i have been using linux for over a week now and have data on my usb connected external hard drive (seagate) that i need to get off... i have knoppix that i can run from a disc but i have installed debian on my desktop - knoppix can connect to the hard drive but debian can not and i need to get this system up and running properly - i have learnt alot in this crash course but i am out of time now so please help me how can i install this hard drive as i dont know the commands to use ie mount 'something' or apt-get install 'and who knows what comes next' i have also tried going to desktop - preferences - removable drives and media and i dont see it there, i have a memory stick that both knoppix and debian can read but am unable to save data from knoppix to it even though i have permission to do this if debian cannot read the external hard drive (knoppix says its sdb1) what other os can i use to to read this - i also have ubantu 6.(2 i think) any ideas anyone??? thanks

First thing. Boot Debian, turn on the external hard drive, then connect it to the machine. Open up a terminal and type dmesg If the device is recognized, you should see some text related to it printed to the terminal. Maybe copy and paste the last 10 lines or so here so that we can see what the machine says.

Can you answer following. It might help us understand the exact problem. 1. Did you try command (type in all small case). Can you post the output of this command here. 2. What is the partition format e.g. ext3, ntfs etc. If you're saying knoppix shows it as sdb1 then it is recognized by it. You need to manually mount it by firing the mount command.

I'm having a similar issue with a LaCie 160 GB external hard drive. I followed your advice and Ubuntu 7.10 is seeing the Seagate drive in terminal mode: [ 51.160588] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access SEAGATE ST3160023A 8.01 PQ When I type "fdisk -l", I get the following: WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdd'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted. Disk /dev/sdd: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x07a1dbc2 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdd1 1 26 204800 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/sdd2 * 26 19441 155954992 af Unknown The one I'm trying to get to is that monster sdd2. That's the bulk of the Seagate drive which appears to be formatted in some manner that Ubuntu, Gnome and GNU Parted don't like. Thanks for any help you can give me. I'd really like to use this hard drive. :) p.s., if you can't tell, I'm brand new to the Linux world (just installed Ubuntu this evening - finally gave up on Windows XP when a re-install just went from bad to worse). Jeff