Prepare External HD For New iMac

[Spellbinder]

Technically, I'm a re-switcher. I had an iMac in 2011/12. Had to sell it for financial reasons during a horrible 8 month work-layoff. I'm back on my feet and getting a shiny, new late-2013 27" iMac in a few weeks. I've been using Windows 8 on a PC the last year and a half.

So, I have two 3TB external Western Digital MyBook harddrives. I've backed up all my files, pictures, videos and music on one. Both are formatted to NTFS. Should I wait until I get the iMac and format the empty one to Mac OS Extended or is Fat32 OK?

Any advice appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[chscag]

Format it to Mac OS Extended Journaled. You would be limited with FAT-32 to a single file size of no greater than 4 GB and would lose 1 TB of space on that drive because of additional FAT-32 limits on total size.

 

[Spellbinder]

Many thanks. I will wait for the iMac and format then. Much appreciated!