disk outage and the database

I was at the SQL Server launch in Detroit and they talked about if a disk outage occurs with SS05, then the database doesn't go down, just access to that data. So, it was conveyed that in SS00 the entire database is lost. For SS05 however, whenever someone talks about this feature, it was always with table partitioning. Is this just conicidence, or something that table partitioning helps with and you need it?

If I didn't use table partitioning, and a disk went down, wouldn't the data in that data file just be unavailable -- can someone set me straight. thanks..What this feature actually relates to is using more than one filegroup.
In SQl Server 2000, if any filegroup went offline, the entire database was offline.

With SQL Server 2005, as long as the primary filegroup is online, you can still have access to the database. Obviously, you cannot access data in the filegroup which is offline, but you can access data in other, online filegroups.