need help formattin

new to macbook and I'm running a 10.6.1
what im tryna do now is transfer data (mp3 files) from my PC to my macbook.
just bought a WD passport 320gb.
i plugged it in the mac and it formatted the hard drive automatically.
so my question is how would i got about reformatting to FAT32 so it can be used by my mac and pc?... thanks in advance.

Are you sure it wasn't pre-formatted to FAT already? Mac OS doesn't automatically format a hard drive when you plug it in unless it's a feature I've never heard about. What does automatically happen is that it will ask you if you want to setup the hard drive for Time Machine. That's probably what you thought was automatic.

If you want to format your hard drive then open up Disk Utilities application found in your Applications folder under the sub-folder Utilities. Once you open Disk Utilities it will also tell you what format your hard drive is currently at. You can then choose to format it or leave it if it's already in FAT.

What might have happened is when it asked if it wanted to be setup for Time Machine, and he replied yes, it formatted the drive as HFS Extended Journaled which is what's required for Time Machine use.

Regards.

thanks, it worked, and im currently transferring the files

chscag said:

What might have happened is when it asked if it wanted to be setup for Time Machine, and he replied yes, it formatted the drive as HFS Extended Journaled which is what's required for Time Machine use.

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That's a good point. I forgot about that part.

Ldawg543, it's good to hear that things worked out for you.