Buzz
Many of us continue to use computers and hard drives without realizing whether they adhere to the GPT or MBR format.
The GUID Partition Table, or GPT, utilizes GUID and serves as a standard for managing information on physical hard drive partitions.
Understanding GPT and GUID
What are GPT and GUID partitions? Comparing GPT and GUID
GPT Partition serves as the standard for managing information on physical hard drive partitions, utilizing Globally Unique Identifiers. MBR, short for Master Boot Record, contains various sectors containing boot data. The first sector holds information about its disk and partitions for the operating system to use. However, MBR has limitations, leading newer computer models to lean towards GPT.
Limitations of MBR and GPT
MBR supports a maximum of 4 primary partitions and can manage data up to 2TB. With increasing data storage needs, GPT (GUID Partition Table) is gradually replacing MBR and is used in newer computer models, addressing the issue of storing more than 2TB of data. MBR stores the first sector of the hard drive to store information about partitions and the location of operating system files.
In other words, firmware and operating systems rely on the first sector for the drive to function correctly. If MBR is corrupted, you may lose general access to data on the drive.
In the case of GPT, drive information is expanded beyond one, so the drive continues to work even if the first sector is corrupted. A GPT can support up to 128 primary partitions.
Older operating systems may not support GPT, but almost all current operating systems, from Windows XP 64-bit to Windows 8.1 and beyond, support GPT usage.
Comparing GPT versus MBR
Some major differences when comparing GPT to MBR.
1. MBR can support 4 primary partitions while GPT can support up to 128 primary partitions.
2. If you need more than 4 partitions, you must create an Extended partition on MBR, followed by Logical partitions, whereas GPT does not require this step.
3. The first and only sector of MBR contains information about the hard drive, while in GPT, the information about the hard drive and its partitions is expanded more than once to function even when the first sector is corrupted.
4. MBR cannot manage drives larger than 2TB, whereas GPT has no capacity limit.
5. MBR supports all operating systems (both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms), but GPT only supports the Windows 64-bit platform.
6. Only Windows 8 32-bit supports booting from GPT. All previous versions such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP 32-bit, cannot boot from GPT.
Converting from GPT to MBR
To convert from GPT to MBR, the first step is to remove all partitions. Before removing partitions, backup all data to another drive or storage media. Additionally, you can use third-party backup tools or Windows backup tools.
Open Control Panel =>Administrative Tools =>Computer Management, then select Disk Management.
Both drives and drive partitions are displayed in the right pane, right-click and select delete for each drive partition you want to convert to MBR.
After the hard drive partitions have been deleted, only one drive remains (displayed as unallocated in Disk Management). Right-click on that drive and select Convert to MBR disk. It will take a short time for Windows to convert to MBR and then format the drive for use.
You can create partitions by using the Shrink Disk command or third-party free partition management software such as EASEUS Partition Tool or Aomei Partition Assistant.
Additionally, you can use Aomei Partition Assistant to convert MBR to GPT on a hard drive without data loss on your computer, refer to how to convert MBR to GPT using Aomei Partition Assistant software shared by Mytour.
You may need to convert to MBR if you need to use a 32-bit application of the Windows operating system on your computer. The best solution is to use both, with MBR used for booting (system drive) and GPT for storage purposes.
However, if you only have one (if it's GPT), convert it to MBR, or it may fail to boot after installing the operating system, such as Windows 7 32-bit, onto the drive.
Both of these partitions directly affect the installation of Windows on the computer. One common error encountered is 'The selected disk has an MBR partition table' error during Windows installation. If you encounter this error, refer to how to fix the selected disk has an MBR partition table for troubleshooting steps.
There are various partitions on the computer, besides GPT and GUID partitions, System Reserved is also one of the less-known concepts. If interested, you can refer to the article on System Reserved partition for more details.
