hi, i am wanting to put fc5 on a 2nd new hard drive but i dont want to mess with my original setup with xp. so my question is can i just install fc5 on the 2nd hard drive and leave it be and when i want to get into it just change my bios setting to boot from D: instead of C: drive. i just want my pc to pretty much stay the way it is unless i change the bios please let me know if this will work i dont want to do the dual boot with grub

Simply put, yes. You can install Linux on your second hard drive (which I will from now on refer to as HDD 2). But before you can do that, here are some things that you must take in consideration:

1) By installing Fedora Core 5 on HDD 2, you will lose all files previously stored on it because Fedora Core uses the ext3 file system (which is in a way better than NTFS because ext3 will hardly ever require defragmentation).
2) Windows by default will not be able to recognize the ext3 filesystem; so, unless you can find a third party program that allows Windows to communicate with ext3 filesystems, Windows will not be able to access your second hard drive. NOTE: When running Windows, your second hard drive will show up in My Computer. If you try to access it, Windows will ask you if you would like to format the hard drive. Click on "No."
3) You said that you would like to change your boot sequence everytime you want to switch operating systems. On some computers, that is not possible to do within BIOS. You would have to change the pins and switch from Master to Slave. Otherwise, check your BIOS configurations. NOTE: If you want, Linux allows you to dual boot. You can use a program called GRUB Bootloader (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.).

Hey, I tested out Fedora Core 5 and it runs great! The chances of me ever switching back to Windows is very slim. I like how almost everything on Linux, especially Fedora Core, is free. Also, you can run Windows programs and applications on Linux through the use of WINE. Hey, I'm a newbie to Linux, but I have been able to navigate my way through it very easily. If you stumble into any problems, just PM me or ask a question on these forums. Good luck with Fedora Core 5 and have fun!

im not concerned about making files compatible between the two i just basically want linux and windows without having 2 computers in my house and im really looking to avoid GRUB i know everyone says it works fine but im leary of it. how should i check to see if my bios would allow this and how would i put fc5 on the 2nd hdd without formatting it to begin with im totally new to this and really need guidance.

In the past I've done just what you are talking about, ( before I got comfortable with grub) but to be certain you don't interfer with XP, disconnect the drive, then during the FC5 install you can safely say install grub on MBR. I haven't yet figured out how to make sure grub installs on the MBR of the second HD when the first is connected. And if doesn't install on the second HD MBR it won't boot when you change the order in bios.

To change boot order, when computer is booting press "delete" to enter bios setup, (yours may be different, whith any luck there's a message at the bottom of the screen, telling you which key to press). then find where to select boot order, there should be a choice between floppy, CD, HD1, HD2 etc

FC5 install will format the drive for what it wants, but what would make sense is to add a vfat, or in windows speak fat32 partition for shared files, both XP and linux can read and write to that format. You can also do that during the install process with disk druid.
I'd advise not using LVM if like me, you don't understand it, it's supposed to make some things easier, but just confuses me.

After you get FC5 going, as Antartica says, you can add XP to FC5 grub bootloader, then you can leave bios booting HD2, and select XP from the grub boot menu.