Need Instructions On Using Linux To Get Files Off Hard Drive

I have a Toshiba Satellite 5 yrs old that a month ago began failing shutdown. I would have to turn it off with the power button. Then it progressed so it was hard to log in.
When I could still log in and get into Word, I attached a new Slim ext hard drive, but the drive was not recognized, did not appear and did not display the Seagate exe to get it going, despite light on and disc inside spinning. So no luck in grabbing my files that way.
I had a Ubuntu 11.04 disc that I had never used before, so I used it to read my hard drive and look at my files. I would like to copy my files to either DVDs or the external hard drive.
Today I attached the ext drive but it does not appear under Places, just my laptop hard drive. I also have a USB DVD drive and tried attaching it with a blank DVD inside. I don't see it in Places either. I did see an icon that let me see that I have 1) laptop HDD 2) CD/DVD drive (assume this is the laptop one that holds the Ubuntu CD) 3) generic USB (the ext USB drive?) and 4) Ubuntu files.
I usually try to find my way by searching the internet and reading the threads here, but I have not figured out how to copy my User folder into either the ext hard drive or the USB DVD.
I'm sure someone here knows the missing steps. Please fill me in. Thanks.

 

It's possible you can't see your USB drive in Windows simply because it has not been assigned a drive letter. Open Disk Management and look for a drive the size of your Slim that has no drive letter. Right click it and click Change drive letter and paths and assign one of the free letters. If it then shows in Computer you won't need your Ubuntu live CD.