To format a recorder without suing a dedicated fixture and to prevent contents recorded in the recorder from being totally erased by the erroneous operation of a user.

To an electronic apparatus, the recorder such as an HDD (hard disk drive) is connected through a digital interface. For instance, when a service person inputs specified input to the electronic apparatus, the system controller to the electronic apparatus activates a service menu. When the service person selects the item of the format of the recorder from the service menu, the system controller sends a format command to the recorder and makes the recorder perform formatting. When the format of the recorder is ended, a response is supplied from the recorder to the system controller.