Initializing/Formatting Question

[strawberrynatto]

I have a brand new late 2012 Mac Mini. I am leaving the stock 500gb hdd in the Mini, and using an USB-to-SATA to initialize and format the two other drives I have - 1 is a Samsung 840 EVO 120gb hdd and 2 is a Samsung 840 EVO 1tb ssd.

What I want to know is simply, after hooking up each drive via the USB-to SATA connector, it says the drive must be initialised, which brings up the Disk Utility. No problem. But these are 2 brand new, never used drives. So after initialising the drives, do I then need to go ahead and erase them as well, or is the process of initialising them actually erasing them and don't booed to go any further.

Thanks you.

 

[Fishrrman]

Since the drives are new, all you have to do is initialize with Disk Utility, partition if desired, and then -- ready to go.

BTW, I believe the terms "initialize" and "format" are used indiscriminately, when they actually mean different things.

I'm not sure there is even a Mac user-friendly tool out there yet, that can "format" an SSD -- that is, to return all the memory cells to their native, totally-unused state.

Aside:
I'd like to see a product like that available....

 

[strawberrynatto]

Since the drives are new, all you have to do is initialize with Disk Utility, partition if desired, and then -- ready to go.

BTW, I believe the terms "initialize" and "format" are used indiscriminately, when they actually mean different things.

I'm not sure there is even a Mac user-friendly tool out there yet, that can "format" an SSD -- that is, to return all the memory cells to their native, totally-unused state.

Aside:
I'd like to see a product like that available....

Thank you, thank you so much. I didn't want to overkill the drives. I'll just initialise and be done with it. You're a lifesaver.