mke2fs /dev/hdb1

mkfs.ext2 /dev/hdb1

both of which make an ext2 file system on the first partition of the second drive, and

mke2fs -j /dev/hdb1

mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdb1

make an ext3 file system.

 

mkfs.ext3 -m 1/dev/hdb1

creates a file system with only 1% of its space reserved for the root user.