Max NTFS Disk Partition

The OP made no mention of installing Windows, the question was:

"What is the maximum NTFS disk partition allowed by Windows XP Pro SP3?"

Installing Windows on dynamic volumes may not be a very common thing to
do (and if it were it would have to be on a "retained" dynamic disk so
the 2TB size limit would still apply) but using dynamic volumes for data
storage is something that is often done. NTFS dates from the early
1990's and while it isn't "New Technology" that is what you get if you
are running Windows XP and as far as I know that is also what you will
get with Windows 7. There was a mention when Vista was being developed
that a new file system was in the works for it but in the end Vista
shipped with the same NTFS version as Windows XP and Server 2003.
Server 2008 uses the same NTFS version so I don't expect a new version
for Windows 7, but I don't know so that is a guess. The difference is
that the newer Vista and Windows 7 can handle GPT disks which aren't
constrained by the 32-bit partition table, the partition on these disks
can be larger than 2 terabytes, this has nothing to do with NTFS per se.
Windows XP 32-bit cannot handle GPT disks but the 64-bit version can.
Server 2003 32-bits uses the same NTFS file system as Windows XP
32-bit but it can handle GPT disks. It has nothing to do with NTFS, I
believe it has more to do with the disk.sys driver lacking GPT support
on Windows XP 32-bit.

John


JS wrote:
Do you install XP on Dynamic Volumes as a regular habit?
By the way "NTFS" isn't exactly New Technology these days.
And mounting Volumes pre-dates Windows.

The OP made no mention of installing Windows, the question was:

"What is the maximum NTFS disk partition allowed by Windows XP Pro SP3?"

Installing Windows on dynamic volumes may not be a very common thing to
do (and if it were it would have to be on a "retained" dynamic disk so
the 2TB size limit would still apply) but using dynamic volumes for data
storage is something that is often done. NTFS dates from the early
1990's and while it isn't "New Technology" that is what you get if you
are running Windows XP and as far as I know that is also what you will
get with Windows 7. There was a mention when Vista was being developed
that a new file system was in the works for it but in the end Vista
shipped with the same NTFS version as Windows XP and Server 2003.
Server 2008 uses the same NTFS version so I don't expect a new version
for Windows 7, but I don't know so that is a guess. The difference is
that the newer Vista and Windows 7 can handle GPT disks which aren't
constrained by the 32-bit partition table, the partition on these disks
can be larger than 2 terabytes, this has nothing to do with NTFS per se.
Windows XP 32-bit cannot handle GPT disks but the 64-bit version can.
Server 2003 32-bits uses the same NTFS file system as Windows XP
32-bit but it can handle GPT disks. It has nothing to do with NTFS, I
believe it has more to do with the disk.sys driver lacking GPT support
on Windows XP 32-bit.

John


JS wrote:
Do you install XP on Dynamic Volumes as a regular habit?
By the way "NTFS" isn't exactly New Technology these days.
And mounting Volumes pre-dates Windows.

Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"John John - MVP" wrote in message
...
The OP made no mention of installing Windows, the question was:

"What is the maximum NTFS disk partition allowed by Windows XP Pro SP3?"

Installing Windows on dynamic volumes may not be a very common thing to do
(and if it were it would have to be on a "retained" dynamic disk so the
2TB size limit would still apply) but using dynamic volumes for data
storage is something that is often done. NTFS dates from the early 1990's
and while it isn't "New Technology" that is what you get if you are
running Windows XP and as far as I know that is also what you will get
with Windows 7. There was a mention when Vista was being developed that a
new file system was in the works for it but in the end Vista shipped with
the same NTFS version as Windows XP and Server 2003. Server 2008 uses the
same NTFS version so I don't expect a new version for Windows 7, but I
don't know so that is a guess. The difference is that the newer Vista and
Windows 7 can handle GPT disks which aren't constrained by the 32-bit
partition table, the partition on these disks can be larger than 2
terabytes, this has nothing to do with NTFS per se. Windows XP 32-bit
cannot handle GPT disks but the 64-bit version can. Server 2003 32-bits
uses the same NTFS file system as Windows XP 32-bit but it can handle GPT
disks. It has nothing to do with NTFS, I believe it has more to do with
the disk.sys driver lacking GPT support on Windows XP 32-bit.

John


JS wrote:
Do you install XP on Dynamic Volumes as a regular habit?
By the way "NTFS" isn't exactly New Technology these days.
And mounting Volumes pre-dates Windows.

Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"John John - MVP" wrote in message
...
The OP made no mention of installing Windows, the question was:

"What is the maximum NTFS disk partition allowed by Windows XP Pro SP3?"

Installing Windows on dynamic volumes may not be a very common thing to do
(and if it were it would have to be on a "retained" dynamic disk so the
2TB size limit would still apply) but using dynamic volumes for data
storage is something that is often done. NTFS dates from the early 1990's
and while it isn't "New Technology" that is what you get if you are
running Windows XP and as far as I know that is also what you will get
with Windows 7. There was a mention when Vista was being developed that a
new file system was in the works for it but in the end Vista shipped with
the same NTFS version as Windows XP and Server 2003. Server 2008 uses the
same NTFS version so I don't expect a new version for Windows 7, but I
don't know so that is a guess. The difference is that the newer Vista and
Windows 7 can handle GPT disks which aren't constrained by the 32-bit
partition table, the partition on these disks can be larger than 2
terabytes, this has nothing to do with NTFS per se. Windows XP 32-bit
cannot handle GPT disks but the 64-bit version can. Server 2003 32-bits
uses the same NTFS file system as Windows XP 32-bit but it can handle GPT
disks. It has nothing to do with NTFS, I believe it has more to do with
the disk.sys driver lacking GPT support on Windows XP 32-bit.

John


JS wrote:
Do you install XP on Dynamic Volumes as a regular habit?
By the way "NTFS" isn't exactly New Technology these days.
And mounting Volumes pre-dates Windows.

Maybe (or probably?) by then third party add-on controllers might be
able to address the problem.

John

JS wrote:
Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)

Maybe (or probably?) by then third party add-on controllers might be
able to address the problem.

John

JS wrote:
Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)

Is that a "Promise" in technology ;-)

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"John John - MVP" wrote in message
...
Maybe (or probably?) by then third party add-on controllers might be able
to address the problem.

John

JS wrote:
Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)

Is that a "Promise" in technology ;-)

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com


"John John - MVP" wrote in message
...
Maybe (or probably?) by then third party add-on controllers might be able
to address the problem.

John

JS wrote:
Well, I can see the next question coming down the road for XP:
"I just bought this 4TB hard drive and XP only reports 2TB" ;-)