I am having trouble accessing my external hard disk on opensuse 11.2
The device is being detected (the third one down, ‘Maxtor’)…
lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 011: ID 0d49:7450 Maxtor
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 05ac:0304 Apple, Inc. Optical USB Mouse [Mitsumi]
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
…but it is not appearing in dolphin. Any help please?
Post result from su terminal of
fdisk -l
tell us more about the disk
fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe5bf704e
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2 5872 47158807+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 5873 9729 30981352+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 5873 6063 1534176 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 6064 7552 11960361 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 7553 9729 17486721 83 Linux
The disk is a Maxtor Basics Portable 160GB
What filesystem is on it? Linux (which one), FAT32 or NTFS? And can you see it when it is plugged to a windows computer?
NTFS I think. It works with windows.
It isn’t working in Linux, sad. Sometimes after an rough disconnect (when safely remove is missed or like that) the journal is not marked “clean” and it won’t mount in Linux until the drive is again marked “clean”. Linux software is nowadays supposed to fix that, but sometimes it doesn’t.
Try this:
Failed Mounts – Resetting the “dirty” bit in windows: Sometimes you get a message like this one beginning “$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown. Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use…”. These are symptomatic of disorderly processes previously interrupting a clean dismount or shutdown. If you have Windows (2000 or higher) installed or handy, boot the drive in that and allow Windows to right the situation either automatically by running a consistency check on booting or by running chkdsk /f yourself from the command prompt. Alternatively you can run chkdsk /p from the repair facility after you boot from the Windows install CD and run to the end where you select to repair the installed system.
The quote is from here: HowTo Mount NTFS Filesystem Partition Read Write Access in openSUSE
or the problem could be something else 
And the disk from fdisk -l is certainly not the external one.
Unplug external disk, run
su -c "tail -F /var/log/messages"
and re-plug the disk.
Then have a look at what happens in the terminal.
Just making sure.
But the external disk was connected when you ran fdisk wasn’t it?
Yes it was connected when I ran fdisk.
This is what happened in the terminal after su -c “tail -F /var/log/messages”
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.396110] usb 2-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 14
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529513] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0d49, idProduct=7450
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529540] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529558] usb 2-2: Product: Basics Portable
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529571] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Maxtor
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529584] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 2HB52E61
Apr 9 09:23:32 linux-zd8s kernel: [65348.529828] usb 2-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
I suggest the drive needs checking in windows if possible, see @swerdna’s comments.
And or format it (if that’s possible).