Trash error 8003 when deleting TM backups
So I have resolved my problem with the error 8003, but I still need some advice about whether my external hard drive is in ok condition. Here is what happened:
I was getting the error only when my EHD was connected, so I know it was linked to the TM backups - I wanted to delete older backups to make room for newer ones. I tried a few solutions - Trash It didn't work for me. Then I ran a scan of my EHD with Disk Utility, it told me I needed to repair the disk, but the repair failed and it gave me that message about backing up my files and erasing the EHD (i think). At this point I could no longer see my EHD on my Desktop or Finder, though it did show up in Disk Utility, but I couldn't unmount it. I shut down computer and then unmounted the drive.
I connected my EHD when my computer was on again, and after quite awhile, it finally showed up on my desktop, and the trash was suddenly empty!
So the problem may have resolved itself, but the weird thing is, even though the TM backups I had initially deleted were no longer in the trash, I still have the same amount of free space on the EHD as before - so it's like they're still there even though they're not in my list of backups anymore. In other words, they got deleted but it didn't free up space on the EHD.
I do need to be able to delete backups so I can make room for more backups in the future, but should I just not take the risk with this EHD? I haven't lost valuable data that I feared I had lost when it wasn't even mounting, but maybe I shouldn't do any more TM backups on this drive??
Insights?
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)