external hard drive not recognized

[mayor89]

hi folks! me having another problem again when will i learn!
you have all been very helpful in the past hope you can be again! im still a noob to linux..
so here is my problem

i have just bought a 250gb external hard drive, when i plugged it in it was saying unable to mount, i managed to transfer 1 file to it and then it disappeared and my computer wont recognize it like as if its not even plugged in!
i tried swapping around the cables i tried different usb ports as i have a few. tried turning my computer off then back on with it plugged in all sorts..

I have a compaqu laptop, running on linux , zorin

please help me you wonderful wizards of linux

[devils casper]

Plug-in Hard disk and execute this command as root user :

fdisk -l

Check its output. Does it list partitions of External Disk?

Compare the output of fdisk -l command before and after connecting External Harddisk.


* Most brand new Hard disks are not partitioned. Have you Partitioned your new disk?

[mayor89]

thanks for that, im sorry but i dont understand what root user is and the code thing u gave me if you can give me idiot proof instructions that would be great

[mayor89]

im doing some digging found out how to use my terminal from other threads this is my out put

iam@liam-Compaq-Presario-CQ60-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo fdisk -l:
[sudo] password for liam:
fdisk: invalid option -- ':'

Usage:
fdisk [options] <disk> change partition table
fdisk [options] -l <disk> list partition table(s)
fdisk -s <partition> give partition size(s) in blocks

Options:
-b <size> sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
-c switch off DOS-compatible mode
-h print help
-u <size> give sizes in sectors instead of cylinders
-v print version
-C <number> specify the number of cylinders
-H <number> specify the number of heads
-S <number> specify the number of sectors per track


and this
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19230 154456064 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 19230 19458 1831937 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 19230 19458 1831936 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc0e0c0e1

[devils casper]

Its small L in fdisk -l command.

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc0e0c0e1

Is that all output? It looks like External Hard disk doesn't have partition table.

Execute this again

fdisk -l /dev/sdc

Post output here.

[mayor89]

thanks for helping.... this is all the the out put i have liam@liam-Compaq-Presario-CQ60-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for liam:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000cd8eb

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19230 154456064 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 19230 19458 1831937 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 19230 19458 1831936 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc0e0c0e1

and also this

liam@liam-Compaq-Presario-CQ60-Notebook-PC:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
[sudo] password for liam:

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc0e0c0e1

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 30401 244196001 7 HPFS/NTFS
liam@liam-Compaq-Presario-CQ60-Notebook-PC:~$