How to format my external HDD?

[LastLine]

So, I've currently got a 320gb Toshiba HDD that I want to format away from NTSC due to obvious Mac compatibility issues.

So my question is, which is the best file format to set it to to use for both Win XP and OS X? And how is the easiest way to do it?

Thanks

 

[Vader]

For Win and Mac, you need to use FAT 32.

 

[jeremy.king]

lol...you said NTSC...

Anyways in Disk Utility it will show up as MS-DOS.

 

[frankblundt]

if you're doing it from Windows you'll need a third-paty app cause XP won't format FAT bigger than 32GB. From the mac you can use Disk Utilty but it can be a bit wonky (at least on my system) and i found it more reliable from the command line

 

[LastLine]

So Disk Utility will let me format a 320gb disk to Fat32? Is that right? If so how, I've never used it before.

 

[osufnl499]

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/ format the drive for the mac then install that software on your PC and it should do what you want. That is what i did and i can read and write on the drive using both machines.

 

[frankblundt]

So Disk Utility will let me format a 320gb disk to Fat32? Is that right? If so how, I've never used it before.

connect the drive to the mac (if it's NTFS it may or may not mount)
open Disk Utility, select the external drive from the list, erase as MS DOS

apple instructions here

sometimes tho, i've had MS DOS not come up as an option for erase, altho i think that was only with previously mac formatted drives. so i had to use fdisk from Terminal which is a bit of a fiddle