dual booting xp and ubuntu

[excalibur3]

So this has probably been discussed before but I couldn't find it using the search function. I have a windows computer with a 40 gig hd. i have it about half full and I want to dual boot ubuntu. When I go to install it however it asks me to resize the partition but the default size that it wants to make ubuntu is 25 gb. I don't have that much free on the hd so it is making me think that it might wipe windows. Is there a way for me to have it just use say 18 gb of the free space and just leave windows alone? I really don't want to lose windows yet. I know partition magic can do it but is there a cheaper option? I did this before with another version of linux and I was able just to adjust it with no problem but this one has me worried. What should I do?

 

[RPB]

you just have to choose the size of the partition's.
the option's are there.

 

[Tbirdkid]

Honestly, i would back the box up, then install xp again with the correct partitions, then do it again. Remember, you are going to have to make a swap partition too.

 

[duragezic]

Is there any way you can get ahold of a second hard drive? When dual booting I like to have the other OSs on separate hard drives. I don't always feel too comfortable have something resize my only partition that contains everything. It makes it easier to have a 2nd hard drive (I'm not sure how much space current distros use, but even 10GB ought to be enough if its just for playing around with ), then your main/XP hard drive doesn't get touched, and you can let Ubuntu automatically use all space on the 2nd hard drive. All it will do by default is make a / (root) partition with all remaining space on the drive after the /swap partition it makes (roughly 1GB, depending your system). I think the newest Ubuntu uses ext3fs, but not sure about that.

But as RPB said, you can just manually choose the size. So yes you wouldn't need Partition Magic or have to lose Windows, though Tbirdkid's suggestion might be better. But 2nd hard drive is even better.

Actually, why don't you get the free version of VMWare Server, and try running Ubuntu as a virtual machine before taking the plunge and messing with dual booting? That way you keep your single NTFS (XP) partition, and you can mess around with Ubuntu. I hear performance should be fine if you have a fairly modern machine. Then you can see about dual booting if you lke it.