I have a server with SuSE Linux Enterprise server 8.
I have recently purchased the following 80GB external hard disk:
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinform...DD%203%2C5.htm

I want to be able to copy files from my server's hard disk to the external hard disk (i.e. backing up the files).

I plug my external hard disk (via USB) into my server, but I do NOT get any reaction. Ideally, I was hoping for the external hard disk to be recognised like Windows plug and play feature.

What do I need to do to get my server to recognise the external hard disk and thus allow me to copy files to it?

(I am a relative newbie, so please provide sufficient detail)

before you use any disk you have to mount. use the command mount /drive_location /mount_location. an example would be mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/hdb1.

Usually USB devices are attached to /dev/sdxy, where x is a letter and y is a number, at least on my system this is the case. You may need to supply a filesystem type to mount as well, using the -t option, e.g. "/dev/sda1 -t vfat /mnt/sda". It'll depend on what filesystem your drive is formatted with, obviously. Running dmesg just after you plug the drive in should tell you that it's at least being recognised and it should tell you to which device node (e.g. /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc) the device is attached.

Check /etc/init.d/hotplug, if it is running, if not /etc/init.d/hotplug restart should help, after that check dmesg if it recognized device.