WD My Passport External HD compatibility w/ 10.3.9

I just bought the WD My Passport 320GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136227) HD for use on both a PC and a Mac. The product listing on Newegg said only that it was compatible with Mac and PC, it gave no limits on the Mac OS. I did enough research to know that as long as I wasn't running OS X 10.2 (which limits the size of the drive to under 124gb) that I thought I would be fine. The Mac I am using is running OS X 10.3.9 and the HD does not recognize. After this failure, I did further research that shows that the My Passport will only work on OS X 10.4+, meaning my OS isn't going to work.
I am PC guy and know very little about Macs. I know that, in theory, a HD formatted in FAT32 should be accessible to both PCs and Macs. This HD is formatted that way, but it doesn't work.
My questions:
Why doesn't this HD work with 10.3.9? Is it some special software that has been installed on the HD, or is it a hardware incompatibility?
If it is software, can I just reformat it as FAT32 and will it work? If so, what is this special software that I will be losing?
Is there anything that I can do to make this drive work with OS X 10.3.9?
Thanks in advance.

I didn't try the Y cable, but also heard that could work. Again, it appears to be a power issue and the Y cable would solve that.
In my particular case, the mac has only two usb slots, on opposite sides of the laptop, so a Y cable won't reach both slots. Plus, I would have to unplug the mouse, making it a pain in the whosit to use. I have already returned the drive and plan on getting a different one, after researching it fully.
I hope it works for you though. From what I saw, the included software seemed powerful and user friendly.
Good luck.

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You are entitled to 90 day telephone support from Apple. Try contacting them.
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WD My Passport External HD compatibility w/ 10.3.9

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