Differences between MBR and GPT

Computer Driver MBR GPT

GPT protection partition:
A disk partition architecture used by the extended firmware interface (EFI) on an itanium-based computer. Compared with the primary startup record (MBR) Partitioning Method, GPT has more advantages because it allows each disk to have up to 128 partitions and supports a volume size of up to 18 Gigabit bytes, the partition table of the primary disk and the partition table of the backup disk can be used for redundancy. The unique disk and partition ID (guid) are also supported ).

The maximum supported volumes are 2 TB (terabytes) and each disk can have up to 4 primary partitions (or 3 primary partitions, 1 extended partition, and unlimited logical drives) the GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk partition style supports a maximum of 18 EB (exabytes) and a maximum of 128 partitions per disk. Unlike an MBR partitioned disk, the crucial platform operation data is located in the partition, not in a non-partition or hidden sector. In addition, GPT partition disks have redundant primary and backup partition tables to improve the integrity of the partition data structure.

On the volume tab in the disk Properties dialog box in disk management, a disk with a GPT partition style is displayed as a guid Partition Table (GPT) disk, the disk with MBR partition style is displayed as the master startup record (MBR) disk. If the following unexpected events occur, you can perform operations supported by the MBR disk on the GPT Disk: when running the operation with Service Pack 1 (SP1) windows Server 2003 based on x86 computers and x64-based computers, the operating system must reside on the MBR disk. Other hard disks can be MBR or GPT.

On an itanium-based computer, the operating system loader and startup partition must reside on the GPT disk. Other hard disks can be MBR or GPT. GPT cannot be moved to an x86-based computer running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. However, you can move a GPT disk from an x86 or x64-based computer running Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to an itanium-based computer running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, and vice versa.

You cannot use the itanium-based Windows version to move the GPT disk from an itanium-based computer to an x86 or x64-based computer running Windows Server 2003 with SP1, then start the operating system. The GPT disk used on a non-itanium-based computer must be used only for data storage.

You can have either MBR or GPT disks in a single Dynamic Disk group. The basic GPT and MBR disks are also used, but they are not part of the disk group. You can use both MBR and GPT disks to create mirror volumes, with-zone volumes, cross-zone volumes, and raid-5 volumes. However, the limitations of MBR cylindrical alignment may make it difficult to create mirror volumes. Generally, you can mirror the MBR disk to the GPT disk to avoid the problem of cylindrical alignment.
You can convert an MBR disk to a GPT disk and convert it to an MBR disk only when the disk is empty. The image of the EFI system partition is not supported. You must use the bootcfg command to clone the EFI system partition. You cannot use the GPT partition style on a removable media, or on a cluster disk that is connected to a shared SCSI or fiber channel bus used by the cluster service. You can use the diskpart.exe command line utility or the EFI firmware utility diskpart. EFI to create partitions on the basic GPT disk.

Cancel GPT protection Partition
Make sure there is no data in your hard disk!
1. Open the Start Menu> Run and enter diskpart;
2. Enter list disk to list the disks currently installed;
3. Enter select disk n (n indicates the number of the disk, that is, the number of the disk to be converted );
4. Enter clean all to set all sectors on the specified disk to zero (this will completely delete all data on the disk). This step takes some time;
5. re-enter "disk management" in "Computer Management". The system will find a new disk, which requires initialization and initialization, in "disk management", you can set whether the current disk is dynamic or static, create a new partition, and format it in the desired format.

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Differences between MBR and GPT