In about a month or two, I'm planning major overhaul on my work computers. I'm planning to set up a Windows XP and Ubuntu partition on both a Compaq desktop and laptop. The desktop involves installing a new hard drive and on both machines I'll be performing a fresh install of XP and then Ubuntu Studio. I'd like to have all my ducks in a row and I have a few questions going forward. This is uncharted territory for me.

1. Will folders in my XP partition be accessible from within Ubuntu and vice versa? It would be convenient for things like business records to be able to access them at any time, regardless of the the current OS in use.
2. What about networking? Can I set it up in a manner so that I can access a shared folder from either OS, regardless of the current OS of the computer containing the shared folder? (This doesen't sound feasible to me, but I thought I'd ask anyway.)
3. I'm about to go research this on my own, but if anyone knows off hand...Since my Desktop XP software is pre-SP1, is there any place from which I may be able to download a disk image for SP1 and even SP2? This could avoid hours of downloading and istalling through Windows Update.

Big thanks to anyone who takes the time to read and respond to this post.

Davd