How do I format and add an external hard drive running Fedora core 9?

If the drive is turned on and the usb cable is plugged in correctly the drive should be "recognized". Your next step is to use
the fdisk program to create partitions on the external drive.
The drive should be accessable as /dev/sdb if you have one hard drive in your computer or /dev/sdc if you have two hard drives in your computer and so on... .
Be sure the drive is unmounted and type [ fdisk /dev/sdb ] ( if you only have one hard drive in your machine ). You can now use the fdisk program to
create partitions. . . but be very careful and know for sure how to use the fdisk program.
After you have partitioned the drive, use the mkfs (Linux formatting program) program to add a file system to the partition/s you create.
Keep in mind your first partion will be something like this: /dev/sdb1 .
This worked using a "NexStar 3" with an 80 gig drive installed in it on Fedora core 9 ( Linux version 2.6.25-14.fc9.i686 ). Pentium 4 2.4 ghz on an Asus board.