trying to mount an usb external westerndigital 160gb passport drive
 

I am running a distribution of linux called knopix from a Cd on my desktop computer. I have a Western digital usb external disk that has a fault on it, bassically windows xp can not see the drive and also going into admin tools and using the disk management console thingy is not working either.
Therefore i have resorted to knopix and am running it from a copy on a cd in my dvd drive, on the desk top i can see Hard Disk nvidia_cbibbcij1 this is my main disk array with windows xp home on it. I can also see STR3160815SV [sdc5] this is an internal sata drive in my computer, plus i can see an icon representing the external drive, this icon is named 1600EVEExtrnal [sdd1], this is the drive in question the faulty one....

If i click on it once, i get could mount device the reported error was:
fuse:mountpoint is not empty
fuse:if you are sure this is safe, use the 'nonempty' mount option

I do not understand the diffrence between mounting the drive using either method, and i do not now if either method is safe?? Could either method of mounting the drive be unsafe, plus what commands can i use to try to mount the drive please?? I have found the terminal program and can open it. Do i not need to make my self supper user to mount the drive?? is it sudo i need to type to make myseld super user and does this command need a password, and what would that password be?? ... lots of questions i know????!!
so please can anyboady help and or dirrect me to a thread that explein the options to use a command line command to mount a drive please??
kind regards Mr Julian Bowler

Hi,

Normally "live cd's" dont have root passwords so at the terminal type "su" and enter to become root/superuser

then to mount the drive try what is the output?

edit -- what they said. ^^

What I think you want to do is run the `mount` command, like so:

sudo mount /dev/sdd1 /mnt/foo

...where "foo" is a directory.

But before you mount the drive, you might want to run:

sudo fsck /dev/sdd1

...that should call the correct filesystem checker for either vfat or ntfs.

very many thanks to both responders to my question, I am new to linux and of course am keen to learn, but it always helps to have other people helping out.!!
It aeems that this little usb external disk is in a bad way, but it is not making any clicking noises and seems to spin....
since your replies from headrift and karelydm i have now managed to get my canadian software called Active file recovery to see the disk and to do a scan and it has remarkably managed to find quite a bit of stuff, word and excell files and the like....
the disk had some virtual machines on it, and it seems that my Acive file recovery software has found them but unfortunately can only partly recover these, and i am not sure why the owner of the disk was using Virtual machines anyway!!?>??
I suspect that the only way to resurrect the virtual machines is to get a brand new disk and to download the entire virtual machine software and to reinstall it afresh!!!!!

I am interested in what knopix can do in the area of reading disks and also are there any tools within knopix that can help if the MFT is damaged or corrupted???
Doesent ntfs actually keep two copies of the MFT Master File Table on two separate parts of the hard drive?
Regards Julian
I will keep this thread open and refer to it again for sure....

Data recoverry is a job for real men with nerves of steel.....