Attempted to Install Ubuntu on a partition but has have Windows Boot ablitiy
 

I tried installing the linux ubuntu OS on my work laptop along side windows xp. On installation I had to manually create the partition as it wouldnt automatically create one. So in conclusion, I can run Linux fine with no probs, but all my files I believe are still on the harddrive, but in the unallocated space. I need to get them back.

Does anyone have any ideas? I've looked at GPartition but I can only seem to view the disk size ect.

Any help/suggestions would be appricated.

Ta,
Stefan.

From a terminal (for Ubuntu probably Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) run this and post all the output - you'll need to enter your password(that's a lower case ell)

Thanks alot for replying :)

hmmm... I take it the below shows I have infact wiped it? If so, do you know of any software that i can use on linux to recover the files? And would i have to make the unallocated section of the hard drive a usable partition.

Yes, I was afraid of something like that from your initial description.
Looking at that, you've re-formatted the first 20 Gig or so of the disk. On a normal install that'd be a XP partition - maybe the XP partition. Almost certainly you have trashed the meta-data of the (NTFS ?) partition(s) - to locate the data (as in files) will require scanning the drive. Normal suggestions under Linux are Testdisk and photorec (does many file types not just photos). Both from the same people here - plenty of posts here on LQ about both.
You may be lucky with the files in the unallocated area - in the Linux partition, it's unlikely you'll get much/any back.
A forensic tool called foremost is also useful.

Seems there are also free Windows based tools that work; haven't tried any myself.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time on recovery - potentially days to weeks.

Forgot the new partition question - gparted is a GUI PartitionManager lookalike; should be available under Ubuntu.