XP on 1 drive, UBUNTU on another DATA on a 3rd?

[gmilne]

Is this feasible? If so How would I set about it. Running 7.10
I also need to know
1. Can a Drive with multiple partitions have different formats eg. 1 parition NTFS another ext3 and another partition FAT32

Which formats would be best for my setup given that I want to read and write data from linux and XP

thanks

[Pumalite]

A drive can have partitions with different formats. Linux reads and write to ntfs. You can see Ubuntu from XP with a special driver. I hope you have all SATA or all IDE.

[IHATEDLINK]

Yeah, sure. A Drive with multiple partitions CAN have different formats.
It's actually very easy to do it.
For dual-booting use THIS

After you finish, boot in to Ubuntu and do this:

1. Open terminal

2. Type:

sudo apt-get gparted

Type your password.
This will install Gnome Partition Editor (Gparted)

3. After the installation is over do to Settings>Administration> Gnome Partition Editor and create a new partition for your Data. Make sure this partition is formated as FAT32 so both Ubuntu AND Windows can read/write on it.
Thats pretty much it.
Remember: NTFS for XP, ext3 for Ubuntu and FAT32 for DATA.
DATA can be also used as a "sharing folder" between the OS' cause Windows can't read/write on ext3 but both OS' can write and read in FAT32.
As Pumalite points out, there are a few drivers available for windows to read and write in ext2/ext3. They work great, I tested them myself.

Remember to THANK ME by clicking the little star button at the bottom-right of the post if it was useful

[Pumalite]

Better use Gparted Live CD to do your partitioning:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
Burn to disk and boot from it.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

[gmilne]

In the message from IHATEDLINK, the site you recommended assumes I installed Linux first. I installed XP first. Trying Gparted instead.
Thasnk

[IHATEDLINK]

Well... How did it went?
For a guide about Dual-booting with XP FIRST go HERE
Pumalite is right, you better use the gParted live CD or Ubuntu Live CD itself (Once it booted System>Administration>Gnome Partition Editor)
If you still want the XP-can-read-ext3 drivers go HERE

Oh, and if you installed gParted and you want to get rid of it:

 sudo apt-get remove gparted

Tell me how it went later.