Can't find old HDD

[gold_finger]

As others have said, USB's and external drives usually get mounted to /media/your-username when they are plugged in.

Let's start from square one.

*  Shutdown computer and disconnect external drive.

*  Reboot computer without external drive connected.

*  Go to Menu -> Settings -> Settings Manager -> Desktop -> Icons (tab) -> Default Icons (category) -> put check mark on Removable Devices.  Expand sub-menu under Removable Devices by clicking triangle to right of it.  Make sure all sub-categories have been checked.

*  Click "All Settings" at bottom to get back to main Settings Manager window.

*  Click Removable Drives and Media -> Storage (tab) -> Removable Storage (category) -> make sure first two items are checked off to mount removable drives and media when they are plugged in.

*  Close out of Settings Manager when done.

Now when you plug in your external drive this is what should happen:

1. It should be automatically mounted when plugged in.
   
2. It should produce an icon on the desktop that you can click to access it.
   
3. When you open Thunar file manager, it should show up in list of places on left-hand side.  You should also be able to navigate to it by opening File System -> media -> your-username directory and it will be listed there.  (Substitute your real username.)
   
4. When you open a terminal and enter ls /media/your-username, it should be listed.  (Substitute your real username.)

Report back results of above.