Usig 2 formats on ext HDD- what to do ?

Hey y'all
i just got me a western digital 250 GB usb/fw external hdd.
now i want to use it to backup my mac (60 gb hdd),
tsfr files to and from other ppl's pc's !! and relocate my itunes music !!and also to use it while recording music in garageband/logic !!
now i am clueless about what to format it as.. as i have been reading things about how the max file size in fat 32 can be only 4 gb and how mac only read ntfs and doesnt write to it and also that either i can format it as HFS+ or as fat32 as macs will format the whole drive into FAT32 .. etc etc etc ....
my questions are
1. what format or formats should it be in to be used on both
mac and PC (i just need to keep like 10 gb's for pc as i just have to transfer files to and fro)
2. is there any use to also use it as a bootable disk ??
3.is making partitions better , as in does it help performance
i would relly appreciate the help !!

i just got me a western digital 250 GB usb/fw
external hdd.
1. what format or formats should it be in to be used
on both mac and PC (i just need to keep like 10 gb's for pc as i just have to transfer files to and fro)
It will have to be FAT or FAT32.
Use FAT32 for partitions over 4gb.
Use FAT for partitions under 4gb.
A windows box will not be able "see" HFS, HFS+, or UFS partition.
A Mac can read/write to all 5 of the above formats.
IT has been written that a Mca can read from, but not write to, an NTFS partition, but I have pulled NTFS disks from windows boxes, installed them in a (couple of different) Macs, and successfully written to them.
2. is there any use to also use it as a bootable disk?
I can't say that I've tried to boot from a FAT or Fat32 partition. Logic dictates, sin ce it can read/write the format, it should be able to boot from it.
3.is making partitions better , as in does it help
performance
Partitioning will make it marginally faster, in that the read/write heads don't have to travel as far to get to (whatever) data. But the speed difference will be so small you won't notice it.
You will notice a difference if you connect to a USB 1.x port. (like a factor of 10 or more slower) Use FW or USB 2.0.

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