My 500GB drive claims it has 2TB of space !?!?

I have been using a 500GB external USB drive as a Time Machine backup, and recently I found it was no longer mounting. I tried to re-format the drive, and when I used Disk Utility, the utility claimed that the drive had 2TB of space. I could not find way to dissuade it of this error. I have tried re-partitioning into a single partition, and I have re-formatted a couple times as MacOS Extended with GUID map. I can force it to have only one 500GB partition, but Disk Utility still claims its "total capacity" is 2TB. I can copy files to it, and Time Machine accepts it. But this discrepancy has me worried. Does anyone have a suggestion? Trash it?

I too have just encountered this problem. ** One note I am using Mac OS X Lion **
I have a Seagate GoFlex 500gb External that was connected by USB through another external drive (Acomdata 500gb External) connected to my MacPro 1,1. It has been working this way for about a year no problem.
The Acomdata will no longer mount.
The Seagate when connected by USB directly to another slot on the MacPro prompts the error "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and the drive does NOT mount onto the desktop or finder.
In disk utility the drive is listed, but now claims that the disk it 2.2TB. There is also no option to verify or repair permissions. Only the options to reformat.
I have tried to recover the data (which I am extremly worried about as you can imagine) using Date Rescue II. The software claims there are 0 Files on the drive.
My question is do you think my files are lost for good?

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