Basic install question - 2 HD's with XP on the first

[Tanatz]

My set up is as follows:

two hard drives

the first with windows XP on it
the second is for storage with 60+GB of space left on it


My question is:

Can I install Linux to about 10GB of the open 60GB on my second ( storage ) hard drive without messing anything up?


2nd ( and less important ) question:


If the above situation were possible, could I then view / execute the files I have stored on my storage drive in Linux?

[Daedrus]

1st Answer: Yes it is possible depending on how the 2nd drive is partitioned. If it is all partitioned under NTFS, you will have to resize the partition to open up the 10gb desired for the linux install.

2nd answer: Yes you would be able to view the files stored on the storage portion of the second drive. As for executing, it depends on the files. If they are actual programs, it depends if they will run under Linux or not. Everything else should be accessible as long as you have a program installed on Linux that will run them.

The ease of setting up this access will depend on the Linux distro that you use. Some have access set up automatically. Others need a little configuration.

[Parcival]

Even if you don't run a gentoo linux system, these two links will answer all your questions:

Preparing the disks (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=4) (of course you don't wanna follow the instructions on deleting your partitions ;) )

Configuring the bootloader (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=10) (to get everything running)