When you first heard of the GPT disk, what did you know about it? Do you know what a GPT disk is, what GPT is used for, and how to set up a GPT disk for a specific purpose? And how to fix GPT disk drive errors on Windows computers? This page presents a full guide you can follow to learn everything about GPT (Guide Partition Table) disk immediately.
When it comes to managing disk partitions on your computer, you may need to set a disk type as GPT or MBR. But what Is GPT and what is MBR? When comparing the two disk types - GPT vs MBR, which is better for SSD? This page gives you an ultimate guide to setting up the GPT disk and changing partition style to MBR or MBR to GPT for Windows update/installation. And you may also apply the provided solutions to troubleshoot complex errors on GPT disk drives on your Windows computers with success. Follow to uncover the details now.
What is GPT? According to Wikipedia, a GPT disk could be defined as a partition table for a physical disk - HDD/SSD. A GPT partition is also regarded as a primary or a logical partition/volume created on a local hard drive or external disk with a GPT partition style. Aside from huge data storage, a GPT disk also works for installing Windows operating systems, applications, gaming, etc.
This part shows the components of GPT disk, you can learn the disk structure of GPT, its features, and limits.
A GPT disk consists Primary Partition Table, Data Partitions, and Backup Partition Table:
Here is a simplified GUID Partition Table scheme to help you better understand the GPT disk structure:
Before getting to know more details about the GPT disk, some of you may want to know the difference between MBR and GPT disk. This is what we'll discuss in the next part.
GPT and MBR are two types of disk partition styles that help Windows computers to define a hard disk drive or a solid-state drive for storing data, installing programs, and installing/upgrading the operating systems. Alongside this, the GPT disk type also contains some unique features that MBR doesn't have.
Features of GUID Partition Table:
So what are the differences between MBR and GPT? Here is a comparison table that contains some basic information about MBR vs. GPT:
Differences | GPT | MBR |
---|---|---|
Structure | | |
Partition Numbers |
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|
Max Volume Size and Disk Capacity |
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|
Boot Mode | UEFI | Legacy |
Supported OS |
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|
Which disk partition style is more suitable for your drive, MBR or GPT?
To learn more differences between MBR and GPT, you can refer to this page to learn more details:
So, how do I know if my current disk in my computer is GPT or MBR? How do I make use of GPT on Windows computers? Here is a full guide that you can follow to set up and make use of the GPT disk on Windows successfully:
So why is it important to learn the disk partition style of the hard drive or SSD installed on a Windows computer? Knowing the disk partition table of your hard drives will efficiently save you from the following problems if you already know your source disk type:
You can simply open Disk Management with the following steps to check the disk partition table of your disk on a Windows computer:
Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon, and select "Disk Management".
Step 2. Right-click on the disk that you want to check its partition style, and select "Properties".
Step 3. Go to the Volumes tab, and view the disk type next to Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT).
When you purchase a new SSD, be it a SATA SSD, M.2 SSD, or NVMe SSD, you'll always need to initialize an SSD so to make use of it on your Windows computers. Which disk partition style to select, MBR or GPT for an SSD disk? It depends. MBR and GPT are two types of disk partition tables designed for different operating systems and different usages.
Do you know which disk type is more suitable for your SSD, MBR or GPT? Here is a table that lists some common suggestions on which disk type to set for your SSD, MBR or GPT:
Situations | MBR for SSD | GPT for SSD |
---|---|---|
Disk storage is less than 2TB | √ | × |
Disk storage is more than 2TB | × | √ |
Set SSD as OS disk for Windows 11 | × | √ |
Set SSD as OS drive for Windows 8 or later | √ | √ |
Set SSD as OS drive for Windows 7 or earlier | √ | × |
The computer supports legacy boot mode | √ | × |
Computer support UEFI boot mode | × | √ |
Summary:
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If you need a step-by-step guide to set the disk partition type in your SSD and make it usable on a Windows computer, you may look into this page for help: MBR or GPT for SSD? Which Is Choose? [Full Guide].
Can I switch the disk partition tables between MBR and GPT? I don't want to lose my data, what can I do? Check the guide below, and we'll show you a safe guide to converting disks between MBR and GPT without losing any data.
In what cases do I need to convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR? Check the list below, and you'll know which disk type you are supposed to convert your HDD/SSD to:
Convert MBR to GPT: | Convert GPT to MBR: |
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So, is there a secure way that helps to seamlessly convert your disk to MBR or GPT without losing any data? User, reliable partition manager software - EaseUS Partition Master, with its disk conversion feature, is here to help.
Step 1. Download and launch EaseUS Partition Master on your computer.
Step 2. Go to Disk Converter, select "Convert MBR to GPT" and click "Next" to continue.
