Help installing Linux Mint 16 KDE without wiping out my Windows XP partion. I need to keep Windows XP until I can retreive all my important files and programs. Can you tell me a simple way to do this.
Thanks you very much for any help. Bud

There should be no problem doing this with XP. Just boot off the installation CD/USB and follow the instructions carefully when you get to the part about partitioning the disk. Give a shout if you have any difficulties.
jdk

Hey Bud.

First off, take a look at the used space on your hard drive and compare it against the total space available on the drive. If you need help doing that let me know, when it's done, post the totals and we'll go to the next step

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Thanks dijetlo......the Used Space 96.8 GB----Free Space 52.1GB.....Total capacity 148GB.....Thanks

That should be plenty of space. In general it seems most Linux distributions use by default around 10-20 gb of hard disk space

Hi. I'd go for at lest 20 to 30 and once installed you will be able to use your Xpee space and files from Mint. Defrag microcoughed-winblow$ hard-drive first http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848 then I prefer using a live Linux OS for shrinking partitions. Although, Mint should offer this on installation or can run live depending on the source?
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Live+Medium
e.g: http://gparted.org/
Plus, the second link in my signature... best wishes and have fun.

:Edits.

Thanks very much guys

How much of it is important data.
If most of it important & you don't have anywhere to store it, you can install on the 52 gig copy as much as you can, making sure that as you copy that you also delete the files from xp, thereby creating unused space on xp that you can add to linux install until you have all of your data saved to linux. then you can just simply remove xp & take the whole drive.

There are numerous tutorials on installing Linux Mint online, see the link below for a very detailed tutorial:

http://itsfoss.com/guide-install-lin...-boot-windows/

You should see several options in the first Installation Type window (see the link). The best option is 'Something Else' as it gives you more control and you will see what is happening at each step. Watch the bottom of the window as information on what is being done will be scrolling by. The 'Erase' option will overwrite everything. The 'Install Alongside' option is pretty much cross your fingers and hope for the best as you won't see much of what is happening during the install. You should also as suggested, back up any valuable data before starting as creating and changing partitions always has the potential for data loss.

If you familiarize yourself with the tutorial above beginning, you should have no problems as long as you have checked the minimum hardware requirements for Mint and your computer meets them.