Windows XP will be killed by 2011 due to new drive tech

If you’re looking to upgrade your drive next year, better be prepared to migrate your OS as well. By early 2011, all new hard drives will feature 4k sectors which will be incompatible with the 512 byte blocks required by Windows XP.

The new format promises eight times less wasted space and better error correction. It will also use up less power which is a plus for netbook users. All newer operating systems including Windows 7 and newer Linux kernels are compatible with this format, and I’m assuming Mac OS X as well.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will lose your Windows XP since you can opt to use your older though slower drive until it conks out. You can also use emulators and virtualization to run XP in the newer drives but it will mean a much slower run time.

Recently, all newer computer models ship with some form of Windows 7 though some still offer Windows XP as an optional downgrade.

source Fudzilla