phpmyadmin 2.2, MySQL and "overhead"

[Anon]

I have an application that inserts and pulls data from a MySQL db. However after I have run the application a few times - I notice that some of my table contain "overhead" and until I click "optimize table" it doesn't clear up.

Anyone know what causes the "overhead" and how to fix it?

Thanks

Mark

[Anon]

When you delete an row from your table, mySQL doesn't actually delete that item. In fact, it only deletes the reference to that item.

This creates an overhead (the space was reserved by that item)

To claim that space, you run Optimize

hope this helps