Plug new drive into USB port

Install and run GPARTED:
$sudo apt-get install gparted
$sudo gparted&

Assumming new drive appears as /dev/sdb in gparted:
delete any existing partitions on /dev/sdb
on /dev/sdb create a new PRIMARY EXT3 partition to the max size minus 3.0gb or so.
should be known as /dev/sdb1
on /dev/sdb create a new PRIMARY LINUX-SWAP partition in the remaining 3.0gb [...]