Howdy.

First, I literally could not have less Linux experience, but I'm excited to become a member of the community.

Here's my (possible) quandry: I'm building my own computer, and the capstone of the experience is to install and run Linux. (Ubuntu, in this case, unless someone has a better suggestion for a newbie. ) However, as I thumb through my Western Digital hard drive user manual it appears that I need to run XP for it to work. Is this a fact? Am I reading this wrong?

Here's the drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drive. Here's my hope: People far more resourceful than I will tell me all is well, and that Linux is well within my grasp.

Thanks to everyone--anyone!--that helps.

Hi bdoublegeez, Welcome to LQ. Generally speaking, hard drives are not OS specific. You could run into minor problems with certain configurations/controllers, etc. but, the hard drive should be fine. Go for it, we'll all be here to help if you have further ?'s.
God luck. ;-)

I'm sure it is not.

I don't know. I've read a lot of Western Digital documents and generally found them accurate and understandable. So I'd be surprised if it really said you needed XP. But I probably haven't seen exactly the one you read. Maybe the author was confused.

I'm not that much more resourceful, but all is well regarding your WD hard drive. If you have any trouble installing Linux then
1) The WD hard drive is not likely to be the problem.
2) You've found the right forum to get help if there is any problem.

Yeah, I figured as much. As I re-read the manual they seem to be referring to some SATA RAID utility. Anywho, you're both wonderful, and I thank you for warm and prompt responses.

I'm a couple days from joining the Linux community in earnest! Woo!

You might want to check the jumper settings of the WD drive. It may have a rate limiting jumper setting, limiting the drive to 1.5Gbs.

If you're looking to install with raid, you may want to look at this first. The hard drive wouldn't be an issue but, the controller could be.
Good luck. ;-)

Okay so the authors at WD were referring to the Data Lifeguard Tools software that comes with the drive. Since I got the drive OEM I was a tad confused. All is well. Serenity now.

Thanks again, everyone.