Is it possible to partition my SSD for Linux without losing my files?

If your files are on a Windows file system, you won't be able to merge them directly into a Linux file system without potential data loss. It's safer to get a separate HDD or SSD temporarily to back up your important files first before messing with partitions.

You can definitely shrink your existing partition to make some space for Linux. Just remember, you can't merge the partitions directly if they're formatted differently—like Windows NTFS and Linux ext4. But once you install Linux, you can access your files without merging them; they'll just stay on their own partition.

Just a heads-up: when you partition, the disk might need to be unmounted, which means you can't be using it while you do that. Backing up files to another drive first is highly recommended.

Using software like Partition Wizard Free is great for managing your partitions. You can check what format your SSD is in, and remember that different file systems can coexist on the same drive, but you have to be careful when partitioning.