The Windows XP Professional Setup program examines the hard disk to determine its existing configuration. Setup then allows you to install Windows XP Professional on an existing partition or to create a new partition on which to install it. A disk partition is a logical section of a hard disk on which the computer can write data. Partitions offer a way to divide the space on a single physical hard disk into multiple areas, each of which is treated as a different disk within Windows After you create the installation partition, Setup prompts you to select the file system with which to format the partition. Windows XP Professional can be installed on two file systems:
File allocation table (FAT) Although Windows Setup references only file allocation table (FAT), there are actually two versions of FAT: FAT and FAT32. FAT is a 16-bit file system used in older versions of Windows. FAT32 is a 32-bit file system supported by Windows 95 original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Service Release 2, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. NTFS The preferred file system for Windows XP, NTFS provides more security and flexibility than FAT32. Microsoft recommends that you always use NTFS unless there is a specific reason to use another file system (such as when you are installing more than one operating system on a computer and one of those operating systems does not recognize NTFS partitions). NTFS is supported by Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 Server.
Networking Space 