Setting up a PC formatted hard drive

I have bought an external hard drive that's set up for use with a PC (FATS?). I have been told that I could reformat it for use with my iMac. I want to use it with Carbon Copy Cloner.

Should I return it or is it straightforward to 'convert' it with disk utility? If the latter do I just erase everything on it and then use it as the destination for CCC or do I have to do something else?

You can change filesystems on a disk with ease using Disk Utility. Fire up DU > select the disk > Erase > for format, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)."

Just a note - formatting wipes a disk clean so back it up before you format it.

Alwyn said:

I have bought an external hard drive that's set up for use with a PC (FATS?).

If the latter do I just erase everything on it...

Click to expand...

If this is a brand new hard drive…then there's nothing on it. It's just formatted for a Windows computer. Just reformat it with Disk Utility (Mac OS Extended Journaled).

- Nick

Yes it is a new hard drive. Before I do that it has occurred to me that, if I buy a larger capacity drive, i.e. 1TB+ instead of 500GB, I could partition the drive and use it with CCC on both iMacs. Is this a good idea or, apart from the inconvenience of switching from one iMac to the other, not?

It'll work - the two partitions will look like two different drives when you plug it in. Is it a good idea? It's convenient but if the drives dies or gets damaged, you lose two computers worth of backups. It's up to you though.