Knoppix 3.1 from CD - trying to access USB2 hard drive

Hello All,
Have found several solutions to my problem with Knoppix loaded to disk but none addressing running from CD. I'm new to the LINUX game but use some commands for work and ran Mandrake 8.1 for a few months some time back.

That said, I'm trying to access my generic cased USB2 unpartitioned (minus any secret big brother dos partions) 30Gb FAT32 external hard drive plugged into a USB1 port while running Knoppix from the CD. Knoppix seems to recognize the drive and gives me 4 unmountable hard disk partitions on the desktop, sda 1-4. Mounting gives me the I/O error also tried unselecting read only. Doing an ls /mnt shows the partitions and trying mount /dev/sda1/ mnt/sda1 shows "only root can do that", tried a couple other variations of the mnt command as well. Just now tried cat /proc/partitions and there actually is also partition called sda in addition to the sda1-4, all of varying sizes. Tried creating a directory and got the no permissions business, probably because I'm running off of the CD. In the USB devices/ USB UHCI Root Hub listing in the Control Center, it shows up as a USB 2.0 Storage Adapter. Have tried booting with it unplugged and plugged in, same same.

Am I just out of luck using it in this configuration? Would a newer version of Knoppix help? I'm just trying to kill some time while deployed to another dusty desert with a borrowed laptop and all of my music and movies are on my drive. I want to get my LINUX wings while I'm here and switch over for good when I get home.

Thanks in Advance,
Bruce

PS just edited this post to remove the dork moves I made earlier, I'm learing like crazy on the fly here... Big difference between a Geek and a Dork. I'll take Geek. But I still may not be out of the Dork woods yet! :?