[dnanian]

Basically:

- Open Disk Utility
- Select the physical drive hardware
- Click the partition tab
- Click Options
- Choose the proper partition type for your drive (GUID or APM) and accept the panel
- Divide, size and name the drive appropriately, using "Mac OS Extended" as the format
- Partition

This will, indeed, wipe the drive. The OS will show you as many volumes/partitions as you have created on the drive.