Installing over Windows XP

[Josephc25]

Very new to everything, have a windows XP computer that will not boot up I want to install Ubuntu in its place. Will I lose all my data, photos, music?

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

You'll only lose any current data if you allow the installer to format the partitions that the data resides on. If the data is currently on the partition that you want to install Linux on, you might want to use a live distribution such as Parted Magic (or the Ubuntu live installer/disk) to boot and retrieve any data you want to keep before you begin your Linux installation. Once that's done, boot your Ubuntu Linux disk, perform the install, then restore any data to the new system, or partitions.

[rokytnji]

From your question I am thinking you are new to using a live cd to recover data. Maybe the below link will help. Recover your music,photos,etc.... before you try a install/

Yet Another Technology Site: How to recover your Windows files

[d_dark_lordd]

Very new to everything, have a windows XP computer that will not boot up I want to install Ubuntu in its place. Will I lose all my data, photos, music?

it depends in which partition u are installing the ubuntu,...
usually xp is in drive c..so install ubuntu in that drive only...
n u can save the data on rest of the drive..

any os formats the drive in which its getting installed.so dont install it the drive where u hav kept ur data...

i will suggest u to use both xp and ubuntu,,make dual boot..n njoy both,,

[mrrangerman]

Josephc25
I want to install Ubuntu in its place. Will I lose all my data, photos, music?

If you do what you are saying here the answer is yes, if you overwrite the partition that windows is on you will lose ALL data on that partition. Before you do anything with the partitions do some research and get an understanding of partitions and how to set them up. Do some research on how to use Gparted or Parted Magic.
Have you tried to do a system restore on your windows system? The first thing I would do is as the system is starting to boot, repeatedly press F8 or F11 this will put you into a recovery menu pick the option to boot to a previous successful boot, this does not always work but sometimes it does. If you can't get the xp working then try using a live cd, but note, if you don't know what you are doing, and you have data on that drive you can't live without you can delete the data.

Another thing that could be a problem is as a rule, when resizing a windows partition, window should be de-fragmented so if you can't get windows to boot and you resize the partition it is on without de-fragging it you do stand a chance of losing some data. To get better help you may want to give us some system specs, like HD size at least. Do you have more than one partition on this drive? If so is one of them a recovery partition? Sorry to sound so negative! but it is very easy to make a mistake and lose data.

One more thing, before installing linux try a few live-cd's and see if you even like it and what hardware issues you may have. Chances are if you can boot a live cd up without any problems your system should do fine with linux on it.