adding

adding a disk in linux is as easy as stoping the machine,installing the drive and booting. The 2nd task would be slicing up the drive to add linux partitions.
1st after adding hardware check the kernel messages of this boot sequence by typing skipping quotes "dmesg|more" this should indicate where the "new" drive is.
primary controller masterIDE drive = /dev/hda
primary controller slaveIDE drive = /dev/hdb
second controller masterIDE drive = /dev/hdc
second controller slaveIDE drive = /dev/hdd

if you've added to the 1st controller enter
fdisk /dev/hdb
and if it is a completely new drive enter
"p"
to print the current info on the drive noting
--- the cylinder info
"n"
for new partition then
"p"
for primary partition then
"1"
for 1st partition then
"1"
for starting cylinder
"xxx" -- don't use xxx but the correct number
use the default prompt or the info from the 1st command and finally if your sure....
"w"
Now the entire drive is "initialized" so you can now create a filesystem on it using the command
mke2fs /dev/hdb1

DON'T do that unless everything up to this point is correct
i.e. primary controller/slave drive, because it will wipe out the existing filesystem (if present) and if this is not thedrive you want.