External Hard Drive Install, Making a File System in Linux

// report file system disk usages
$ df

// low level format, fulfill with zero
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb1

// create or delete the partition
# fdisk /dev/sdb
or # cfdisk /dev/sdb

Remain in fdisk and do the following:
a. You need to add a new partition so type n
b. Make it a primary. Press p
c. Make it the 1st partition. Press 1
d. Use the defaults to create one big hard disk. Press enter twice
e. You need to change the partition's system id so type t
f. To see the list of codes type L
g. To select vfat, W95 Ext'd (LBA), press c
h. Now write the changes to disk. Press w

// Create the file system.
# mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n VolumeName /dev/sdb1