portable hard drive

How do I use my portable hard drive on my mc.
I've connected it but it doesn't show on the screen.
And will it work the same.
On my pc I just clicked transfer all docs or select all copy and paste. And to remove it I had to press a remove hardware icon is that still the same?
Help need to back up.

jaz

Check in disk Utility's first aid to see if its showing up then run disc repair

jaz,
Do you have your Mac preferences set to show external drives? Go to the Finder > Preferences > and see if you have "External disks" checked. The Mac should be able to read the external drive. As far as removing it goes, you will need to right-click on it and select "Eject" or simply drag the external drive icon to the Trash (don't worry; the trash icon turns into an Eject icon).

I've tried all of the above external disks is checked. I can't right click as the new mac mouse isn't split into 2 parts. I've tried eject and it says I'm not allowed to and I've tried dragging it to the trash and it tells me the same thing.
?????