Partitioning and Formatting

So, I'm just about ready to install Ubuntu. Got it on my CD and everything. Right now I have XP, and I don't really wanna get rid of it or the files I have on it.

After I partition my drive, is it necessary to format the entire hard drive, that is, to erase all of my files? Or is it possible to keep all of what I had under XP, and to boot XP as if nothing had happened?


(This is under Windows OS because that's what I have right now... so I feel there's no need to move it under Linux.)

 

From my understanding (I've always installed Linux on a separate hard drive, so I've never really had to deal with it), when you run the Ubuntu installer you can choose to have it create a new partition that fills up empty space not being used by the windows partition. So no, you don't have to format the drive/re-install Windows or anything like that.

Although you should definitely back up your important documents just in case something goes wrong. Re-partitioning can sometimes get a little hairy.

 

Alright, thanks. I can't wait to get the notebook in your avatar so I won't have to deal with this stuff, but just do a clean install of Linux


I'll edit this later tonight and tell you how it went.