O.K. I've read the FAQ and every related post that i could find and am still having trouble writing to my hard drive.
I've tried several approaches from the desktop and/or command line and here's the best i can come up with.
If I place the cursor over the icon I see;
"Permissions: -rw-rw-rw", which I take to be read write permissions for owner, group and others.
Also, i see correct device and nount points.
"File System: auto" i'm not sure what to make of this, the HD is FAT 32.
and
"Writable: Yes"
And yet I cannot write to it.
If I right click on the HD icon and bring up the "Properties" dialog I get all the right answers there too; "Read only" unchecked under 'Device', "Can read and Write" for owner group and other under 'Permissions' and the 'Advanced permissions' shows read and write for all three cases as well.
If, however, I try dragging a file to the disk icon and select 'Copy Here' I get "Access denied'.
Also, if i right click on any of the HD drive directories,from within "Konqueror", and bring up the "propeerties" dialog it is clear that I do not have the same permisions previousely indicated nor am I allowed to alter them via the dialog box.

I've spared you the details of my command line experiences because the disparity between the 'icon' and 'directory' indicated permissions says it all, as near as I can tell.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I will be very gratefull for any assistance offered,
dave