Formatting external drives - How do I do this?

I have a Segate external drive that I've used with my Windows machine for the past year. I'd like to start using it with my Mac but currently I can only read from the drive and can't write. I'm guessing this is because it was formatted using the FAT32 file system for Windows.
Is there a utility available on my Mac that will allow me to format the drive so it'll work with my Mac? Also is there a way for it to copy the data, format the drive and then copy the data back the way it found it?
Signed,
Lots of formatting questions.

I can only read from the drive and can't write. I'm guessing this is because it was formatted using the FAT32 file system for Windows.
Mac OS X should have no problems writing to a FAT32 drive; I do it all the time. Are you sure the drive isn't NTFS?
Is there a utility available on my Mac that will allow me to format the drive so it'll work with my Mac?
Disk utility. The "format" is the "erase" in Mac parlance.
Also is there a way for it to copy the data, format the drive and then copy the data back the way it found it?
The simplest way is to just drag the content to your internal hard drive, erase the external drive, and drag it back.

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