What are the chances of a "dual-boot" installation of Ubuntu 12.04 on a win xp machine corrupting my hardrive?

Question

I want to create a dual-boot installation of ubuntu 12.04 on my hard drive, which has windows xp already installed on it. I have everything setup and ready to install, but I want to know the t risk of corrupting my hdd. Are there any known computer models that do not install correctly? (Sys specs below) The reason I want to know is that, I know I can create a backup and all of all my stuff, but I share the computer, and the other user has it setup with her office. If I have to re-install all the data, she would have to setup everything all over again, and that would take AGES. If I can, I would rather prevent corrupting my disk by not installing Ubuntu, in order to avoid the chaos it would cause. The reason I'm so suspicious of my installation becoming awry, is because the Ubuntu website, as well as most installation tutorials have warned of the possibility. If anyone is aware of any specific hardware that does not react favorably with the installation, or anthing else, please let me know.
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Sys Specs

Windows XP Pro version 2002 SP3
Dell Vostro 220s (came installed with Vista)
intel core 2 duo
e7400 @ 2.80ghz
2.79 ghz, 2.69 gb ram

i have successfully run ubuntu off a flashdrive

If more info is needed, please say what info. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Your master boot record, or MBR, is very fragile. When you start including other boot functions in your MBR you open it up to a world of trouble.



I have had to remove the Ubuntu 11 version several times from several different computers in order to troubleshoot and repair my mbr.



There is a chance, and I do it for a lot of computers, but my experience has been about 3/20 installs damaged the MBR. Typically if the MBR is damaged it will boot but not get past the windows load screen.

Answer 2

gee cure 2 duo is as old as my E 1705 media that i gave to seti research as a online comp

as long as you have enough hdd space and follow the set up your ok

use linux support to help you solve problems

Answer 3

as long as you put each operating system in a seperate partition on the hard drive you will have no bother, this keeps the two systems apart

Answer 4

2 chances.....none and none.