Disk Repair + Erase Free Space = 0 bytes free space

So, I decided to Disk Repair and Erase Free Space... using the Disk Utility application. When all is done -- my HDD now indicates that I have 0KB left ????

I quickly connected my FW800 external backup drive and started backing up my stuff -- just in case.

Does any one know what is going on and why this is happening?? No application was running during the repair/erase processes.

Funny that I can still use the mac while I have 0KB free space. I am afraid to put my powerbook to sleep.

My system is a Powerbook 15" 1.25GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD with Mac OS X (10.4.4). Any help/comments/suggestion would be really appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

After backing up some file (moving them to my external drive) I saved about 8GB of space. Then I said what the hell and try the "Erase empty space..." thing again... and this time I left it on all night -- and this morning i noticed my drive is ~11GB free? --- umm.. can someone explain what is happening?

Worst case scenario I am going to do a full reinstall of the OS after a format.

Thanks everyone!

Whiteapple said:

Question. Before deciding to repair/erase empty space, did you use the PB for a long time?
OSX has some issues with free space, but nothing very nasty, often to deal with the trash. Best to always Finder>Empty trash in secure mode
No issues after

Click to expand...

Yes I have used my PB for a long time.. and I did do the trash empty/secure erase. But that will only do for the just-deleted files.

I tried to search the support site with any results!