MBR and GPT Partition Tables

Author: itfreetraining
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The partition table on a drive determines the structure of the data and this video will look at the MBR and GPT partition tables. Check out http://YouTube.com/ITFreeTraining or http://itfreetraining.com for more of our always free training videos. In some cases the operating system will choose the partition table for you, however having an understanding of the partition tables will help you understand what features each has as well as any compatibility problems that may occur due to the choice of partition table. Download the PDF handout http://ITFreeTraining.com/handouts/se... Partition Tables Before data can be stored on a device like a hard disk, a partition table needs to be created. This partition table defines where the data can be stored on the device. For example, if you had a 3 terabyte hard disk, you could create 2 partition tables. One partition could be 1 terabyte in size while the other could be 2 Terabytes in size. The partition table essentially determines which part of the hard disk can be used for what. There are two different partition types available. These are MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table). MBR is the older style that offers more compatibility while GPT is newer and offers more features, most notably, it supports larger devices. In some cases, GPT may require particular hardware in order to run. Master Boot Record (MBR) MBR has been around since the first PC's were released. For this reason it should work on all computers, meaning it has great compatibility with existing hardware. MBR is limited to 4 primary partitions. To increase the number of partitions that could be created on a single drive, one of the MBR partitions could be converted into an extended partition. This extended partition contains configuration allowing additional partitions to be created. In DOS days, there could only be 26 partitions on one hard disk: 3 primary partitions and one extended partition that contained 23 additional partitions. This was a limitation due to each drive requiring a drive letter and thus a limit of 26 letters in the alphabet. In later operating systems more than 26 partitions could be created using extended partitions. The biggest limitation of MBR is that it can only use 2 Terabytes of space. If you have a drive bigger than 2 Terabytes, MBR can be used, but any space after 2 Terabytes will not be useable and thus will be wasted. GUID Partition Table (GPT) The GPT partition table supports 128 primary partitions and thus does not require any extended partitions. The main advantage of the partition table is it supports drives in the Zettabyte size. 1 ZB = 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes or 10 to power of 21 bytes or 1 billion terabytes. In order to boot an operating system for a GPT partition, you require a hard disk that supports "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" or UEFI. This was designed to be a replacement for the older system called "Basic Input/Output System" or BIOS. The operating system also needs to support booting. For Windows this means Windows XP and Windows 2003 64 bit editions or above. For Linux most distributions should support both 32bit and 64bit operating systems. It is matter of checking the distribution to ensure it does. All modern Linux distributions should support this. If the hardware or operating system does not support booting, it is possible that the operating system will still be able to read the drive as a data drive. Every Windows operating system including and after Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 SP1 will support GPT as a data drive. Converting between the two If your hard disk is less than 2 terabytes, use MBR. This will offer you the most compatibility. If you do need to change between the two, most likely GPT to MBR, Windows can convert the drive; however, it will first need to have all the partitions removed thus erasing all the data on the drive. Third-party software is available for Windows which can convert the partition table without losing the data. Otherwise there is Linux software which can perform the conversion. Before converting the partition table, make sure that you back up all data on the drive. See http://YouTube.com/ITFreeTraining or http://itfreetraining.com for our always free training videos. This is only one video from the many free courses available on YouTube. References "Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 Exam Ref 70-410" pg 42 - 43 "GUID Partition Table" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Par... "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitio..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitio... "Extended boot record" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended...

Comments

  1. gpt possible on windows 10?
  2. Great video sir!
  3. good stuff here, thank you.
    Im using mbr and legacy boot. will these affect if im booting with my 1tb internal as the OS, with my 2tb external HD plugged in? Im experiencing quite a lot of blue screen after 30min of use from booting.
  4. i havent trouble wit a portable drive
    is a 4 tb
    when i first bought it i plug in to my windows 7 pro pc n it read it n it was normal even had move about 500g worth of pics ,movies
    than i decide to use it for an xbox one drive so i reformat it
    after i sold my xbox i wanted to use back to windows but it didnt read at all so i cudnt reformat it
    i plug it in my windows 10pc same problem
    so i dowloaded a program that was able to read xbox one drive n
    change it from xbox mode to pc
    after that i was able to format it
    bak to my pc
    but when i plugged it back on my windows 7 pro pc it wud shut off my computer made my computer all weird that that i try to fix everything that i ended up reinstalling windows7 on that
    after install i still have the same problem on that pc but not on my windows 10
    that actually reads it n im able to put stuff on it
    what wud be the problem?
  5. Thanks a lot mate, a good work.
  6. salamat kol
  7. Many many thanks
  8. Very helpfull.
  9. Thanks a lots very educative
  10. Thanks sir. I appreciate your time. its very helpful. In fact I was installing Manjaro where I came access this thing. Your explanation is great. Thanks again
  11. First time w/Zettabyte or 1 billion terabytes, lol
  12. Swett :) Thanks a alot and good Video .
  13. Heya, maybe you could add an anotation near the end of the video that since win7 you can safely convert to GPT without data loss. (free 3rd party software) which could be usefull if you want dynamic volumes with diferent cluster sizes (ie forHD, VR or UHD media files) Assuming the drive is not SSD/flash. (paid 3rd party software)
  14. Hey I was trying to install a 64bit Arch in Vbox... Reformatted the entire drive to MBR tables then did the partitions for installation and all the other procedures..
    Was following a slightly modified guide... For installing the bootloader it told be to skip uefi/gpt and use bios/mbr...
    Issue is i enabled EFI boot and when i checked if efivars is populated it was... SO ill have to try again deciding whether i want GPT or MBR and follow the process for one.
    I guess if i decide on GPT/UEFI then i shouldnt reformat entire drive to mbr before i partition for installation of arch?
    Another thing is can a 64 bit OS installation take place with MBR tables?I read it supports a 32 bit installation.. Am understanding this?
    As is usual with an Arch installation.. Im forced to learn a crapton of shit very fast.. :)
  15. there's no such thing as a bios that supports uefi, bios and uefi are 2 different types of firmware.
  16. Hi +itfreetraining, What Video of yours will tell me how I can use my NEW Toshiba 3TB Hard drive to it's full 3TB capacity as of right now it is only showing 746.39GB NOT even 2TBs like most are saying they are getting it doesn't even show what my 1TB hard drives show..

    I am not going to use it as a Boot drive just a Storage drive. I have tried
    The Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Installer software But it says (this platform is not supported.)

    I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    But so far I have just RE-installed premium..

    Had to buy a new Hard drive because the one that came with my OEM Home Premium 7 64Bit Gateway was dying So I thought I will use one of my 1TB's as the OS (Boot) and have a 3TB as Storage But ONLY getting 746.39GB
    I also do have Windows service pack 1 if that helps..
    Thanks..
  17. thanks man! u explained it really good!
  18. A question if you can answer. My system is old by today's standard and it doesn't have UEFI so no GPT (at least from what I understood you need UEFI to support GPT), if I plug in a drive larger than 2TB in my system can I use the it as a storage drive and not a bootable one?
    I do have Windows 7 64bit. Also if I plug in a 2TB drive will it work?
  19. Epic video realy helped me understand!