Beginner users often have no idea at all about the partitions of their hard drive and the logical drives of the hard drive. At first, this does not interfere with their work on the computer at all, although it does not allow them to use it more productively. But sometimes you have to deal with more important things, and then ignorance of simple rules can result in serious problems, including complete inoperability of the operating system and loss of important data.

In fact, it is enough to remember a few simple things and keep this information in mind during any actions with hard drive partitions.

What is a section

Let me start with the fact that a new, freshly purchased hard drive is completely unsuitable for work without prior preparation. In order to be able to save and read data on it, you must first create special “storages” for this data - partitions, and prepare these “storages” for “warehousing” and storing your files - format them, i.e. create a file system on them. As soon as at least one partition is created and formatted, it can already be used.

Sometimes it happens that a hard drive has only one partition that occupies the entire hard drive. This can be observed especially often among beginners who have just bought a computer. This option is the simplest, but also the most unsuccessful, because... both the operating system and your data are stored in one place, and if there are any problems with the operating system, or when reinstalling the OS, you risk losing everything at once.

A more practical option is when the hard drive is divided into several partitions - at least two. One partition contains the operating system itself, and the other stores your files. In this case, if there are problems or reinstallation of the operating system, only the partition on which it was located will be affected. Everything else will remain untouched.

In addition, dividing into several sections will allow you to more conveniently organize file storage - you can, for example, allocate a separate section for music or video if you have a lot of them; or if you often work with torrents, you can allocate a separate piece of your hard drive for them.

It also simplifies computer maintenance - for example, it is much easier and faster to defragment several relatively small sections in turn than to defragment one huge piece. The same applies to scanning a disk with an antivirus.

In general, we figured it out with convenience - here everyone is free to invent themselves to the best of their needs. However, there are several simple rules, violation of which can result in complete loss of data.

I'll start in order.

Rule #1

On just one hard drive there can be no more than 4 main sections, less is possible, more is not. These requirements do not depend on any operating system - they are dictated by the current level of development of computer electronics. And it will not be possible to overcome them yet. If more than 4 sections are required, then another rule comes into force.

It was not for nothing that I mentioned MAIN sections - this is not just a word, it means one of two types of sections. In addition to the main one, the section can also be additional (extended). And in this regard, the rule about 4 partitions is somewhat transformed - on one hard drive there can be up to 4 main sections, or up to 3 main sections plus one additional(there can only be one extended partition on a disk).

What does this give us? The fact is that an additional (extended) partition is, in fact, a container within which you can create an UNLIMITED number of logical disks. And for the user there will be absolutely no difference between working with the main partition and working with a logical disk. Thus, by creating an extended partition and logical drives inside it, we can divide the hard drive to suit our needs as we need it.

Please note that if you delete an extended partition, all logical drives included in it will also disappear.

Rule #2

One of the sections is required it should be active (in Linux - have a flag boot). It is on it that the boot files that will launch the operating system are located. The system itself may be located in another place, but the files from which it starts are only there.

Most often, the first partition of the hard disk becomes active (disk C:/ on Windows), but this is not a requirement. In addition, you can always manually reassign any other main partition as active, but you should not forget to move the boot files there, otherwise the operating system will not start.

Rule #3

If you are going to install several operating systems on one computer, then each of them should be installed on a separate partition ( theoretically, you can put it in one, but subsequent problems after this cannot be avoided). Operating systems of the Windows family can only be installed on primary partitions. Accordingly, if you are going to install two Windows in multiboot mode, then they will occupy two main partitions. Linux operating systems do not have such a limitation and can be installed anywhere.

File systems

Before using a partition, you need to format it - create a file system on it (partition it in a special way).

There are quite a large number of file systems now, and they all have different characteristics.

Operating systems of the Windows family can only work with FAT, FAT32 and NTFS file systems.

FAT is a very outdated system, and its use today is hardly justified. FAT32 more modern, but has serious limitations. which prevent its full use. For example, the maximum file size that FAT32 supports is about 4 GB. That is why, if you try, for example, to copy an image of a full-sized DVD disc to a flash drive ( which by default are formatted in FAT32) You will receive a message about lack of free space, although in fact there is still plenty of space. Because of this, using it on sections where video work occurs is almost impossible ( and it’s problematic to use it under the section with torrents).

