external hard drives

[Doug Pollard]

This will likely drive you nuts.   On my dual boot xp and Ubuntu system  
Xp was not able to see my external hard drive with media on it in (MY 
Computer).  I was able to reformat it in XP but it damage Xp somehow. I 
copied the media to my second drive with Ubuntu on it. I also copied it 
too my second external drive.  I then tried to reformat the  external 
drive from Fat 32 to Ntfs.  Gparted would  not allow me to reformat 
Ntfs.  Since xp could not see the drive I installed windows on it using 
the CD knowing it would not run there but that Xp would then be able to 
see the drive.  I had developed an error in XP on the first drive and 
doing a repair install would not fix it.  I did a complete new install. 
Now It did not give me the option to open Ubuntu on the second drive. I 
reinstalled Ubuntu.  I of course lost the media on the second hard drive 
but since it was backed up on the second external drive it did not 
matter.  Now I have to reinstall Cinelerra and all my other media 
editing programs. I also have to install  skype and Wacom's Bamboo in 
Xp. Up to this point everything now seems to work.
    Had I a better understanding of working in the terminal I likely 
would have been able to get these programs working in Ubuntu.  My 
computer is 64 bit so there is more than just a quick install.  Had I 
tried to do that It would have likely taken a lot more time and would 
likely have screwed up Ubuntu beyond all hope and had to reinstall a 
couple times anyway. 
                                                                         
            Thanks to all who tried to help me with 
this.                       Doug