I bought an external hard drive but it was for Windows

[piatti]

I want to download a lot more music and upload a lot more photos on my MBP so I bought a 2TB WD harddrive. (link: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-Desktop-External/dp/B002QEBMCI/re f=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307759936&sr=8-1 )But If I move most of my photos and movies and music to there, how do I organize it?

I'm thinking maybe I could move the whole iTunes and iPhotos together with all its files to the external HD?
Also is there some sort of protection cover that I could buy for it?

Also it says on the description: Designed for use with Windows-based computers. Can be easily reformatted for use with Macs.
How can I format it for Mac?

Maybe I should have gotten one designed for Mac?: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0031WU8XS

Should I try to reformat this one for Mac or return it and buy the pre-formatted for Mac version?

 

[gakuran hitori]

It can easily be reformatted to work with Macs, just like the description reads. It will ship formatted in NTFS which Mac OSX can not write to. Plug it in and go to Utilities > Disc Utility, select the new hard drive and chose to format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Alternatively you could reformat it as FAT32 which would be readable with Mac OSX as well as Windows, if you're planning to use it with multiple computers.

 

[nunes013]

if you plug it in via usb and open disk utility, click the western digital element hard drive on the left in the pane. click on the erase tab and select mac os x extended journaled. this will reformat it for use with mac os x. you can buy the other drive however this will work.

EDIT: ^^beat me lol. but yea fat32 will work with both mac and windows so you can choose either. for a warranty i dont think you can purchase another. western digital gives you something with the drive but i dont think there is a service plan.

also note if you are moving photos and music over you will only be able to access them if the drive is plugged it. i saw you had a mbp and not a desktop so i was just saying. im sure you knew but just clearing it out.

 

[piatti]

I want to do FAT32 because I would like to be able to use it on Windows too. Under Erase tab, I don't see a fat32, i see an exFat and MS-DOS (Fat)
Under Raid, I see just the MS-DOS (fat).

 

[OneUp]

exFat is what you want

 

[piatti]

Thanks, what about for under Raid?

 

[DWBurke811]

You aren't setting up the drive in RAID, so don't worry about it.

 

[piatti]

Ok thank you.

What's the best way to organize the photos and music inside the drive?

 

[NZed]

exFat is what you want

What's the best way to organize the photos and music inside the drive?

exFat is definitely what you want. If you format is as Fat32, you will have trouble moving files that are larger than 4gb

I just use time machine.

 

[hampshiremac]

I want to download a lot more music and upload a lot more photos on my MBP so I bought a 2TB WD harddrive. (link: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-Desktop-External/dp/B002QEBMCI/re f=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307759936&sr=8-1 )But If I move most of my photos and movies and music to there, how do I organize it?

I'm thinking maybe I could move the whole iTunes and iPhotos together with all its files to the external HD?
Also is there some sort of protection cover that I could buy for it?

Also it says on the description: Designed for use with Windows-based computers. Can be easily reformatted for use with Macs.
How can I format it for Mac?

Maybe I should have gotten one designed for Mac?: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0031WU8XS

Should I try to reformat this one for Mac or return it and buy the pre-formatted for Mac version?

I went to Disk Utilities to reformat my external hard drive, which I had used with a PC. When I checked the format, it was already in the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Had the Mac already done this for me automatically?

 

[piatti]

exFat is definitely what you want. If you format is as Fat32, you will have trouble moving files that are larger than 4gb

I just use time machine.

I'm not sure what time machine is supposed to do? I just want to have more space and making copies of my memory would take up space?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I went to Disk Utilities to reformat my external hard drive, which I had used with a PC. When I checked the format, it was already in the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Had the Mac already done this for me automatically?

When you connect an external HDD for the first time to a Mac, you get asked, if you want to use it for Time Machine, and if you confirmed that, the HDD will be automatically formatted.
Do you have a folder called "backups.backupdb" on that external HDD?

I'm not sure what time machine is supposed to do? I just want to have more space and making copies of my memory would take up space?

Time Machine is for automatically backing up data. http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/
Time Machine FAQ

Btw, "memory" is not the same as "hard drive capacity":
What is Computer Memory? RAM vs Hard Drive
RAM vs. Hard Disk