USB Drive for Linux Mandrake 9.1

hi, i corrupted a HD and i cant boot it using windows, i installed mandrake 9.1 onto a 1 GB HD and is far too small to back anything up on, i have an Apple iPod 20GB and i want to be able to get all my files off the HD and put into my iPod, i only have USB 1.0 and do not know how to install it. I dont wanna wipe my iPod just add to it. Im brand new to linux and just worked out how to get it onto the internet.

Pleaase Help ASAP these are very important files and are needed very soon,

Thanks

Plenty of guides on the internet on how to use USB drives. They are handled semi-automatically in all newer Linuxes. Just plug the stuff in and it ought to be recognised right away.

You may be in trouble if you have a Mac formatted iPod, but if it is FAT32 then it will look just like any other USB drive.

i know, ive read many but i they dont work, they talk of /sda1 and stuff, i dont have that file, it recognizes it when i look through the config box, i cant see to acess it tho

Claiming that a guide "doesn't work" means you have not figured out what the guide tells you to do. Don't take the guides as recipe books by the letter. Try to understand the purpose of the things you are told to do.

Plug your USB drive. Look into /var/log/messages, you should have a lot of information about hotplug finding an USB mass storage device, SCSI subsystem registering it etc. You will also see what device id is assigned (/dev/sda or similar)

Usually you get a pretty icon on your Linux desktop for your attached drive. If not, mount it manually. "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt" ought to work as a temporary solution for a single drive.