Yes! There is a way... I'll guide you through the procedure... Here goes...
U can do all of the Hard Drive Re-sizing, Partitioning without loosing data using a Propitiatory Software for Windows with which you can literally control your NTFS/FAT Partitions. Its called EASEUS Partition Master v5.5 Pro. How to get it? You'll have to work out that. Its not that hard to find it.
Once u have the software, make your Hard drive look like something like what I've shown Below.
[······300000 MB······] [··········1000000 MB··········] [····200000 MB·····]
Windows XP Data FREE Space
NTFS NTFS (for Ubuntu)
Once you have 20-25 GB, delete the partition i.e. your marking it as free space. Once done you can go ahead with Ubuntu installation in this way.
Boot from Live CD and start the Installation.
During Installation Select Specify Partitions Manually. To begin creating partitions, select the free space and click on the Add… button.
- Click on the "Add" button. In the new window, type 2048 in the "New partition size in megabytes" field and select the "swap area" option from the "Use as:" list. Click the OK button (your swap area should be twice your ram size - Recommended).
- Now, click on the "Add" button. In the new window, select the "Primary" option, input a value between 8,000 and 20,000 in the "New partition size in megabytes" field and select / as the "Mount point." Click the OK button.
- Click on the “Add” button again and from the new window and select the "Primary" option, type in whatever space you have left in your hard disk in the "New partition size in megabytes" field. And select /home as the "Mount point". Click the OK button. You are done with the hard part.
Click "Install Now" to proceed with the installation process.