This little bit of information escaped me as too subtle when reading the numerous Service Pack 2 articles, so I thought I would highlight it for the Forum. These are random snippets of some newsgroup posts, and the emphasis is mine:
If the computer's bios is capable of larger than 137 GB, XP SP2 will handle drives much larger than 137 GB if formatted as NTFS. The only real drawback to XP is the 32 GB limit if formatting as FAT 32
If SP 1 or 2 has been slipstreamed (either by the manufacturer of the CD or the owner of the computer) into the XP installation CD you can create a larger than 137 GB boot drive. If SP 1 or 2 has not been slipstreamed your maximum partition size (that can be formatted) for your boot disk is 137 GB. You can use Partition magic or other software to increase the size of the boot partition later.
Now, if you add a hard disk larger than 137 GB to a pre SP1 system it will also partition and format to no larger than 137 GB. Post SP1 or SP2 you can format it as large as the drive's native size.
You cannot format a partition FAT32 with native Windows XP utilities larger than 32GB in size. Windows XP can utilize partitions larger than 32GB, but it cannot create them. You can actually utilize a 2 Terabyte partition (FAT32) using Windows XP - but you will have to format it with something other than Windows XP.
Description of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems
NTFS stretches this limit a bit.. Allowing you to format an NTFS partition to up to 256 terabytes with internal Windows XP tools.
If the computer's bios is capable of larger than 137 GB, XP SP2 will handle drives much larger than 137 GB if formatted as NTFS. The only real drawback to XP is the 32 GB limit if formatting as FAT 32
If SP 1 or 2 has been slipstreamed (either by the manufacturer of the CD or the owner of the computer) into the XP installation CD you can create a larger than 137 GB boot drive. If SP 1 or 2 has not been slipstreamed your maximum partition size (that can be formatted) for your boot disk is 137 GB. You can use Partition magic or other software to increase the size of the boot partition later.
Now, if you add a hard disk larger than 137 GB to a pre SP1 system it will also partition and format to no larger than 137 GB. Post SP1 or SP2 you can format it as large as the drive's native size.
You cannot format a partition FAT32 with native Windows XP utilities larger than 32GB in size. Windows XP can utilize partitions larger than 32GB, but it cannot create them. You can actually utilize a 2 Terabyte partition (FAT32) using Windows XP - but you will have to format it with something other than Windows XP.
Description of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems
NTFS stretches this limit a bit.. Allowing you to format an NTFS partition to up to 256 terabytes with internal Windows XP tools.