LiveUSB can't find drives

I downloaded and installed the Live USB version of gparted to a memory stick and loaded it up. When it started the only drive available was the stick and I couldn't figure out how to get to the main laptop drive. I noticed it come up as hdc in the startup list, and confirmed this with a knoppix live cd I had kicking around. I, however, had no idea how to mount the stick in knoppix or I might have been able to do it this way.

I tried going into the terminal and typing "mount /dev/hdc1" then I tried hdc2, hdc3, hdc, hda, hda1, hda2, and hda3. Nothing worked.

So my question: What the hell is going on?