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It might be dumb question, but I want to experience Linux standalone and want to replace my windows 7 with it. My question is: Will I have to wipe my whole data If I install Linux on my notebook replacing windows?

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Would be handy if you include all your requirements (wrt dynamic disk and stuff), in your original question. Thanks :) – Bernhard Dec 24 '12 at 13:48

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You can easily make your system dual-boot. This means that on booting your machine, you can select to use either Windows 7 or the Linux-distribution you want to install. If you are going to do this for the first time, you might want to consider Ubuntu, as this is really convenient to install, while keeping your Windows installation intact.

Always make a back-up of your data in Windows on a safe place before you start installing new operating systems. You will always regret you didn't do this when you need it.

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Seems like the OP has a dynamic disk, so he'd need to convert it into a basic disk first before he can dual-boot. – Bilal Akhtar Dec 24 '12 at 17:17
@Bilal Yeah, he added some information after I answered the question, but this answer still answers the question as it is posed, so I'll just leave it to this. – Bernhard Dec 24 '12 at 17:25
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No need to Wipe disk, Linux have powerful boot-loader i.e Grub, it will keep NTLDR boot loader , then you can boot from linux as well as windows. but take backup of important files before installation. You can refer this page for Dual Boot Your Pre-Installed Windows 7 Computer with Ubuntu

Note :- if you are using Dynamic Disk then You need to reinstall with a Basic Disk

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I have dynamic disk, it does not allow dual boot. Read here techrepublic.com/blog/doityourself-it-guy/… – daNullSet Dec 24 '12 at 13:38
if you are using Dynamic Disk then You need to reinstall with a Basic Disk – Rahul Patil Dec 24 '12 at 13:56
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I would also suggest to install virtual box rather than dual boot. Reasons: 1. No limit to experiment. 2. No risk of deletion of Windows Data. 3. Install as many distros as you want.

Also virtual box is free and open source... Try and you won't regret it. Dual boot is an old option. I don't see a reason to use it now when the option of Virtual box is there..

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Since you say you have a dynamic disk, and you can't dual-boot, you can just backup your data and then wipe your disk for installing Linux.

You might also want to leave some space for a Windows install in case you want to reinstall. (If I remember correctly, Windows can only be installed in a primary partition).

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I have dynamic disk, it does not allow dual boot. Read here techrepublic.com/blog/doityourself-it-guy/… – daNullSet Dec 24 '12 at 13:38
@daNullSet changed my answer to reflect this. – Renan Dec 24 '12 at 13:39
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Most Linux Distros now offer a live CD/DVD capability so you can try it out before you install it. This wikipedia article has a pretty complete list of all the Distro's available to you that can run live. There is also livecdlist that contains a pretty comprehensive list of live distros.

This ubuntu.com community page shows an example of their LiveCD version.

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