Arch Linux Partitions And Filesystems

Question

Hi everyone!
I'm pretty much new to Linux having used Ubuntu about 2 years back. Recently I've been looking to get a better understanding of the system and wanted to try out a different distro. I searched around and came across Arch. I really liked the principle on which this distribution is based and  have decided to give it a go.
I have 2 SATA HDDs in my system.
1. 1TB Seagate --> Windows 7
2. 160GB Seagate --> Windows XP
I want to install Arch on the 160GB HDD. I'll remove XP and the entire HDD will be for Arch.
What I would like to know is the partitions that I should create. Should I go with /boot, /, /var, /usr, /home, /temp? Or lesser number of partitions?
What sizes should they be?
And which ones should be primary and which ones extended, if at all? What file systems should I use for the different partitions? (I had been considering ext4,  XFS and Reiser.) It would help if someone would direct me to the appropriate ones for each partition.
Also, I could not understand the difference between the /usr and /home directories. What are their uses? Where do my programs (obtained through Pacman or otherwise) get installed?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Answer 1

According to the wiki:
/ (root) The root filesystem is the primary filesystem from which all other filesystems stem; the top of the hierarchy. All files and directories appear under the root directory "/", even if they are stored on different physical devices. The contents of the root filesystem must be adequate to boot, restore, recover, and/or repair the system. Therefore, certain directories under / are not themselves candidates for separate partitions. (See warning below).
/boot This directory contains the kernel and ramdisk images as well as the bootloader configuration file, and bootloader stages. /boot also stores data that is used before the kernel begins executing userspace programs. This may include saved master boot sectors and sector map files. /boot is essential for booting, but is unique in that it may still be kept on its own separate partition (if required).
/home User data and user specific configuration files for applications are stored in each user's home directory in a file that starts with the '.' character (a "dot file").
/usr While root is the primary filesystem, /usr is the secondary hierarchy, for user data, containing the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. /usr is shareable, read-only data. This means that /usr shall be shareable between various hosts and must not be written to, except in the case of system update/upgrade. Any information that is host-specific or varies with time is stored elsewhere.
/tmp directory for programs that require temporary files such as '.lck' files, which can be used to prevent multiple instances of their respective program until a task is completed, at which point the '.lck' file will be removed. Programs must not assume that any files or directories in /tmp are preserved between invocations of the program and files and directories located under /tmp will typically be deleted whenever the system is booted.
/var contains variable data; spool directories and files, administrative and logging data, pacman's cache, the ABS tree, etc. /var exists in order to make it possible to mount /usr as read-only. Everything that historically went into /usr that is written to during system operation (as opposed to installation and software maintenance) must reside under /var.
I really don't see the difference between usr and home on a typical Linux install, especially if you're the only person using the PC.
As for the other storage partition, I am using a primary NTFS partition for storage. I am using NTFS because I have access to the partition inside Windows and Linux, which makes swapping files around easy and I can use all of my Windows files in Linux and vice-versa.