Step 3. Select the target MBR disk that you tend to convert to GPT, and click "Convert" to start the conversion.
BONUS TIP
Aside from converting a disk from MBR to GPT, you can also apply EaseUS Partition Master with another three tools to change the disk type from GPT to MBR with tutorials on this page: Convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR Without Losing Data.
Can I install Windows 11 on a GPT partition? Sure. As long as you have followed the above tutorial guide: setting SSD as GPT or converting MBR to GPT, then you can follow the guide here to install Windows on a GPT partition and configure UEFI boot mode for Windows successfully:
First, Install Windows 11 on GPT Disk
Step 1. Download Windows 11/Windows 10 installation media.
Step 2. Connect an 8GB or even bigger empty USB to your PC, double-click the installation media, and select to burn the installation media to the USB drive.
Step 3. Reboot the PC into bios and set the computer to boot from the USB installation media.
Step 4. Follow the guidelines here to start installing Windows on your GPT disk:
Wait for the installation process to complete, and let the computer boot into the newest Windows 11 successfully.
Second, Enable UEFI Boot Mode for Windows 11 on GPT Disk
The UEFI firmware is required for Windows 11 if you want to use the GPT partition system on a hard drive or SSD. Follow the steps here, you'll be able to enable UEFI boot mode for GPT in BIOS on your own:
After this, you can successfully start your Windows 11 computer running from the GPT disk with UEFI mode.
ABOUT UEFI BIOS SETTINGS
Note that UEFI is set for GPT, while Legacy is set for MBR. To make Windows bootable, you need to configure the correct BIOS boot mode for your OS disk. Here, you can follow to learn how to Enable or Disable UEFI and switch boot mode on your own.
While using the GPT disk, some users reported that they have encountered some issues and had no idea how to fix them. Here we collect 2 top issues and if you have one of them, follow the guidelines below to eliminate the error from your GPT disk immediately.
Error Message 1: Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.
Error Message 2: Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed on GPT disk.
Quick Fixes:
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
The Can't Install Windows errors are complex, so to the fixes. Here we collected 8 Fixes for you to try and apply to get rid of for Can't Install Windows on GPT or Windows Can't Be Installed to This Disk error. Then you can successfully install Windows on GPT disk.
When the GPT Protective Partition shows up on your disk partition, you'll have to face these issues:
To fix this error you should:
1st. Recover data from the GPT Protective Partition with Reliable data recovery software
2nd. Clear the GPT Disk with Diskpart command lines
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
The causes of the GPT Protective Partition error are various, and you can click here to learn how access GPT Protective Partition without losing data.
After this, close diskpart. Then, you can apply EaseUS Partition Master, Disk Management, or Diskpart to change the disk type from GPT to MBR. Then re-partition your disk and create new partitions on it.
The above parts clearly show you the definition of a GPT disk, compare MBR and GPT, and help you set the correct disk type for SSDs. We also presented you with an easy solution to convert disk between MBR and GPT without losing any data on Windows computers.
Stay calm if you encounter some problems while using the GPT disk drive on your computer, here we left effective solutions to help you fix any of the listed problems effectively:
GPT disk seems to be a newer disk type than MBR, and it's now widely used on most new Windows computers, hard drives, and SSDs. If you have some other questions about the GPT partition style, help yourself find answers here.
1. How Do I Remove GPT Partition Style without Losing Data?
The reasons you want to remove the GPT partition style are various, but the solutions to this request are the same. To remove the GPT partition style from your disk without losing any data, you have two options:
Option 1: Convert GPT to MBR Using EaseUS Partition Master
Option 2: Backup GPT Disk Data and Convert Disk to MBR via CMD
2. GPT: GUID Partition Table Entry array CRC Is Wrong, How Do I Fix It?
When you encounter as similar error as states below, stay calm:
Here we'll show you how to do fix this error with Disk Management:
Step 1. Open Disk Management, and check if your GPT disk contains unallocated space.
Step 2. If yes, right-click the unallocated space, select "New Simple Volume...", and set the new partition size, file system, partition label, etc. And click "Finish".
Step 3. If no, choose a partition with no important data on it and, right-click the volume, select "Delete Volume...". Click "OK" to confirm.
3. Get "Bad PGT partition, invalid signature" in TestDisk, How Do I Fix It?
This error may pop up when you run the TestDisk commands to recover lost data from an unallocated GPT disk. The basic reason is that the GPT partition is corrupted or the partition table is invalid.
To instantly repair this error, you can directly apply partition manager software - EaseUS Partition Master with its reliable Rebuild MBR feature to fix the invalid partition error on your GPT disk with success.
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