Formatting extra internal harddrive?

[paarnold]

Hi, I've tried to find this info in several other places but can't get a specific answer. Perhaps you guys can help.
I'm running a Dual 2.5 Ghz Power PC G5 with OS X 10.4.9.
This morning I tried to install a second internal hard drive, that will not be a startup disk. Its going to be used as a scratch disk for video and photo work. The drive is: WD Caviar Black SATA.
After installing the drive into the lower drive bay, I turned the computer back on and it said it couldn't recognize it. I clicked "intialize..." And now I'm in disk utility not really sure what to do. I have the DVD for OS 10.5.6. Apparently I need to format the disk? I don't really know what that entails. I'm not really prepared to update my startup disks OS. Can I still format the secondary drive with the newer software? How does one "format" a disk anyway?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Hellhammer]

Does Disk Utility see it? If it does, just click it and erase it and format to Mac OS (Journal)

 

[paarnold]

Wow that made it seem so simple and yet I would have never figured that out. Thanks!

 

[Hellhammer]

Wow that made it seem so simple and yet I would have never figured that out. Thanks!

So you formatted it and it's working now? No problem, mate

 

[paarnold]

Yeah, everything appears to be cool. It appears in the finder and I can move data to it. thanks again

 

[Dimwhit]

Wow that made it seem so simple and yet I would have never figured that out. Thanks!

I've always thought Disk Utility wasn't very user friendly in that regard. There should be a 'Format' option. I don't think most people will know that the Erase feature is what you use to Format a drive. Not very intuitive.

 

[Hellhammer]

I've always thought Disk Utility wasn't very user friendly in that regard. There should be a 'Format' option. I don't think most people will know that the Erase feature is what you use to Format a drive. Not very intuitive.

I agree, it's almost impossible to use it without knowledge of it, but luckily we in MacRumors can help