Windows user to take plunge this weekend.

Ark Linux Users and Developers,

I currently run Windows 2000 at work and Windows 2000 XP at home. I am
preparing to install Ark Linux on my computer at home this weekend.
(We will be getting a lot of rain this weekend in California :] ) I
only have one partition on my hard drive, which is currently being
hogged by my Windows OS in its entirety. I managed to figure out that
I could use the System Rescue CD to resize my partition to make room
for Ark Linux using the express install option. However, I noticed Ark
Linux now comes with a parallel install option. This is my question:

Which is the safest install option? Should I:

(1) Resize my hard drive partition using System Rescue CD, and then
install Ark using the express option?

Or

(2) Just install Ark using the parallel install.

I will be backing up my data before the installation, of course. But I
don't really want to wipe my hard drive. Is one of these options safer
than the other? (I am a fairly experienced computer user, and I do
some programming in Java, but I've got no previous Linux or Unix
experience.)

Thanks for any advice. I look forward to learning and using Ark Linux.

The Sunburned Surveyor