External hard drives and photos

i have read some of the other support answers to this, but don't fully understand.
i have hooked up my external hard drive in order to back up my iphoto libraries. (side note-if i do this, will the libraries move as one entity into a newly created folder, or will i have to create a folder in the hard drive... i cannot do this by control click, but maybe once is is reformatted?; and will they keep the same order). i have learned by reading different forums that i will need to reformat my hard drive to Mac OS extended (journaled)... and i read somewhere else about some sort of partitioning with mac os extended with no journaling for media storage. i will be using my external hard drive for, mainly, storing pictures and video. can i get someone's opinion on if i should partition or not?
also, in order to reformat, i understand i need to erase in the format the external hard drive has already, but once that is complete, will it give me the option to reformat? and once my hard drive is reformatted to mac, will i be able to hook it up to a pc in order to share my pictures with someone else?
new to mac, sorry that i may come off a bit computer illiterate, it is because i am. if you have enough patience to answer my question, pleeease tell me what to do in a speaking-to-a-three-year-old way.
sorry for the twenty questions, my head is full of 'em.
xoxo....

-if i do this, will the libraries move as one entity into a newly created folder,
Drag one Library icon from the Pictures Folder to the external and that gets everything.
i have learned by reading different forums that i will need to reformat my hard drive to Mac OS extended (journaled)... and i read somewhere else about some sort of partitioning with mac os extended with no journaling for media storage. i will be using my external hard drive for, mainly, storing pictures and video. can i get someone's opinion on if i should partition or not?
I see no advantage to partitioning the drive.
i understand i need to erase in the format the external hard drive has already, but once that is complete, will it give me the option to reformat?
This is all in the Help to Disk Utility. In essence you don't wipe the drive to "no format" you reformat the drive the the new one. It's an all in one process.
nd once my hard drive is reformatted to mac, will i be able to hook it up to a pc in order to share my pictures with someone else?
No. Not unless they install additional software on their PC.
Regards
TD

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