The best choice for working under Windows today is the file system NTFS. It does not have the same restrictions as FAT32, has additional security features, and is more stable and reliable.

For UNIXes, which includes Linux, there are many more file systems. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages and is more suitable for certain tasks. The default on Linux is ext4, but you can use any other one. You can easily find information on which Linux file system is most suitable for your tasks on the Internet.

A few words about compatibility

Windows does not understand any file systems other than its own. Access from under it to Linux partitions was possible only with the help of special programs or a plugin for Total Commander. Unfortunately, a plugin for Windows has not yet been written for the most modern Linux file systems.

Linux has always understood FAT and FAT32 very well, and in the last 2-3 years it has been working without problems with NTFS through a special driver NTFS-3g, both for reading and writing. Plus, it supports most of the additional features of NTFS. So from Linux you will always have full access to Windows partitions.

It is worth mentioning various household appliances - DVD players, satellite receivers, etc. All this technique can only work with FAT and FAT32. NTFS, and even more so UNIX file systems ( with extremely rare exceptions) are completely incomprehensible to her. This should be remembered if you exchange data between such equipment and a computer.

Tools for work

A few words about the tools for working with partitions.

I'll start with Windows. It includes a standard tool Disk Management. You can reach it through Control Panel, or by right-clicking on the icon My computer => Management and selecting in the left column Disk Management.

Please note that three partitions in the screenshot are marked as unknown partitions. These are partitions with Linux - Windows sees them, but it cannot identify them, much less work with them.

also in Disk Management You can clearly see the main and additional sections, as well as the active section ( marked as System- it contains boot files; The OS itself is installed in a partition marked as - i.e. Windows swaps labels). Of all the features, this tool only provides creating and deleting partitions, as well as reassigning the active partition and changing drive letters ( in Vista and Windows 7 the functionality has increased slightly). If there is nothing else at hand, then sometimes this is enough.

Important to remember , What Disk Management- the tool is inconvenient, ineffective and extremely dangerous, especially in inexperienced hands. It is assumed that the user who uses it knows absolutely exactly what he is doing, because... any changes are applied immediately, without question, and it is impossible to see in advance what certain actions will lead to.

Therefore, I advise using it only in extreme cases.

Various programs from the cohort have much greater capabilities, convenience and security Partition Magic-ov, for example, . There are quite a large number of such programs, they are all different, and in recent years many of them have changed their owner-developers and their name. Therefore, if you decide to choose one of them for yourself, you will have to worry about searching on your own on the wide expanses of the Internet. This is not difficult, especially since the leaders in this field can be counted on one hand.

Acronis Disk Director Suite

In my opinion ( exclusively on mine - because Many people may have a different opinion on this matter.), the most powerful and convenient program for working with a hard drive and partitions is.

The program is Russian (although occasionally there are versions in English) and is very easy to use. At the same time, it fully provides the entire range of possible operations with the hard drive. In addition, almost all of your actions on partitions occur without losing the information located on them.

All operations that you perform on sections are instantly displayed graphically so that everything can be assessed visually. But the actions themselves are not performed - only after you evaluate everything yourself, and the result completely and completely satisfies you, you can press the button " Apply". Up to this point, you can undo all actions step by step.

If several hard drives are connected to the computer, they will all be shown in the program window - one above the other. The main sections are marked with green flags, and the active section is marked with a red flag.

In addition, when starting Acronis Disk Director Suite offers a choice of two operating modes - automatic, in which all operations can be carried out with the help of “masters”, and manual mode, in which all power is given to the user. The second mode, IMHO, is more convenient and flexible, but beginners can also use automatic.

The program also contains a complete and very detailed help.

One more possibility should be mentioned - from the program window you can create and burn a special boot disk that will contain files Acronis Disk Director Suite. This thing is very convenient and extremely useful in the household - after all, having this disk, there is completely no need to install the program itself and even have an operating system. From this disk you can boot your computer and perform any operations with partitions.

