I would like to set up an FTP, need advice

What I would like to do is partition my drive to have a certain drive jut for FTP access on my PC. The other drives I would like to me secured PW protected or seomthing like that so they are not easy to hack. Right now im using Win XP Home, but can reformat to Ubunto server, or Win XP Pro if that would be better.
I would also like to share files within my own home, which i am allready doing with XP home edition.

Any suggestions on the best way to set this up? I would like 2 other people to be able to access my FTP drive remotely and send / receive data. This is kind of like a test for me to learn how to do it, and would like some help please since im a newb on this subject. Any help is appricated , thank you!

 

I am guessing i will need a special software like serve-u or something on that partition to host the drive?

or should i just get a network hard drive instead of using one of my personal PC's partitions as a FTP drive?..

any suggestions??

thanks