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[Tom <question78140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Question #78140 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/78140

    Status: Open => Answered

Tom proposed the following answer:
Installing Ubuntu will install a new Grub and that should pick-up on the
Xp, if it doesn't then we can try editing it to fix that.

The main parameters of this type of 'problem' ... 
Each drive can only have 4 Primary Partitions although a work-around has been developed - 1 of the Primary Partitions can be an "Extended Partition" which is a bit like a bucket able to contain many "Logical Partitions".  It can be advantageous on some hardware to have crucial parts of the OS on Primary partitions while Logical ones are fine for things like /home and other data.  More modern or top-end mbords and hard-drives are just as quick with either type of partition (Logical or Primary).  

Read/writes are faster at the front of the drive and can be as much as
half the speed at the end of the drive.

With over 1Gb of Ram you'll find your swap partition isn't so vital, so
it could be nearer the end of the drive but if you have only 1Gb or less
then it's a good plan to get it as close to the front of the drive as
possible and preferably as a Primary Partition.

Ubuntu can read data stored on a Windows partition but Windows is a bit
blind to linux stuff so often it's a good idea to keep a lot of your
data on the Windows partition so that both can use it.  This allows
Ubuntu to be fairly small although it really needs 15Gb or a little more
to feel comfortable.

By splitting /home off you are starting to tailor your machine to
optimise performance and stability.  So really it would be good to know
how much ram you have and how much drive-space you plan to give Ubuntu
as there isn't really a good "one size fits all" answer.  It would also
be good to know if you have an Ubuntu Cd already?

Thanks, good luck and regards from
Tom :)

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