Now about the unpleasant stuff. It lies in the fact that the program is updated relatively rarely, so sometimes situations arise when it cannot work with the most modern hard drives. This applies to a greater extent to its version on the boot disk, because If Acronis Disk Director Suite installed in the operating system, it will use the drivers included with Windows to work with the disk. She also has some problems with Unix file systems - she does not understand the most modern file systems ( this can be seen in the provided screenshot), although it works great with the old classic ones.

Recently a new version was released Acronis Disk Director Suite for English-speaking users (there is no new Russian version yet), which already works with the newest hard drives without any problems. But the problems with modern Unix file systems have not yet been resolved.

GParted

Another powerful and versatile tool for working with a hard drive is the program GParted from the Linux kit.

It can be found on almost all Linux Live-CDs.

The story about the program’s capabilities can be summed up in one phrase: “Almost everything can be done.” The interface is simple and unpretentious, and the work is absolutely transparent and understandable. All your actions are also first displayed visually, and are performed only after pressing a special button, when you decide that you are satisfied with everything.

Besides, GParted supports a much larger number of file systems, including the most modern ones.

If you have several hard drives, only one will be shown in the program window at a time. To work with others, use the drop-down list on the panel (on the right), which lists all connected hard drives.

GParted cannot work with partitions that are currently mounted (a warning icon will appear opposite such a partition). To perform any actions with such partitions, you will first have to unmount them.

A few notes about the programs that are included in operating system installers and can be used when installing the OS.

When installing Windows, all partitions of the hard drive will be seen exactly the same, without division into primary and extended. The only differences will be in the marks and sizes, and it is extremely easy to get confused. Therefore, it is advisable to use it only if you are installing an operating system on a new hard drive for the first time. If your disk has already been used and there is any information on it, it is best to take care of everything in advance in a third-party program, and reduce the actions in the installer only to selecting the desired partition and formatting (if necessary).

The situation is similar when installing Linux. Although everything is defined correctly there, it is not displayed very clearly, and the work occurs less transparently than in the same GParted.

So it’s best to create partitions of the required size in the right place before installation and format them into any Linux file system, and when installing the OS, ignoring the proposed automatic options and choosing manual partitioning, simply mount them in the right places and change the file system to another if necessary , by simply checking a box Format opposite their sections.

For greater clarity, I recommend carefully studying the screenshots for the article ( screenshots are clickable - when you click on them, full-size pictures will open in separate tabs). Please note that everywhere is depicted THE SAME hard drive, only in different programs. On this disk, two operating systems are installed in parallel in multiboot mode - Windows and Linux, which coexist quite peacefully on one computer. Each operating system is allocated 3 sections ( separation is not ideal, but quite acceptable). Look carefully at what it looks like in each program.

If you have ever partitioned a disk, or even more so, tried to install Linux on a laptop with Windows 8 or a newer version pre-installed, you have most likely come across such concepts as partition table, gpt and mbr. Even if you erased Windows, you still probably wondered how mbr differs from gpt, which partition table is better, what are the advantages of gpt from mbr. In this article we will answer all these questions and after reading it you will already know exactly what partition table you need, but first a little theory.

As you know, the hard drive is not a whole substance on which the system is installed. We can divide it into several partitions so that we can install one system on one, another on another, and leave the third for files altogether. There was a similar division in Windows - this is the C:, D: drive, and there is this in Linux - sda1, sda2, sda3.

But the question is, how does the system recognize the structure of the hard drive? Essentially, a hard drive is a huge address space into which data can be written. To know how many partitions exist, what size they are, what cell they start and where they end, you need to store this data somewhere. This is where you need an MBR or GPT partition table. Or how they stand for Master Boot Record and GUID Partition Table. Even though they differ in architecture, they do the same job. The difference between mbr and gpt will be better understood if we look at them one by one.

MBR (Master Boot Record)

MBR is an old partition table standard, but it is still widely used by many people. This partition table was developed back in the days of DOS, in 1983, and therefore contains many corresponding restrictions.

