Can't reclaim disk space

(Posting on behalf of friend who is a computer novice and hasn't managed to register on this site)
My friend has a 12" PB running 10.3.9 and using iTunes 6.0.4. He has a 60gb HD
Two days ago, he deleted all his iTunes files and started re-recording all his CD's in ALC His hard drive soon became full and so he moved all his music onto an external HD.
The problem is that OS X thinks that he has a mere 101 mb left.
1) There is nothing in the trash
2) I have added up the total space used by his docs and apps and they come to about 5gb
3) In disk utility, the 'Repair Disk' and 'Verify Disk' buttons are greyed out so we are unable to try that solution?
Any ideas??
Thanks in advance
Powerbook 12   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

You say he moved his music off the drive, but have you checked to be sure those files aren't still on the disk? They're kept in Users/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, so you should check there first to be sure they really aren't on the hard drive. If they are and he's sure he has them all or doesn't need them, send that folder to the Trash and empty the Trash.
If you checked and that folder is gone or empty, then use OS X install CD to boot the Mac and use the Utilities menu to Repair Disk (if it reports no errors the first time, run it again; if it reports any errors, keep running it until no more are reported. Then Repair Permissions, restart the Mac and check how much free space it reports.
If Repair Disk finds a problem it can't repair, you should stop using the computer immediately and get a third-party disk utility such as DiskWarrior.
Hope this helps,
Mulder
If my answer helped solve your problem, please consider awarding some points. Why Reward Points?
iMac G4 700Mhz   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

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