Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.
When I open the root shell and follow your directions, this is what i get:

root@0[knoppix]# #usbview (then I press enter)
root@0[knoppix]#

basically when i hit enter, it just goes to the next line like nothing happened.
when i type in cat /proc/partitions this is what i get:

root@0[knoppix]# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

3 0 78150744 hda
3 1 40131 hda1
3 2 75216330 hda2
3 3 2883667 hda3
240 0 5270144 cloop0
240 2 1873216 cloop2
root@0[knoppix]#

Of course, everything is more lined up in columns than I can convey here. it does nothing more than that.
Again, thank you and thanks to anyone that can help me.