NTFS drive—should I reformat it?

Lucas1948 wrote:

One more question. I mentioned that I will move my Photos system library to the new external drive. Should I partition the drive to give the library its own workspace? Any advantage to that?

Partitioning a drive is an older concept used on older slower drives. Modern drives are so fast and efficient there is no need to format for different uses. Just create folders for each app/file type/etc.

Lucas1948 wrote:

Thank you! That’s as I expected, but I feel better about proceeding now.

If you have any data on the drive it will be erased when you format it. Make sure to copy off any data that is on the drive before formatting.

Drives like the MyBook came with software, and the manufacturer suggested you install that software.

What that software does is to "spare you the annoyance of having to re-initialize the drive" from its factory set Windows New Technology File System (NTFS, the W is silent because there are no other Operating Systems) or similar unusual (on a Mac) format. Instead, the software they provided would simulate a MacOS drive inside an NTFS file for your Mac.

The downside of using the manufacturer's software is that if the manufacturer's software is not loaded, the Macintosh Volume may not readable, or may not be writable. This means that in startup manager, Installer, and in Recovery such as after a data loss, the Macintosh Volume may not be visible.

The standard advice given here to all users, including novice users, is to discard the manufacturers software and NEVER use it. "Best Practice" is to erase the physical device when new, using only MacOS Disk Utility, and create the fundamental data structures needed for consistent, reliable use by MacOS.

Be sure to "show all devices" which will allow you to ERASE the entire Physical Device by its immutable manufacturer-given device-name, not just user created Volume-name such as ‘Macintosh HD’.

If you want to only use the drive with MacOS use Disk Utility to format the drive for your Mac.