Ok, I'm trying to get a maxtor USB HDD up and running. I'm running the AMD 64 port of debian atm. The real problem I am having right now is that I don't know how to figure out which device is the HDD. /dev is full of all kinds of stuff, (for instance sda, sda1, sda2-15 etc etc). How can I figure out which is the maxtor? Also, fdisk doesn't seem to like me, so I can't use anything involving that. Thanks all.

Well, when you connect it for the first time, a message should be printed to the kernel ringbuffer, which you can check using "dmesg". If you have no other usb storage devices, no scsi devices, and no SATA devices, it will most likely be /dev/sda.

ok, here's the end of dmesg output that seems to be relevent (I am pretty new at all this, so I can;t really decipher most of this):

**EDIT: I also have a USB mouse plugged in and running**

Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb 1-3: new full speed USB device using address 3
Vendor: Maxtor Model: OneTouch Rev: 0201
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 240119808 512-byte hdwr sectors (122941 MB)
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host2/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SD Reader Rev: 1.00
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Vendor: Generic Model: USB CF Reader Rev: 1.01
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdc at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 1
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SM Reader Rev: 1.02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdd at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 2
Vendor: Generic Model: USB MS Reader Rev: 1.03
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sde at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 3
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:02.7[C] -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
usb 2-1: new low speed USB device using address 2
intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 49417 usecs
intel8x0: clocking to 48000
usbcore: registered new driver hiddev
input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Kensington Kensington USB/PS2 Wheel Mouse] on usb-0000:00:03.1-1
usbcore: registered new driver usbhid
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.0:USB HID core driver
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
ts: Compaq touchscreen protocol output
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:03.3[D] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
ehci_hcd 0000:00:03.3: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
ehci_hcd 0000:00:03.3: irq 23, pci mem ffffff0000112000
ehci_hcd 0000:00:03.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
PCI: cache line size of 64 is not supported by device 0000:00:03.3
ehci_hcd 0000:00:03.3: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 1.00, driver 2004-May-10
usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 4-0:1.0: 8 ports detected
usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 3
usb 2-1: USB disconnect, address 2
usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using address 2
scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Maxtor Model: OneTouch Rev: 0201
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 240119808 512-byte hdwr sectors (122941 MB)
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host4/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi4, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
ohci_hcd 0000:00:03.1: wakeup
ohci_hcd 0000:00:03.0: wakeup
usb 2-1: new low speed USB device using address 3
input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Kensington Kensington USB/PS2 Wheel Mouse] on usb-0000:00:03.1-1
usb 1-3: new full speed USB device using address 4
scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SD Reader Rev: 1.00
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi5, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Vendor: Generic Model: USB CF Reader Rev: 1.01
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdc at scsi5, channel 0, id 0, lun 1
Vendor: Generic Model: USB SM Reader Rev: 1.02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdd at scsi5, channel 0, id 0, lun 2
Vendor: Generic Model: USB MS Reader Rev: 1.03
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sde at scsi5, channel 0, id 0, lun 3
USB Mass Storage device found at 4
NET: Registered protocol family 17
eth0: Media Link On 100mbps full-duplex
NET: Registered protocol family 10
Disabled Privacy Extensions on device ffffffff803389c0(lo)
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 2
usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using address 5
scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Maxtor Model: OneTouch Rev: 0201
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sda: 240119808 512-byte hdwr sectors (122941 MB)
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host6/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi6, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 5



Does this help? How might I proceed from here? Thanks for the help.

Looks like a 122 GB hard drive is now /dev/sda. Try, as root, 'fdisk -l /dev/sda'