WD Elements External Hard Drive

Can you give the output of:

sudo fdisk -l; mount

Thanks

Thanks! Okay here it is... Doesn't mean much to me I'm afraid!!

natusha@natusha-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l; mount
[sudo] password for natusha:

Disk /dev/sda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfb04b291

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 7114 57143173+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 7115 7296 1461915 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 7115 7296 1461883+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0008148c

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.28-19-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=755)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/natusha/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=natusha)
natusha@natusha-laptop:~$

looks like its got no partition table. I suggest you run:

gksudo gparted

and you can click the devices menu and change the device to /dev/sdb and create a new partition.

Thanks heaps for the help

Okay, I have gone into GParted and selected the device...

It showed as /dev/sdb 931.51 GiB Partition:unallocated, File System:unallocated

I have then selected "New" to create a new partition ext3 (hope thats the right one?) which it has just finished doing.

The device is now visible and accessible on the desktop, BUT.... when I open it it contains 1 folder named "lost and found" - contents unreadable, and shows 870.1 GB available space. Where is all that other space gone and can I get it back somehow?

ext3 is fine. You will be able to get read access in wiindows as well using

http://fs-driver.org

as windows is rubbish and cannot access ext based file systems on its own. The lost and found is a normal folder on partitions and you have lost a small amount of space due to the journalling in ext3. This space keeps files consistant and helps against sudden power loss etc. ext2 is the same as ext3 without the journal but the advantages the journal gives are worth the small space loss.

Don't worry about lost+found. Can you write data to the partition?

Okay, I realize the space taken up is worthwhile, it's just that I have now formatted it twice - so I've use twice the space if that makes any sense :)

Anyway that's okay but... I can't actually copy anything to it yet, It says "permission denied".
I know that should be an easy enough problem to fix but I don't know how!
Thanks again for all the help!

Make
  sudo u+rwx mounting_point
where you replace mounting_point by name of directory under which your disk is mounted.

i tried - command not found! is there an easy way to change the permissions in administration or something?

Okay, I cannot write to the HD but I guess my original issue has been resolved, so thankyou very much everyone!
Its really cool to be able to access this community support - go Ubuntu!