G4-OSX10.2.8- Loses disc space until apps crash

Hi -
As I run applications throughout the day, my computer seems to lose disk space rapidly, until the applications start crashing and I have to restart.
For example,
6 am - Start computer, do a command i on the HD - it says 3.5 GB available
6:01 am - start photoshop/illustrator, I look at the OSX HD - it says 3.1 GB available
7:00 am - start InDesign, quit Photoshop, says 2.6 GB available
7:30 am - illustrator/InDesign start "Unexpectedly Quitting"
8:00 am - All programs are closed - my drive says 2.2 GB available...
So - I restart, and then it happens all over again (although with all programs being used - this is just an example)
I've ran Disk Warrior/TechTools/Apple Disk Utility/Verified Permissions/ - until all errors were gone (several times) and Optimized the drive.
Any thoughts on what could be causing this and/or what I could do to fix it?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Tricia

I know that OSX uses HD space for Temp Files and Cache Files and Virtual Memory when your Main RAM gets low from Apps.
I know specifically with Photoshop you can set it in the prefs of as to how Much Disc space it uses for its Temp use. Also in the photoshop prefs you can set how much Ram you want it to use as well.
If you got 768MB RAM and your Photoshop is using at default 512MB for the app, then your OSX might slow down, as it has less RAM to use, therefore the HD gets used up for VM use and Temp/Cache files are created.
I go into photoshop and set via its Prefs to use no more than 150MB. come on unless you are editing 200MB Image files with 20 different filters, not many people will need Photoshop to use that much memory.
Also I use an app called Macaroni, it lets me run my cron scripts anytime I wish. Using Macaroni allows me to clear out my systems Temp/Cache files (daily/weekly/monthly), especially if you dont leave your Mac on at night.
if you regularly turn off your OSX Mac at night, its likely the Cron utility scripts are not running, which means your Systems Temp Files and Cache Files are building up enough so that your are losing valuable HD space.
Another app that could help is System Optimizer X. It has some features that let you manually clean out your Cache and Temp files without using the terminal.
as for more RAM. more the merrier. I put 2GB in my G4 Dual MDD and it runs faster and snappier than it ever did before.
RAM is cheap now. 2yrs ago when I bought a 512MB DIMM for my Mac it was almost $90. 2 months ago when I upgraded from 1GB to 2GB, I got 2x 512MB DIMM's for $45 each. your Mac will love you for it...and do yourself a favor dont buy "cheap quality ram" Crucial sells some of the best quality Apple RAM...I learned that the HarD way.
one last tidbit, am curious why you partioned the Heck out of your 80GB HD? maybe your Mac is getting confused with all those partitions. HD's are cheap too. You can get a 120GB int ATA100 for around $60 now, keep your main Hd for the system stuff and main apps, and use your new Hd for storage and files.
Oh and Good Luck.

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Message was edited by: buckykatt02

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