External HD on "Read Only", Can't "Write" to it

[fierce_deity]

Hello all,

Im a newb to Macs. I have a G4 iBook and im trying to get my new External hard drive to work in "Read and Write" mode.

The external HD is a 300Gb Skymaster HDA2. No probs using it in on Windows XP... I can read and write. But on my mac it’s on "Read Only" mode. It doesn't let me copy any files on to it.

Does anyone know what settings I need to change to enable "Read and Write"? A guy at told me I might have to format the HD before being able to write files on it? How do I format? Will formatting allow me to "Read and Write"?

 

[barhar]

'Does anyone know what settings I need to change to enable "Read and Write"?' - there are no such settings available.

'A guy ... told me I might have to format the HD before being able to write files on it?' - the guy was correct.

'How do I format?' - if you intend to use the external hard disk drive with both the Mac and PC, then follows the instructions at this 'Formatting a Windows (MS-DOS) disk' Apple web page.
If you intend to use the external hard disk drive with only Macs, then follow the 'Formatting a Windows (MS-DOS) disk'; but, selecting 'Volume Format:' popup menu's 'Mac OS Extended' or 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' menu item (in step 2.).

'Will formatting allow me to "Read and Write"?' - yes.