Lacie USB 3.0 - do I have to erase it to be compatible with time machine?

Question

Just bought a LaCie USb 3.0 external hardrive.  Do I have to erase it to be compatible with time machine?

Answer 1

I would do this:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
It's now ready for use on your Mac.
If for some reason Disk Utility will not repartition or format the drive it means the drive has been preformatted with NTFS to which OS X cannot write. You will need to repartition and format the drive using the MBR partition scheme and formatting FAT (MSDOS.) When you succeed with that, then open Disk Utility again and do the above process that now should work.