macos - unable to format external drive to HFS+ for Mac

I have an external hard drive (1 TB Western Digital) that is currently formatted as FAT32 and I want to reformat it to a single partition of HFS+ for my Mac. I realize that I can read FAT32 from my Mac but want HFS as it has other feathers like permissions that I'd like to have.

I have tried using Disk Utility to format the drive as I have done in the past, but when I go through the process it fails and throws out an error stating that it is unable to reformat the drive to HFS.

Error messages:

Partition Failed
Partition failed with the error: File system formatter failed.

What might be the reasons that this could happen? Are there any diagnostics I could run on the physical disk to check if it is running well?

Answer

Re-partition the drive using a GUID Parition Table.

1. Go into the “Partition” tab and choose “1 Partition.”


2. Click the “Options…” button and choose “GUID Partition Table.”


3. Set the format to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and Apply.