Using Disk Utility to format external drive as Apple extended?

Hello - I just bought a 750G Lacie USB hard drive, am attempting to reformat it from FAT32 to Mac Extended. However, when I attempt to 'erase' the drive and replace it with Mac Extended, I get the following error message:
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Preparing to erase : “ReadyNAS”+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Partition Scheme: Master Boot Record+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: 1 volume will be created+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Name : “ReadyNAS”+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Size : 698.6 GB+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Filesystem : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+
+2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Creating partition map.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:26 +0100: Formatting disk1s1 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name ReadyNAS.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:27 +0100: Disk Erase failed with the error:+
+File system formatter failed.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Erase complete.+
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 0100:
+2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Disk Utility failed during an unspecified action with the error:+
I can reformat it as FAT32, no problem.
Any clues? Thanks!

Use the "partition" tab in Disk Utility, set it to "1 Partition" click the "Options" button, and choose "GUID".

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