The following is done from the command line. I'm sure RH has some fancy GUI prog to do all this but if you truely "want to learn this stuff" then you should try it from the command line at least once. It is also 'cross distribution' since the command line is the command line is the command line (except when it's not

).
First I would check that the partition is not already formatted and mounted. (This all assumes that your hard disk is the only disk in your box, i.e. that it is /dev/hda)
First, to check that it is not mounted type (as root)
You should see something like
Code:
/dev/hda1 on / type ext2 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
With perhaps another line with
If you don't see any other lines with
then the second partition isn't mounted.
Next I would check that it doesn't already have a valid filesystem on it (and perhaps, files on it too!). To do this, mount the partition. Type
Code:
mount -t ext2 /dev/hda2 /mnt
If you get an error (I don't remember what the error is that you get if there is no filesystem, perhaps you can post it if you see it) then the partition isn't formatted. If it mounts with no error then try
If there is a filesystem on it you should at least see a
directory even if there are no other files. If that's the case then the partition is ready to use.
If you had an error mounting or just want to reformat the partition then you want to (re)create the filesystem on it. I'll assume that you want the
fs which is the 'standard' linux file system. Type
Code:
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/hda2
# Or
mkfs.ext2 /dev/hda
These do the exact same thing (I think that
is actually just a front end to mkfs.ext2) You should see some stuff about blocks, indoes, superblocks and after some time it will return you to the command prompt. Now if you mount
as above and do a
you should see the
directory. The partition is ready to use. You can create a permanent mount point for it and add a line to your
file so that it will be mount at bootup.
Good luck.
jaa