Using/converting an external drive formerly used on windows computer?

I have a 160GB external drive that I used previously with my windows machine. I've now converted to a powerbook and would like to use this drive on my mac.
I've come across a problem however. My mac recognized the drive when I first plugged it into the USB port. I was able to access files with no problem. The computer then asked me if I wanted to reconfigure the files for use with a mac, and I said yes. However, the next time I plugged the USB in, the drive was "unable to be read" and unrecognizable. I cannot access it through the disk utility although I can see information describing the drive at the bottom of the disk utility menu.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can do it, but it's not recommended to use a Time Machine volume to store other files. In this case, you can create a second volume on the external drive, so you will be able to use it to store data and transfer it to other PCs.
As you are going to use the external drive with other PCs, you can make the volume and format it in "MS-DOS (FAT)" with Disk Utility > http://pondini.org/OSX/DU3.html Finally, you will be able to copy files to the external drive.
If you copy files to a Time Machine disk, you may damage the Time Machine file structure, so you shouldn't do it. It may not happen, but it's better not to try that. Also, you won't be able to read the Time Machine drive in a PC

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Using/converting an external drive formerly used on windows computer?

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