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Ubuntu Linux, just like most Linux distributions, will happily co-exist on a hard disk drive with just about any version of Windows. This is a concept known as ''dual-booting''. Essentially, when you power up your PC you will be presented with a menu which provides the option to boot either Ubuntu Linux or Windows. Obviously you can only run one operating system at a time, but it is worth noting that the files on the Windows partition of your disk drive will be available to you from Ubuntu Linux regardless of whether your Windows partition was formatted using NTFS, FAT16 or FAT32.
During the installation process the Ubuntu installer will detect the Windows installation on the drive and give you the option of deleting it and using the entire disk for Ubuntu, or sharing the disk with Windows. In the latter case you will be able to specify the percentage of the disk to be used for Ubuntu Linux. According to the Ubuntu documentation, a minimum of 2 GB of disk space is required for a full Ubuntu Linux installation, and more space to store any files you may subsequently create. Experience suggests, however, that even with 3 GB of space allocated you will probably run out disk space during your first system update. Ideally, at least 5 GB of disk space should be allocated to the Ubuntu Linux installation to avoid later problems. Once the disk space for Ubuntu Linux has been selected, the installer will resize the Windows partition (without destroying any data) and use the remainder of the disk for Ubuntu.
In addition, the Ubuntu Linux installer provides the option to copy over files and settings for all users of the Windows system to the Ubuntu Linux partition. The migration tool will copy over all the files in My Documents directory for any users you choose to migrate together with the desktop background image and any bookmarks you have defined in your Windows web browsers.
