Reformatting an external HD from Windows to Mac

I tried to re-format an external (LaCie) hard drive from Windows to Mac using the Erase option in the Disk Utility, but it would not go through. The error message is not informative; it just states the formatter encountered an error and was unable to finish the operation. Any pointers on how to solve this issue? Thanks!

Hi and welcome to Discussions,
you should use the 'Partition-Tab' from Disk Utility and then click on the 'Option'-Button to set the partition Table to GPT (GUID partition Table).
Sounds to me like the external HD is till using the MBR (Master Boot Record) common to Windows PC on which you can't make a partition using the 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' file system.
Regards
Stefan

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