When I go into Disk U, do I hit first aid,rid,erase,restore? There is no apply button. I know it should be a simple thing, but I can't figure it out.
Thanks
Well first off, if those are the choices you see in the tabs (since you don't Partition as a choice) you have not selected the drive in the left hand column yet.
When it is selected (and Partition appears in the tabs as a choice telling you that you have selected the whole drive correctly), look at the info at the bottom of the screen. Where it lists "Partition Map Scheme" at the bottom notes what it says. If it reads "GUID Partition Table" or "Apple Partition Map" then just go to ERASE below. If on the other hand it says MBR (for Master Boot Record) as I suspect it will, go to PARTITION below.
ERASE:
Click the erase tab at the top of the screen. Select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the Volume Format. Enter a name for your drive just below that. Click the Erase button, wait a few seconds and you are done and can quit Disk Utility.
PARTITION:
To make full use of your disk (and the option to resize partitions, add partitions etc. later without destroying data) it cannot be left with a Windows MBR partition scheme as it probably came with.
So, click the Partition tab at the top. If the OPTIONS button near the bottom of the screen in the Partition window is greyed out (non-selectable) then:
--Change the Volume Scheme pull down menu at the top from "Current" to any number other than 1. Immediately then change it back to 1, and you will notice the Options button at the bottom will then be black (selectable). Click that Options button and choose "GUID" (assuming you have an Intel based Mac, or APM if you have an older PowerPC based Mac). Click OK to close that window.
(If by chance the Options button was already black when you went into the Partition window, still click it and select GUID or APM as appropriate as noted above!)
Now go up to the top, give the drive a name, select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as the Format and finally click the Apply button at the bottom.
Wait a few seconds and it will be done- quit Disk Utility and go begin using your drive.
Enjoy your new storage.