Well, I considered that. In fact, the Seagate rep put that out there with the caveat that if I screwed it up there would be a charge to restore it. Which makes no sense anyway because how its formatted now is useless to me. I guess I just needed to hear it from people I have more invested in than just some random tech support guy. So OK, I guess that's the next step. Reformatting here we go.... thanks for the nudge forward!
Edit - OK, seems like I was successful reformatting that drive. Now I just have to find the magic formula to put this entire system on it as a backup/mirror/aw shit fall back position. Because it's really just a matter of time, considering my track record with computers in general.