[I.B.BANGIN']

Hi all:) Just finished downloading the iso files for Mandrake 10.Burned them to cd np..now to the question! I'm using a single 40gb HD running XP Pro,I know how to boot the com from cd but am worried about messing with my MBR.Upon my first attempt at installing Mandrake 10 I had the option to re-size the partition that XP is on..but was warned about doing this.I don't have partition magic and can't seem to create another partition using the XP disk either! I REALLY want to make the switch to Linux but don't want to do yet another re-format!(long story lol)

I'm a total newbie to Linux and computers in general although I've picked up a decent amount of knowledge pretty fast:)

Any advice from you nice Linux folk would be much appreciated!
Thanks for you're time...