Basic dual installation question..

[No_gd_btnk]

Hi,
I realise that this is probably an obvious question, but I'm planning on a dual installation of Ubuntu with XP on an ageing laptop of mine, (fat 32, 80gb harddrive, XP already installed).

Given that I'm a Ubuntu beginner I was going to just go ahead with a guided partition pretty much chopping the drive down the middle, using half for XP, the other half for Ubuntu.

What I wanted to know is whether each operating system can access files in the other operating system's partition, eg: if I have music files stored in the Ubuntu partition can I access them when I boot into XP and vice-versa?

I don't feel confident enough with partitioning etc. as yet to attempt a more sophisticated multiple partition like I have found in some guides I have read, so I wanted to know if this would work first. If its a success I have another computer I could attempt a more ambitious partitioning on.

Thanks very much for any help with this newbie question,
Chris.

[SteveDee]

You will be able to access your Windows (Fat32) files from 'buntu.

To access your Linux files from Windows is more of a problem because Windows does not recognise non-Windows file systems.

If you don't mind booting 'buntu to find your file, then saving it in your Fat32 partition for Windows to access, then that will work fine.

Else, take a look at this: http://www.fs-driver.org/