So...
I've been wanting to install linux for a while now, having experimented with a few distributions like puppy linux and such. I don't currently have much room on my hard drive right now, so I would prefer to not to install it on that.

I was thinking of putting it on my external HD, but I have quite a lot of data on it already. I really don't want to partition it. Would installing it on there delete any data?

Another course of action I was considering was canabalizing an old drive from an old PC. I was just wondering if I would be able to view the files on that HD when I was running Windows. But this might not be possible because it is not my Computer, and I'm not sure if my parents would be happy with my dismantling their PC.

My last option would be to install it on my old 20 GB ipod. It only has backup data on it, but that can be transferred to my other external HD.

Which would be the best thing for me to do here?

You would need to use a normal hard drive, unless your BIOS can boot from an external hard drive. You would want to use a hard drive that has nothing on it. Linux uses a different file system than Windows, so you wont be able to view files from Windows unless you install a third party application. So your best bet would be to take an unused hard drive, put it in the computer, and install it on that.

I was looking through the devices that I can boot from in my bios, and my external HD showed up. So I am assuming that I could boot from usb. I'm leaning toward the 20 GB iPod. Whould this be possible, or is their something specific to the ipod that would prevent booting?

You could install it on a USB stick, external hardrive and quite possibly the iPod but I've never tried that so you could always give it a go! Depending on the linux distribution you choose you could view all the files from your Windows partition from the outset and with some editing of files to mount the drive in Linux you'll be able to view your files from Windows on any distribution (you certainly will not need a 3rd party program). You do not need to install Linux on a totally blank HDD either you can simply partition some of the unused space on any HDD to install Linux. I don't understand why lord monkey has posted what he has.

Well, I've got to the point now where I've decided to install Ubuntu 8.10. From the online tutorials I have seen, I should be able to select the device I want to install to, but I don't seem to have an option... It just goes strait to my C: drive, and asks how I want to partition it... Any suggestions?

It won't show my other internal backup drive, my exernal HD, or my ipod. Once I run the liveCD, though, they appear on the desktop.

I'm gonna let someone else give you better information even though I installed the latest Ubuntu myself on an alternative HDD. There should be an option to do some kind of "Advanced installation" or "Advanced partitioning/volume management" I can't remember how it's worded. Also I hate the LiveCD so I installed using the "alternate" ISO.

quote LinkMaster03

If you want to keep Winblows functioning, you should partition your HD from Winblows. If you do it from the installer (gparted) Winblows might not run. What I did was defrag the drive like a million times then shrink the partition. But it's not a big deal cause if you don't play games you won't want to leave Linux. Google is your friend.

Winblows, lol

Anyways, windows needs to stay because my parents will need to use it. And I don't think I can partition the HD because I don't have the space. I ended up installing Ubuntu on my iPod using some tool from the administration menu. All it does when I boot is give me some command line. Not really sure what I did.

actually i used this

It is basically all random characters, and nothing happens when I press alt-F7.