The MBR is located at the very beginning of the disk; more precisely, it occupies the first 512 bytes. It contains information about what logical and extended partitions are on this device. In addition, the MBR contains executable code that can scan partitions for the operating system, as well as initiate the loading of the operating system. For Windows, this is the WIndows bootloader; on Linux, the Grub initialization code is there. Since there is very little space there, this code is usually used only to initialize the main bootloader located somewhere on the disk.

A very inconvenient limitation of MBR is that you can only have four disk partitions. This is due to the limited amount of memory allocated for the partition table. This was the case from the very beginning, but then the developers found a solution. Regular partitions began to be called primary, and extended and logical were also added. One extended partition can contain several logical ones, so you can create the required number of partitions.

Additionally, MBR uses 32-bit space addressing, so you can only work with disks up to two terabytes in size. Of course, over time, ways have emerged to support larger volumes, but it won’t work as well with them. Another disadvantage is that the MBR is located only at the beginning of the disk and if you accidentally overwrite it, the disk will become completely unreadable. An advantage of MBR is full compatibility with many operating systems, including Windows, including older versions, Linux and MacOS.

GPT (GUID Partition Table)

GPT is a modern standard for managing partitions on a hard disk. This is part of the EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) standard developed by Intel to replace the outdated BIOS.

The very first difference is the use of completely different disk addressing. The MBR used addressing that depended on the disk geometry. The address consisted of three values: head, cylinder and sector (for example 0,0,0). GPT uses LBA addressing. This is block addressing, each block has its own number, for example LBA1, LBA2, LBA3, and so on, and MBR addresses are automatically translated into LBA, for example LBA1 will have address 0,0,1 and so on.

GPT does not contain bootloader code, it expects EFI to handle this, only the partition table is located here. The LBA0 block contains the MBR, this is done to protect GPT from being overwritten by old disk utilities, and the GPT itself begins from the block (LBA1). 16,384 bytes of memory are reserved for the partition table, 512 per block, which is 32 blocks, so the first partitions will start from the LBA34 block (32+1MBR+1GPT).

An important advantage is that the number of sections is not limited. More precisely, it is limited only by the operating system. The Linux kernel supports up to 256 partitions.

Thanks to LBA addressing, GPT, unlike MBR, can create partitions up to 9.4 ZB, and this will be enough in the near future.

In addition, GPT service information is duplicated, it is located not only at the beginning of the disk but also at the end, so in many cases, if GPT is damaged, automatic recovery can work and you will not even notice the problems. Here it immediately becomes clear that mbr or gpt is better.

GPT supports Unicode so you can assign names and attributes to partitions. Names can be set in any supported language and you can access drives by these names. For disks, GUIDs (Globally Unique IDentifier) ​​are used; this is one of the variations of UUID with a higher probability of unique values; it can also be used to identify disks instead of names.

The disadvantage or another advantage of GPT is that when loading, the checksums of the tables are checked, which means that if you want to change something manually, the system will not boot. As you can see, the difference between mbr and gpt is simply colossal.

Operating system support

MacOS and new versions of Windows starting from Windows 8 use GPT by default. You won't be able to install MacOS on a system with an MBR, it will run on that drive, but you won't be able to install it there. Windows supports both MBR and GPT starting from version 8; earlier versions cannot be installed on GPT, but you can work with GPT starting from XP.

The Linux kernel includes support for both MBR and GPT, only to install on GPT you will have to use the Grub2 boot loader. Here the comparison of MBR vs GPT is not so straightforward. If you need an old operating system, nothing will work with GPT.

What partition table

Now let's look at how to find out whether gpt or mbr is used on your computer. Of course, if you have Windows 10 preinstalled on your laptop, then there’s nothing to think about, it’s definitely GPT, but in other cases it will be useful to know.

On Linux we can use the fdisk utility for this. Just do:

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1c50df99

Disklabel type: dos - means that you are using mbr, in gpt it will be written like that - gpt. You can also find out whether gpt or mbr is used using the gparted program.

conclusions

Now you know how mbr differs from gpt, and you will not have any difficulties when choosing a partition table. If you're using a disk smaller than two terabytes and don't need more than four partitions, you might not want to choose GPT. Some older BIOSes do not support normal booting of the system from GPT tables, and without UEFI you will not be able to install Windows on this partition table. But if you want to install only Linux on GPT, then there is nothing wrong with that. You need to determine which is better mbr or gpt depending on your situation.

