alterative to disk utility for formatting external hard drive

I have been having a whole host of problems with my Intel Mac Mini including my hard drive not being recognized when trying to install a new program, mail crashing, system error messages and freezing and crashing of programs as well as not being able to upload anything online. So, I have decided to go ahead and try for a fresh install. I purchased an external hard drive to back-up all of my info but it turns out it needs to be formatted in disk utility. Well, disk utility is one of the many things not working properly so I am unable to use it to do so. Is there a free or inexpensive alternative to disk utility for formatting hard drives?

Thanks so much.

Why can't you boot your mini with the original Tiger install DVD and run Disk Utility that way?

Attach the external hard drive to your Mini. Boot the Mini with your Tiger DVD (hold down "C" key when you hear the chime). Do not go into the install program, instead click on Utilities, Disk Utility, from the top menu.

Click First Aid. Highlight the new external hard drive (second line) and format it as Mac HFS Journaled. After that's finished you can use it as a backup drive.

Regards.

Having had similar problems before, I'd recommend doing an "Archive and Instal" of your system. This will fix your problems and you won;t lose anything in the process.