I would set up the BIOS so you can boot from the WinXP Pro CD, and then I 
would use the WinXP setup procedure to partition and format your drive.  I 
would recommend using NTFS, which is what WinXP's setup procedure will 
default to.

You can have different file formats, using different partitions, on the same 
drive, but I'm not sure what advantage you might gain by mixing NTFS and 
FAT32, unless you felt the need to retain Win98, for example, on a dual boot 
system.

Older versions of Partition Magic may not support NTFS, but the newest 
versions should.  I would think that you can look up on the software 
manufacturer's website what versions have which features.

John Sproule

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Venkat Viswanathan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 12:28 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] partitioning


> Hi all,  I wish to partition/format a new seagate HDD for installing winxp 
> pro.
>
> (1) i remember having read somewhere(but not 100%sure)thar drives 
> patitioned with "partition magic" have problems with win xp. is this 
> correct?
>
> (2)which will be better NTFS/FAT32? any pros/cons.
>
> (3)is it possible/advisable to have a combinaton of both?
>
> (4) i can ofcourse use the utility available at seagate web site

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