How to Format a External USB Hard Drive to FAT32 (XBOX360/PS3)

This tutorial shows how to make your PS3 and XBOX360 detect a external USB hard drive. In order to do this we need to run Ubuntu 11.10 from a live CD and use a partition editor. For this tutorial we will be using the GNOME Partition Editor which is a Linux based application used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, and copying partitions.
 
Let's begin, to start the partition editor simply click on Applications in the top left corner of the screen and go to System-> Administration -> Partition Editor

Select the hard drive you want to format from the drop down box at the top right of the GParted window. Once you have selected the hard drive right click on it and choose delete. The partition selected will now appear as unallocated space. After deleting the partition click "Apply all operations".

Now, we need to create a new partion. Click on the unallocated space and choose new. Change the file system to "FAT32"and click "Add". After creating the new partition click "Apply all operation"

The application will now format your drive. If you’re formatting a large USB Hard Drive, this can take some time.

Note: Formatting a USB drive will destroy any data currently stored on it.

Once the process is done, the USB hard drive will be recognized in your XBOX360 and PS3. Please leave a comment if you found this tutorial helpful. You can also ask questions if there's something you don't quite understand.