Triple Boot 2010 Macbook Pro with Dual Drive

I have a 2010 Macbook pro running Mavericks and Windows 7 on a 250gb SSD. I just removed the cd drive and installed my old 250 gb hard drive. So now I have two drives. I would like to make the hard drive purely for a linux distribution.

How should I go about doing this?

Some things to note/ consider:

1. I have no CD drive so I would like to boot up from a USB.

2. I read that Mavericks has issues with dual booting. So I can't trust many sources?

3. What file format should I erase the new drive to.

4. Also should I use rEFInd for booting purposes?

5. I am aware there are plety of tutorials that walk you through installing linux but I want to have

A second hard drive JUST for linux.

My current plan is:

Reformat drive with Mac OS Extended (journalized).... Install rEFInd.... Burn ubuntu ISO to flash drive... install ubuntu though rEFInd?

I have no clue if this is at all correct

Thanks in advance...