Let's summarize everything written above and once again present the advantages of gpt over mbr:

• MBR supports disks up to 2 TB, GPT - up to 9 ZB
• GPT supports more than four partitions
• GPT uses GUIDs to identify drives, which means there is less chance of name conflicts
• GPT uses the new LBA addressing system instead of the legacy CHS
• GPT service information is duplicated at the beginning and end of the disk
• GPT checks checksums, which allows you to detect modification of the partition table
• GPT supports Unicode, and therefore Cyrillic names.

If it is limited to some number, why can we assign all the letters C to Z to drives? If it's a special occasion, what is it?

7 Solutions collect form web for “What is the maximum number of partitions that can be made on a hard drive?”

In the old "MBR" partitioning scheme, you could have 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and one extended partition containing any number of logical partitions. While you can assign a drive letter to a partition, you can also map it as a folder in current versions of Windows, allowing more partitions, or use a submount to connect to a number.

The EFI specification requires that the GUID Partition Table (GPT), supported by all modern operating systems, be capable of containing maximum 128 partitions on a hard drive of any size. GPT is also required to boot from hard drives larger than 2 TB. This partitioning scheme is now widely used with UEFI, supported by almost all new computers.

In addition to native partitions, Windows and Linux also have something called a "logical volume manager" which can layer dozens if not hundreds of virtual partitions (logical volumes) on top of 4 (MBR) or 128 (GPT) physical partitions. Logical volumes can be assigned drive letters or mount points in the same way as physical partitions. They can also be bootable if certain restrictions are met.

It is also possible to have GPT formatted disks on non-UEFI systems and MBR disks on UEFI systems (excluding the boot disk).

On a disk using the traditional MBR format, the partition table has four slots. Each can contain a "primary" partition, or can be used to create an "extended" partition, which can contain any number of subpartitions (often called "logical drives"). Extended partitions are basically a workaround for the small size of the MBR partition table, and there are restrictions on what they can be used for. (For example, the Windows boot loader must be on the primary partition.)

The newest GPT disk format supports many more partitions - technically unlimited, I think, but operating systems impose a limit of 128. These are all "primary" partitions (to use MBR terminology).

From Technet: View Storage Limits: Local File Systems:

The number of disks you can use for each server is limited only by the available memory for FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and UDF file systems.

So there is no hard limit on Windows regarding the number of drivers. The drive letter is of course limited, since they stop at Z. But drives don't need to be given a drive letter - they can be mapped to a folder on another drive. From the same Technet article:

Mounted disks are useful if you want to add more storage to an existing volume without having to expand the volume. The mounted disk is a local volume mounted to an empty folder on an NTFS volume. Hard drives are not subject to the 26 drive letter limit, so you can use mounted drives to access more than 26 drives on your computer. For more information about mounted drives, including information about creating mounted drives on server clusters, see the "Using NTFS-mapped drives" topic in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.

The hard drives can be divided into four main partitions, or one of them can be configured as an extended partition.

An extended partition can theoretically hold an infinite number of logical partitions, so while Windows only has drive letters up to z: (plus some other characters), there is no limit to the number of partitions you can create, even though you can't assign a drive letter to them .

If the disk is partitioned using GPT, windows can only handle 2 for the following reason. When GPT is used, each primary partition has another hidden partition that can be used with EFI. When Windows sees this EFI partition, it is considered 1 primary. Thus, 2 partitions in GPT is 4. This is an unfortunate limitation for Windows when testing a new build using the GPT scheme. Linux and OS X are much more flexible.

The maximum cuts allowed for mbr windows are 4.

Directly called "section", means 4 parries. However, any of these 4 partitions, i.e. one and only one of them, can be expanded further into "partitions" or logical drives. So it's called 3 main particles and one "expandable" section. An "expandable" partition as a logical drive can only work with the letters a through z. Since the alphabets a and b are used for floppy drives, only c-z is available for use.

Theoretically, an unlimited number of partitions can be created on a disk. The total number of partitions is limited by the amount of space reserved for creating partition entries.

