Hey guys,
I've read topics on this but I'm THE TOTAL newcomer to Linux and do not know how to connect the pieces to make this work.
I am using Debian(at work-unknown version), and I have an old(not that old) HD from my laptop that still has useful files from my windows machine. I believe the HD is formatted as a NTFS file system (I'm not really sure-w/e XP formats it to-thats what it is). I used an external USB casing to plug my HD through the USB. On my home Ubuntu machine all I have to do is plug it in and it automatically installs and it works superb. But on my Debian machine it doesn't do anything. I have no idea if it even recognizes the new device or not.
If there is anyone kind enough to guide me into ABC/123 steps to get this thing to work I would greatly appreciate it.
mount device/sda/mnt/point -tvfat anything in that order does not work even though I don't even know what these commands do.
Please help.

it should be this way
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
so all your stuff on the usb device will be present at /mnt
cd /mnt
ls -l

if /dev/sda1 doesnt work, then paste your fdisk -l here.

ok,
first of all - thanks for the quick response
when I try
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt it says: mount: you must specify the file system type
ok...how do I sepcify it, and how do I find out what my HD's file system is?
by "paste fdisk here", I didn't understand that command.

oh and when I type only mount it gives me the following:
/dev/hde1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/hde3 on /var type ext3 (rw)
/dev/hde4 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

what does this mean? and what does mount do anyways?

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t usbfs

type in the command
fdisk -l

and paste the output here.

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t usbfs
this gives me some output about mount etc. I assumed it worked because if I do the same command twice it says that device is already mounted
cd /mnt
ls -l gives the folowwing:
total 0
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 16 04:54 001
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 16 04:54 002
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 16 04:54 003
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 16 04:54 004
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Aug 16 04:54 005
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 17 10:21 devices
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 17 10:21 drivers

not sure what to do next:

fdisk -l gives me no output

try this
umount /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t ntfs or (mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t vfat)
cd /mnt
ls -l

I did umount /mnt with no output
second time I did again jus to make sure it said:
umount: /mnt: not mounted

in both cases
root@PC105549:/# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t ntfs
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device
root@PC105549:/# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t vfat
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

also not sure if this is of any use, but I tried
root@PC105549:/# umount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t usbfs
umount: /dev/sda1: not mounted
umount: /dev/sda1: not mounted

I did mount /dev/sda1 /mnt -t usbfs and then did umount , with no output I assumme because it does indeed mount something

DUH! usbfs is a virtual filesystem which is usually mounted on /proc/bus/usb. It is NOT a filesystem you can put on a hard drive.

Ntfs support in Linux is incomplete. Reading is OK, but write support is currently flaky. You might want to have a look at ntfsprogs.

the first part doesn't help...
ok once it is mounted...where do I go to to get my files...thats all I want to know.
and the link you provided I can't open.

oh wait..I opened it..sorry 'bout that