Time Machine thinks computer hard drive is 644245120.0 GB

Hi All,
So just the other day while I was in the middle of a time machine backup my OS crashed. I got that "you must restart your computer" message on the screen so I restarted my computer.
Today I tried backing up with time machine again and I got this message
*"TIME MACHINE ERROR"*
+This backup is too large for the backup volume. The backup requires 644245120.0 GB but only 271.3 GB are available.+
+To select a larger volume, or make the backup smaller by exluding files, open system preferences and choose Time Machine.+
What the heck? I wish my hard drive was that big unfortunately it isn't, it's only an 80gig.
I tried deleting the "In Progress" and "Latest" files from the backup folder on the external HD but that didn't work. I also tried restarting a couple times but that didn't help either.
Has anyone else experienced this or have any tips for me? I haven't been able to find any other threads on this issue but if there are any let me know.
I'm running a PowerBook G4 15" 2GB RAM.
My external HD is a 500GB Western Digial MyBook
Thanks
Ben

Hello Ben:
The crash probably caused some directory problems.
Try to fix things by running repair disk from your software install DVD on both disks (internal and external).
Delete the TM preference file (com.apple.timemachine.plist) and restart.
Barry
P.S. If none of that works, you are probably going to need to erase and reformat the external HD.

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Time Machine thinks computer hard drive is 644245120.0 GB

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