**note - I have just freshly installed XP + Ubuntu on my laptop so I know how to install the duel boot, this isn't a thread about how to install duel boot.<click here to learn how to duel boot>

but,

This is what I want on my Desktop computer

1)Duel boot XP & Unbuntu **I know how to do this but not sure if i need allocated space first or what fat32 or ext3, so i have not installed ubuntu yet
2)"swap drive" thats 30gig (min) in capacity rebootable on both OS's.IE: Take 1 file from Ubuntu place it in that drive/folder reboot and open that file in XP and be able to move it, or vice verca.
3) Be sure on the format before I actually do it... fat32 vs ext3 for the swap drive. Read some limitations about the fat32 <click here to read more> that i did not like(4 gig max transfer) but can windows actually read ext3 with the program I was reading about. Or would it just be safer to go with fat32.


My HDD is as follows:
120gig(110 total)

With just XP on it currently only using 24gig.(0% fragmentation)

I want
40gig xp
40gig Ubuntu
30gig sharing


I think that would be best but, I really dont understand Ubuntu yet so if you have any idea's/concerns please feel free to mention any with that format.

So should I install Ubunto first? or do I have to make the "swap drive" during installation? ...if so, please explain how to separate them and what format does the swap need? fat32? ext3?

Example of what i am looking for:
If I have 4.5 gig file in Ubuntu and I want to send it to my XP(on the same computer) I can simply place it in the "swap area" reboot to XP and there it is.

So, I'm a complete nub to Linux I mean complete. I understand 1 thing and thats what "sudo" means. So if you know of any instructions/tuturials they need to be step by step... I don't understand the code yet XD

Also whats the difference of "swap drive" and "file swap"? I know "swap drive" does something to my ram but, from what I read its better than "swap file".. not exactly sure why but if someone know the difference please let me know or point me in the right direction thanks everybody.

You already have xp on the system so if you want to install Ubuntu you will need a partition or unallocated space for it. xp probably takes up the whole drive as one partition so you will probably need to re-partition. If you have the Ubuntu CD, you could load it (not install) and open a terminal and run the command: sudo fdisk -l (lower case Letter L) and post output here so we have your partition information. You should use the xp partition program to re-size the xp partition to 50GB, then you can install Ubuntu and create another 50GB partition during the install of Ubuntu for Ubuntu.

You can also use Ubuntu to create a share partition. That is not the same as a swap partition, a swap partition is used as RAM if you don't have a lot of RAM, similar to page file on windows. You can create a swap partition during the install, depends upon how much RAM you have.

For specific installation of Ubuntu, you could google Ubuntu installation. You should get a lot of hits with detailed examples including images you will see during installation.

Thanks for the quick response but I have a few questions

I don't have ubuntu on my Desktop computer yet.

ok resize xp no problem ntfs.
ubuntu is ext3
and what would swap folder be? Some people say fat32 and some say ext3 and some say ntfs... I read fat32 was limited (4g max file size ect.)..
I really dont want any limits so does ntfs work both ways? I want both os's to be able to exchnage files when they want.

2gig ddr1 ram enough, the post i have read people have like 256kb of ram.. but the post are like 10 years old as well.

So are you saying if I make a swap partition it will gobble my ram? If that's the case this is a definite no thanks..

Thanks alot i will look a bit deeper into this "swap file" stuff, any ideas on what's better?

I think you are confusing swap with share. Usually, a swap partition is created in the intall or you are at least given the option to create it. Swap is only used if you have limited RAM on your computer. If you have 2GB of RAM installed, you probably don't need to create a swap partition.
Swap is not a folder or a directory and will not have any data stored on it and a shared partition will.

I don't have any experience with shared partitions so am not sure what filesystem would be best. Ubuntu will be able to read and write to ntfs or FAT partitions. You need to have 'ntfs-3g' installed and I don't know if it is by default on Ubuntu. Probably. I don't think windows will read or write to any Linux filesystem unless you install some third party software.

You can get more specific advice on where/how to install Ubuntu if you post your partition information as I suggested in my earlier post.

Make sure you are clear about the difference between swap and share!