Hi,
I have installed windows xp pro on my pc. I have one hard drive of 500GB.
I have managed to break the main c drive into two partitions - my documents have been to moved to e drive.
Windows is fundamentally flawed in that the windows directory is installed into the same drive as 'my documents' files.
Therefore if someone has to reinstall windows they need will loose all their personal data.

Now I am still learning about partitions but if I reinstall windows(which I need to do)onto drive c, I presume windows once installed will recognize any ntfs/fat32 drives on the pc.

I'd really appreciate any input.

Thank you.

"Windows is fundamentally flawed in that the windows directory is installed into the same drive as 'my documents' files.
Therefore if someone has to reinstall windows they need will loose all their personal data."

Well, "flawed" is kind of a broad statement. The O/S (generally any O/S) is a "self-contained" entity if you will. Not everyone will set it up the same way. Some will install everything to one (and sometimes the only) partition. Others will partition their drive(s) and relocate certain elements to those different partitions for "backup" in case of a reinstall. Microsoft provides instructions on moving the My Documents folder to another location;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555308/en-us

I've expanded that to other folders (nothing new, others have done it/written about it), outlined in this thread;
http://www.suggestafix.com/index.php?showtopic=28051


"... I presume windows once installed will recognize any ntfs/fat32 drives on the pc."

If your reinstallation is done on the NTFS file structure, then yes.

If you reinstall onto a FAT32 file structure, it will only "see" FAT32 partitions.