If you've got it all installed now, you can boot one without affecting the other. To mount the other one, create a mount point and use something like "mount -v -t ext3 /dev/hda1 /mnt/other". You can now access the other filesystem through the mount point (you can add a line to /etc/fstab too*). I guess a good idea at that point would be to copy all your crucial stuff into the new partition. Again, don't worry too much, there is no risk of filesystem corruption in all this, the risk is that one system won't run properly after you tinker with it, so you just want to make sure:Originally Posted by Jesdisciple
- at least one system can be booted in good working order
- you know how to mount and access the other filesystem (easy)
I've never used Ubuntu but apparently it uses grub, so it should have modified your menu.lst properly. If not, you might end up only having one boot option, which is just a hassle you can fix (unless you were REALLY dumb and installed fresh onto the old partition). Sometimes the disk partition tool on the install CD's can get confusing because of Logical Volume Management, which most people don't need on their home desktop but get subject to anyway.
If worst comes to worst and nothing boots, don't panic and figure you have to reinstall and cannot save anything! There are options even then...the Ubuntu bootable CD almost certainly has a rescue mode where you can get a command line and use bash + things like mkdir and mount (you can mount a non-functional windows partition under linux, b.t.w, which it is a shame you didn't know that before, you probably could not have repaired it**, but you could have gotten your stuff off).
ps. get yourself a cheap 1-2 gig USB key and format it ext2 for backing up important stuff independent of the box! I think they are about $5 now.
*in which case use "noauto" to prevent Ubuntu from always mounting the other partition.
**it was not actually damaged, to be sure, it's just you overwrote the boot sector; grub sometimes needs help w/ windows
