Deleting files from an external drive...

I have one 250 GB internal drive (OS and other applications), one 500 GB internal drive (mostly image files), and several external hard drives of various sizes.
I tried to clear up some space on a couple of the drives (not the one with the OS) and even though the files are gone, finder shows zero files, I still don't have any free space and can't write any new files to the drive?
What the heck? I even tried erasing everything through Disk Utilities, and Repair, and nothing works...
I have seen similar problems posted in other forums, and no one seems to have an answer...
Help, please!

Each drive has its own Trash folder (but Finder shows them all as one folder). Deleting a file just moves it to the Trash folder on three same drive, which is fast, as it just involves making some changes in the directory, not actually copying data. If the Trash folder was only on the primary drive, deleting a large file on a secondary drive would be slow, since it would have to be copied to the primary drive. It could also cause problems by using up space on the primary drive, or it might be too big to fit.
The problem drive might contain some hidden files. Look at it with Disk Utility. It should say how much space is really used, and how many files and folders are on the drive. If there isn't supposed to be anything on the drive,you could erase it (not Erase Free Space) with Disk utility.

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