• https://linux.die.net/man/8/parted
• https://rainbow.chard.org/2013/01/30/how-to-align-partitions-for-best-performance-using-parted/
• https://linuxhandbook.com/bash-arithmetic-operators/
• https://www.linuxscrew.com/bash-math-arithmetic

Display connected block devices:

lsblk

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0    7:0    0  65.2M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1519
loop1    7:1    0  65.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515
loop2    7:2    0  42.2M  1 loop /snap/snapd/14066
loop3    7:3    0 162.9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/145
loop4    7:4    0  61.5M  1 loop /snap/authy/7
loop5    7:5    0     4K  1 loop /snap/bare/5
loop6    7:6    0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/2284
loop7    7:7    0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/2253
loop8    7:8    0 164.8M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/161
loop9    7:9    0  61.3M  1 loop /snap/authy/6
loop10   7:10   0  43.3M  1 loop /snap/snapd/14295
sda      8:0    0 238.5G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0     8M  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0 222.9G  0 part /home
│                                /var
│                                /usr/local
│                                /root
│                                /srv
│                                /opt
│                                /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi
│                                /boot/grub2/i386-pc
│                                /.snapshots
│                                /
└─sda3   8:3    0  15.6G  0 part [SWAP]
sdb      8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0 465.8G  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

In my case the connected USB HDD is /dev/sdb. Verify that sdb is the correct device

parted /dev/sdb print

Model: BUFFALO External HDD (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      131kB  500GB  500GB  primary  ext4         type=83

create a fresh msdos partition table

parted /dev/sdb mklabel msdos

Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdb will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
Yes/No?

press Y Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.

some arithmetics to calculate the starting sector for the new partition

MYDEV="sdb"
OIS=$(cat /sys/block/"${MYDEV}"/queue/optimal_io_size)
MIS=$(cat /sys/block/"${MYDEV}"/queue/minimum_io_size)
AO=$(cat /sys/block/"${MYDEV}"/alignment_offset)
PBS=$(cat /sys/block/"${MYDEV}"/queue/physical_block_size)
((START_SECTOR=$OIS+$AO))
((START_SECTOR=$START_SECTOR/$PBS))
echo "MYDEV: ${MYDEV}; OIS: ${OIS}; MIS: ${MIS}; AO: ${AO}; PBS: ${PBS}; START_SECTOR: ${START_SECTOR}"

mkpart primary "${START_SECTOR}"s 100%

now format

mkfs.vfat /dev/<YOUR DEVICE>

~~DISCUSSION~~