0 bytes available, 28 Gb free - HELP!

update: OS problem seems partly resolved after closing Photoshop and rebooting. Free space in both Disk Utility and Finder show correct amounts of free space.

Photoshop CS3 still says that the scratch disks are full, even though there are 66 Gb available on internal and external disks. As soon as Photoshop error message appears, Aperture error message appears saying that aperture library may be damaged because there is no disk space.

Photoshop is messing with some setting. anybody have any ideas what is happening?

mahalo,
paul

Thank you, sig!

In the interest of brevity I neglected to mention that I cleaned out 20 Gb first, still had the problem, and using iDefrag discovered that the free space was fragmented. I didn't realize that the drive needed to be repaired, just that I needed more space and unfragmented free space.

How would I recognize when a volume repair is necessary? Or should I simply be using Verify Disk on a semi-regular basis? (Or should I succumb to one of those excellent maintenance programs I keep getting advertisements for that check everything daily?)

The current situation reported to me from Verify Disk is:
---------------------
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
%)
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
d.",1)
Macintosh HD
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit

1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
---------------------

So you are absolutely right! Since I did contact the very nice folks at iDefrag who asked me to Verify Disk and report the results, I am waiting on their response before clicking the Repair button.

Oh, and every last byte is backed up regularly (and, ohmigod, CERTAINLY before attempting to defragment my internal drive!) <grin>

many thanks,
paul

Thanks, sig. Latest is that Disk Utility found an "orphaned indirect node i90931" (number may not be correct since it is from memory) in BOTH the internal hard drive and the backup volume on the external drive.

Disk Utility said it fixed it in both volumes, but the original problem remains that Photoshop CS3 thinks the scratch disk is full, and then Aperture flips out and says the hard drive is full.

I will try Disk Warrior next, I guess!

aloha all,

Thanks for your help! Although I have now discovered that the problem has nothing to do with my disks or directories, the suggestions have caused me to clear up space, defrag my disk, and repair my directories! All very good things I might not have done otherwise.

It turns out that the problem is in how Photoshop interprets a crop. Despite using Photoshop for years, I had never encountered quite this set of circumstances before. I've attached the explanation in Adobe TechNote 330796, which I had to go to Adobe support to find. Once Photoshop grabs all the space, the OS thinks there's no space left, either!

mahalo!
paul

--------
Adobe TechNote 330796:

Error: "Scratch disk is full" when cropping an image with dimensions and resolution specified in crop options (Photoshop CS)

Issue

When you try to crop an image in Photoshop CS and enter width, height and resolution values in the crop options, you receive the error that the scratch disk is full and are unable to crop the image.

Details

If you leave the crop options blank, you can crop the image successfully.

Solution

Do one of the following:

Solution 1: Specify measurement units when cropping.

Enter the desired measurement units in the width and height crop options. For example, enter 100px for pixels, or 1in for inches.

Solution 2: Set the default measurement units.

To set the default measurement units:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers (Windows) or Photoshop > Preferences > Units & Rulers (Mac OS).

2. Select a measurement unit for Type under the Units section of the Preferences dialog box. For example, select Pixels.

3. Click OK.

Background information

The error, "Scratch disk is full", occurs when the resulting file is too large for the scratch disk to process. This error can occur if a file was created in pixel dimensions but the crop options are entered in inches (the default measurement unit). For example entering 700 x 800 in the width and height crop options will default to inches, instead of pixels. You need to specify 700px x 800px to achieve the desired result or specify pixels as the default measurement unit in the Preferences. If you leave the crop options blank, then Photoshop CS will crop the image to the specified area using the same measurement units in which the image was created.