Hey there. Newbie to the forum here. Many thanks in advance for any help.

I'm a photographer, working on an Intel MBPro, OSx 10.4.11
I just purchased a 250 gb Western Digital Passport hard drive. I regularly transfer folders of images, delete images, copy, and replace various files or folders.

The drive comes formatted FAT32, but I noticed the WD portable aimed for Mac users comes formatted HFS, I think.
(I have no idea what any of this actually means, just that FAT32 can be used on both Mac & PC.) This particular drive will likely only be used on this machine (or, at most, another mac). So, my first question is, should I change the formatting to HFS? I have also read that FAT32 format has a 4 gb file limit.... does that apply to a folder, or just an individual file? My image files are certainly under 4 gb, but often folders of images are not. I was just not sure if a folder is considered a file...?

Second question... In disk utility, is "format" actually the "erase" tab? In Disk Utility the drive shows up as 2 drive icons. (I'm guessing this is partitioning...?) Which should I format? The top icon is listed as "WD2500BEV External Media" (and shows format as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"). The second, nested icon is the simpler "My Passport" that shows in a Finder window. This is the version that's listed as "MS-DOS file system" format.

Lastly, if I should format, do I use the first, "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" choice? Which Security Option should I use?

I'm sure a few of these questions are extremely elementary... apologies if they are glaringly so. I'm defintiely not going to work at a Genuis Bar anytime soon. But I do send profuse thanks for any help and answers!

If the My passport icon/label is slightly to the right of the wd media label, its a partition on that device

dont bother using and security options (makes it take longer) , and use hfs+ journaled

you have both windows and mac drive ( its for plug and play ( you see your drive when plugged))

if you format it in disk util, the way you like ( HFS+ Journaled or not ) you erase the other part

Thanks so much for all the help, everyone! Drive has been formatted HFS+, and is working great. Much obliged.

glad you got it fixed, that limit in fat32 is really annoying. such an ancient format.

is it possible to have ntfs and hfs partition together in guid formatted drive?

Yes it is possible, but some windows wont recognize GUID formatted disks. My XP does not.

you can specify to use MBR in Disk Utility if you want to format for both NTFS and HFS and move between windows and mac os