I have a hp 7400 model and it has got original windows xp preinstalled with it on c: drive. There is one more drive labelled d: bt that is a restore disk.
i burnt the dvd (of win xp)once from the d: drive(now i can delete the contents to get space -though i havent done that yet.) as instructed by the vendor of the laptop.
now the problem is ive lost my dvd and burning once more is not alllowed by the laptop program.
I have to install linux (preserving win xp and the restore partition) on the computer and i fear that during the boot process it comes "press f11 for recovery" which automatically formats drive c: and loads win xp automatically int c:.(i.e. restore to factory settings)- this will get lost as linux will get into the master boot record and then my original windows will get lost since there will be no link to drive d: restoration during the startup menu (it might happen so so i havent tried it yet as i will lose original win xp) and i have lost the restore dvd which i had burnt earlier.

Please tell me the steps i can follow to have linux installed whie preserving the restoration menu and if possible the present win xp with data undisturbed .
the hdd is 60 gb with 10 gb occupied by win restore partition sent by oem.
can i burn the dvd again by some manner(presently the oem program for writing that prohibits me from doing so since ive already burnt once and i lost that dvd.)
PLease help me!

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