I have been using/abusing computers & operating systems for near on
18
years but am new to Linux/Ubuntu
I have Ubuntu 8.10 installed to my first hard drive and booting to it OK
I have installed a second hard drive which I have partitioned with
"Gparted"
I now wish to do the following as 'user'
1) Be able to see the drive under ' places-computer '
2) Get permission to make folders on this drive
3) Get permissions to copy & move folders to this drive to archive them
I need simple instructions to follow please, i know my way around
windows & eCs (os/2) no problems.

You don't need to do anything. Ubuntu 8.10 will auto-mount drives provided they
appear in your BIOS. Once they are connected properly they will appear in
Nautilus in the tree at the left side. Unmounted drives will have an up arrow
beside the name. Simply clicking on the drive mounts and opens it, unless it
requires root permission to do so, then you will be prompted for a password
first. They should also appear when you go to Places, Computer. Right-clicking
on a drive also gives the option to mount or unmount the drive.