my applications reside) and they claim that I have read/write privileges. However I'm only viewing this in the Get Info box; is that not the right place to see/alter it? Because this whole time the scratch partition also claimed that I have read/write permissions and that was obviously not true, as it only started working right once I checked "Ignore Ownership on this Volume". But it's incredibly confusing because I could save files to the scratch drive from Photoshop; I just couldn't choose it as a scratch drive.
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    Hi, everyone:
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    In December, I began receiving the error message Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full. I deleted all the large files from my hard drive, and the problem went away.
    Now, I am working on a large Photoshop file (i.e., 585,155kb). I am working at 300 ppi for print reproduction, using multiple layers. I am opening each new image to be added to the master document in a separate Photoshop window. I set the resolution of each at 300 ppi, then crop and transfer to its new layer in the master file (using drag and drop). After I crop and transfer, I close the open window of the file I just cropped and transferred. No other programs are running. This seems to be fairly standard stuff.
    All was fine (although very slow) until two nights ago. When cropping, I received the error Could not complete your request because the scratch disks are full.
    Once again, I researched scratch disk error messages, and I came to the conclusion I had no choice but to increase my RAM. So, I upgraded from 512MB to 2 GIG. (I successfully opened my PC and installed the RAM myself, confirming it on the Properties window. A major success, as the RAM was costly, and difficult to find, so I saved some money and time by installing it myself!)
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    Hi, everyone: Thank you for your help with my problem. I appreciate everyones time and feedback, as well as the openness to help and explain (and further explain) what I do not fully understand. I learned a lot more, as Photoshop always introduces new things to learn and figure out. (One has to be part programmer to make PS work!) I appreciated the clear instructions and simple analogies too (for example, the head vs. suitcase was great).
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