scary white screen??

I had run almost out of battery (like 2%) but I just shut the lid so I left it for awhile sleeping. When I came back a while later I realized (and tried) to turn it on but it was dead. So I go down stairs and plug it into my adapter and press power.
When I did, there was no apple sign or anything just a almost white screen (I could still see my background with icons etc) and a little bar near the bottom filling up then it was normal. What is this scary whiteish screen??

 

most likely the safe sleep function. just before it runs out of power it saves everything to the harddisk, so if you do completely die, your session is saved. basically identical to windows hibernate

 

That's exactly what that was. Should look something like this.

 

that is just what happens when the batter dies or is removed after the machine has gone to sleep it stores the session data in memory or on the HDD, so it can be restored to that state. great for people that need to swap in extra batteries, etc.

no worries.

 

Just a heads up, don't let your battery run that low unless you are performing battery calibration(every 30 cycles). It is really bad for Lithium Ion batteries for them the be run that low. If you have to run them low, be sure to start charging them between 10 and 20% of charge to ensure longer battery life.

Don't believe me? Check out the Battery Guide.

 

thank you all, thats exactly what it was.
and i'll be sure to not let it run that low, but i thought it was good for it to drain occasionally?

 

Once every 30 cycles to make sure the battery meter is accurate, but I don't even do that. You can drain the battery, but not fully, that is what really kills it(besides heat).