Easiest Way to Setup Dual Boot System

S

Skrying

2[H]4U
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Jan 10, 2005
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I've been working on computers for a long time, and I must admit, I've never cared to learn anything about Linux, and been happy with my Windows home. But as of late, the high school in my town has geared a few of their networking classes towards using Linux. Therefore, as a part time tech at the high school, I need to learn Linux, or at least get a fundamental understanding of it.

As of right now I dont have a secondary rig of my own to devot to Linux, but I have about 30GB of free hard drive space that wont be used for ages on my main rig, so I figure it's time to take the plunge.

This system consists of two HDs, they are not in any RAID setup. One is a 80GB OS/applications HD, the other is a 200GB media HD. I was planning on installing Linux onto the 80GB, because if something goes wrong then I dont have any issues formatting it, but I cant loose the data on the 200GB.

So, what's the easiest way for me to set this up? What programs should I use and where can I find them and guides to using them? What's the most safe way of protecting the data on the 200GB HD?

I will be using Ubuntu if that is of any help.

Looking forward to everyones help.
 
Ubuntu automatically detects Windows partitions and configures the bootloader for you. The data on the 200 GB should be fine, just pay attention to the Ubuntu installer if you use automatic partitioning and see that it doesn't attempt to partition and format your 200 GB drive. Also, if they are NTFS partitions on the 200 GB, never mount them in writeable mode and actually try to write to them.

Ubuntu has a pretty slick package manager (apt, from Debian) so chances are almost everything you want (unless you have specialty needs) will be in apt repositories. However, what kind of programs are you looking for exactly?
 
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