HT201250 What does it mean to "partition" an external hard drive? Is it something that I want to do?

What does it mean to "partition" the external hard drive?  Is it something I want to do?  How do I save files from another hard drive to the new one?  I have to reformat the old one as it was not set up correctly.  The drive I have is Seagate but not specifically for MAC, so I have to format it.. never have done this before. Don't know the jargon.  I read that Time Machine will back up automatically but I want to take files from the old drive to the new one.  Do I have to take them to the computer first and then to the new drive?  I need more memory on my computer. It's way too cluttered and congested.  HELP!

Whoa! Slow donw. TRhere's a lot here. I would suggest you buy a good book on computers in general or macs in particular, one is "OSX the missing manual".
What does it mean to "partition" the external hard drive?
It means you take one large drive and make it into more than one volume. This means that it might show up as 2,3 or 4 inde[pendenmt drives. Each one could have, for example, a different operating system on it. Its  a good thing to do if you want to use a drive for several purposes
Is it something I want to do?
beats me, you didnt way what you're trying to accomplish. Sorta like sking "should i turn left?"  Depends on where you want to go.
How do I save files from another hard drive to the new one?
See advice n book above. Copy them in finder. Copy them in unix. Use a backup or sync utility. No different from Windows in that respect.
I have to reformat the old one as it was not set up correctly.  The drive I have is Seagate but not specifically for MAC, so I have to format it.. never have done this before. Don't know the jargon.
Hook it up. Run disk utility. Partition 1 or more partions. GUID map.  Format each partition Mac OS extended, Journaled.  for more, read book, above.  Seriously - we could give you more tips, but you really should learn enough to be comnfident.
I read that Time Machine will back up automatically but I want to take files from the old drive to the new one.  Do I have to take them to the computer first and then to the new drive?
I have no idea what you are asking.
I need more memory on my computer. It's way too cluttered and congested.  HELP!
What kind of memory and why?  RTAM? Hard drive space? Explain. By the time you are done explaining, i suspect you will have ansered your own question.
Good luck,
Have you read the PDF manual for your cmputer?
Have you used a search engine to look for info, for example, in two seconds i got this from google and wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning
Grant

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