How to format Hard Drives using Windows and Mac Operating Systems

First see how the hard drive is formatted

Right Click on the Hard Drive and Choose

Get Info

Hard Drive should be Mac OS Extended

Journaled

Click on the Lock to change permissions

Make sure Ignore Ownership is checked

Open Disk Utility

Go to Macintosh HD

Applications >Utilities>

Disk Utility

Pick the drive you want to reformat

Click Erase

Choose the Volume Format: as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Name the drive then click Erase in the lower right corner to erase the drive

How to format a hard drive in Windows.

Plug in the external drive to the firewire or USB 2 port and turn it on. Right Click on “My Computer” Then click on Manage
If the following wizard opens
Click on cancel. If the disk says Not Initialized then right click on the drive and initialize it by clicking on Initialize Disk. Click OK at the next menu to complete the process.
The next step is to format. Right click the drive in the stripped area and click New Partition
Click Next at the Convert Disk Wizard
7. Select the Primary partition and click Next
8. Specify Partition Size to the default which is the capacity of the drive and click Next
9. Assign a drive letter or choose the default then click Next 10. Select Format the partition with the following settings USE NTFS NAME THE DRIVE UNDER VOLUME LABEL Make sure that Perform a quick format is unchecked then click Next. 11. Click Finish to start the formatting process. Process will take @ 1.25 hours for 200 gigs (for example)

How to format a hard drive in Mac OSX

Must be logged on as a user with administrator privileges

1. Launch Disk Utility. Go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility

2. The external hard drive will be listed in the left hand column select the drive to format

3. Select Erase from the tabbed selections. Choose the Volume Format: as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Name the drive then click Erase in the lower right corner to erase the drive.