I am using linux kubunto but it won't recognise my cd/dvd rw (manufacterer: Sony).

Also My hard disk drive is mounted but it says I dont have permission to view its contents.

CAN ANYONE HELP???

P.S. I am new to linux

Can you list your fstab?

do this by opening a terminal window and typing

cat /etc/fstab

This file (file system tab) lists what file systems are available to mount... this is an example for a vfat partition... your problem probably lies in having (or not having at all) the right gid (group identification which identifies what group the partition will belong too) and or umask number (this number tells the computer what permisions it will have when mounted).

/dev/hda3 /winshare vfat gid=1000,umask=002,rw 0 0

<file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

So whats wrong?
the hard drive in question is HDD1

change
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

to something like
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 <i>filesystemtype</i> gid=1000,umask=002,rw 0 0

For your filesystem type you put in how it was formated...

to find out how its formated do the following

open a command window and type
sudo fdisk /dev/hdd1
then you will have a prompt which says 'Command (m for help):'
enter p into this but I encourage you to type m and at least look around the program for a while (note that by changing things around and saving them could really screw things up, but don't let that frighten you into not having a little fun)

this will give a partition table which tells you everything it knows about the the partitions on the device you specify (in your case your harddrive hdd1)

then look in the column 'ID' under it you will find a number.
enter in l (lowecase L) and it will list what all these codes mean, find you appropriate code. This will tell you what filesystem type is on it.

*oh an easier way to do this is with the command
sudo cfdisk /dev/hdd1
so that you won't need to look through system id numbers*

If it is NTFS then your stab line should read
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 ntfs gid=1000,umask=002,ro 0 0

If it says has the word FAT in it, it should read
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 vfat gid=1000,umask=002,rw 0 0

If it is a linux filesystem then
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 ext3 gid=1000,umask=002,rw 0 0

but be careful with gid (group identification number), because that may be a different value... for my group the number is 1000 but yours maybe not

to find out view the file
more /etc/groups
and look for your group and it will read something like
ratskater:x:1000
it should be towards the end of the file

one more thing, linux does not have ntfs write support so if your hardive is partitioned as an ntfs, then you can only read/execute from it. There is a project called captive which emulates windows drivers for it.

sorry about this being more complicated than it should... I'm sure theres an easier way to do this, but I don't really know it... it would make for an easier explaination if I knew what your harddrive's filesystem was. Oh and another thing, I'm assuming that everyone that you want to have access to the drive is in the same group as you are. if thats not the case, you will need to change the umask value. Hope that works out, if something isn't clear just keep bugging me for a better explaination.

As for your cd/dvd rw I'm not sure whats wrong. You have a cdrom obviously in your fstab file, so I'm assuming that you have two optical drives?

Thanks! its ntfs so im gonna use a bootable partition magic cd n convert it to ext3 or 2. The CD drive thing is wierd kubunto installed from the drive and Iv tested the drive and it works in other comps but as soon as grub loads power seems to be cut to it. Iv tried a bit of googling but i cant find anyone with a similar problem. Any ideas?

can you eject it at all (either manually by pressing the buttun or typing eject into a terminal window)?

ps... eject should default to your cdrom drive, if it doesn't work try eject /dev/hdc