hi I am wanting to run a dual boot system ( xp/ mandrake)

I have a drive that I just use for storage, it is not partitioned.

XP runs on its own seperate drive.

Do I need to format my storage drive, and lose the data already on there (which I don't want to do) , so I can install mandrake on this drive.

Regards

No, Mandrake can do that for you.

By this you probably mean the whole drive has only one big partition.
There is no way to have stored data in a drive that is not partitioned

Thank you

How will mandrake sit on this drive, will it create its own partition ?

regards

c

I thought partitioning was splitting a drive into several areas ?

it is formatted; but not partitioned

Technically, it is partitioned into one big drive. Mandrake will allow you to resize that partition, saving your original data, which I understand is your intent.

yeah thats what I want to do thanks v much

It must be both to be usable. Try the following definition;
"(computer science) the part of a hard disk that is dedicated to a particular operating system or application and accessed as a single unit".

Good enough for now.

Do *NOT* attempt a resizing without taking a backup first.

Is bashing newbies a pleasurable pastime for some of you people.

I think you all know what I meant and what I am trying to do !

tut

I only agree with the second part of the definition: and accessed as a single unit
A partition does not have to be dedicated to a particular operating system or application.
No when you buy a hard disk, you cannot format it. first you use fdisk or any other program to create a partition table. The partition table may contain only one primary partition (the hole drive). Then you format the partition(s), which means create a filesystem in the drive.
In Unix/Linux language the hard drive is a device like hda. The first patition is hda1. You need both to make a hard drive usable. You don't mount or format hda (the drive), you mount format hda1 (the partition)

I responded civilly to your query - I won't bother again.
You asked and were answered - with an attitiude like that, personally I no longer care.

Actually, I think it raised some good points for later use. Knowledge is never wasted.
But yes, the Mandy installer can create a partition from unused space.