>This is probably pretty basic but...
>1. what is the limit of a single partition on a hard drive with respect to win XP HOME edition and the current version of FDISK supplied with it?
It doesn't have an FDISK per se; the requirement is that the system partition begin in the first 8GB of a physical drive, and the limit is set by the type of partition created - FAT16 is still limited to a 4GB partition; FAT32 and NTFS are, for all practical intents with a simple partition, unlimited in size.
>2. I'm in the process of converting from FP2.5 DOS to VFP 7.0. Can I run FP 2.5 DOS on a Win XP Home edition OS without rebooting from DOS the way I can using Win 98?
There are limitations on the compatibility of XP with FPDOS - for example, it's difficult to use PLBs, to address LPT ports above LPT3, do things that treat the memory address space as DOS memory, etc. You'll need to behave differently than XP will suggest - you're not going to be pleased with the result of accidentally having LFNs in your paths. I've found that adjusting the PIF of the DOS app is generally required; adding SET DISPLAY TO VGA25 is often needed to force the FPDOS app to run in 25 line mode in a DOS box, you'll likely want to adjust the font and Window size, and for some functionality, will need to set the Compatibility mode to Win98 or Win2K mode (varies according to what you do in your code.) There are lots of little gotchas which may bite you.
Realize that if you create an NTFS partition (and in some cases, a FAT32 partition) you will not be able to boot up under DOS and use your storage. THere is not a clean equuivalent of "Single application DOS Mode" under XP; the OS is derived from NT, and there's no underlying DOS layer. Booting to the command line display will not be the same as running under DOS.
If you plan to use DOS, then your partitions should be FAT16, and should be kept to 2GB or less. Depending on the version of DOS, FAT32 may not be addressible, and FAT16 partitions > 2GB are not DOS compliant. NTFS partitions are not natively accessible; Winternals (
www.winternals.com) makes a driver that will allow you some access to NTFS partitions, but the full version is not free, and the free version is read-only access.
If FPDOS is a major issue, I'd try to avoid XP.
