dualboot winxp and mandrake 10, w/o losing personal data
 

i already have winxp installed and want to install mandrake 10 as a secondary os. the reason being is i want to learn how to use linux, but still be able to work from xp. is there anyway to make a second partition without having to format and lose my personal data on xp.

I have just done that. Defrag your drive then go to command prompt in windows, type: chkdsk /f
Say yes to do it on reboot and restart you computer. Once the chkdsk has done its thing there shouldnt be a problem with the linux installer resizing (shrinking) your existing windows parition and creating 2 new linux ones. (It still comes up with a warning before you do it but its very safe.)

also...just one suggestion...BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!!! anything you can't possibly stand to lose...while most of the time things run smoothly, there is always the risk that something might go wrong, and you'll lose data...

thanks guys, worked perfect