Thanks for the reply,
"cp /mnt/sda1/Addington.rtf /mnt/hdc1/Addington.rtf"
elicits"cp: cannot create regular file 'mnt/.. ' : Read-only file system
'sda1' is a USB thumb device that i have been able to write to.

Hmmm, just now, I'm having trouble remounting the hard drive.

rebooting