• Translation

Have you ever wondered how your computer boots? Regardless of the hardware and operating system, all computers use either the traditional BIOS-MBR method or the more modern UEFI-GPT method, implemented in the latest versions of the OS, when booting.

In this article, we will compare GPT and MBR partition structures; GPT stands for GUID Partition Table and MBR stands for Master Boot Record. Let's start by looking at the download process itself.

The following chapters highlight the differences between GPT and MBR partition styles, including instructions on how to convert between the two styles and advice on which one to choose.

Understanding the Boot Process

When you press the power button on your PC, it starts a process that will eventually load the operating system into memory. The first command depends on what the partition structure is on your hard drive.

If there are two types of partition structures: MBR and GPT. The partition structure on a disk determines three things:

1. Data structure on disk.
2. The code that is used during boot if the partition is bootable.
3. Where does the section begin and end?

MBR boot process

Let's return to the download process. If your system uses an MBR partition structure, the first execution process will load the BIOS. The Basic Input/Output System includes bootloader firmware. The bootloader firmware contains low-level functions such as keyboard input, video display access, disk I/O, and code to load the initial stage of the bootloader. Before the BIOS can detect the boot device, it performs a sequence of system configuration functions, starting with the following:

• Self-test at power-on.
• Detection and initialization of the video card.
• Displays the BIOS start screen.
• Perform a quick memory (RAM) test.
• Plug and play device configuration.
• Boot device definition.

Once the BIOS has detected a boot device, it reads the first disk sector of that device into memory. The first sector of the disk is the master boot record (MBR), which is 512 bytes in size. Three objects fit into this size:

• First stage of the bootloader (446 bytes).
• Disk Partition Table (16 bytes per partition × 4 partitions) - MBR only supports four partitions, more on that below.
• Signature (2 bytes).

At this stage, the MBR scans the partition table and loads the boot sector - Volume Boot Record (VBR) into RAM.

A VBR usually contains an Initial Program Loader (IPL), this code initiates the loading process. The program's boot loader includes a second boot loader stage, which then loads the operating system. On Windows NT family systems, such as Windows XP, the bootloader first loads another program called NT Loader (NTLDR), which then loads the operating system.

For operating systems based on the Linux kernel, the GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) bootloader is used. The download process is similar to that described above, the only difference is the name of the loaders at the first and second stages.

In GRUB, the first stage of the boot loader is called GRUB Stage 1. It loads the second stage, known as GRUB Stage 2. The second stage load retrieves a list of operating systems on the hard drives and provides the user with a list to select an OS to boot.

GPT boot process

At the same boot stage, the following happens in the GPT partition structure. GPT uses UEFI, which does not have the MBR procedure of storing the first stage of the bootloader in the boot sector and then calling the second stage of the bootloader. UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - is a more advanced interface than BIOS. It can analyze the file system and even download files itself.

After turning on your computer, UEFI first performs system configuration functions, just like BIOS. This includes energy management, setting dates and other system management components.

UEFI then reads the GPT - GUID Partition Table. GUID stands for Globally Unique Identifier. GPT is located in the first sectors of the disk, just after sector 0, where the master boot record for the Legacy BIOS is still stored.

GPT defines the partition table on the disk where the EFI boot loader recognizes the EFI system partition. The system partition contains bootloaders for all operating systems installed on other partitions of the hard drive. The bootloader initializes the Windows boot manager, which then boots the operating system.

For Linux kernel operating systems, there is an EFI-enabled version of GRUB that loads a file, such as grub.efi, or an EFI boot loader, which loads its own file, such as elilo.efi.

You may notice that both UEFI-GPT, And BIOS-MBR transfer control to the bootloader, but do not directly load the operating system. However, UEFI does not require you to go through multiple bootloader stages like BIOS. The boot process occurs at a very early stage, depending on your hardware configuration.

Differences between GPT and MBR partition structures

If you've ever tried to install Windows 8 or 10 on a new computer, you've probably seen the question: which partition structure to use, MBR or GPT.

If you want to know more or are planning to install a new operating system on your computer, then read on. We've already looked at differences in boot processes that are worth keeping in mind when partitioning a disk or choosing a partition structure.

GPT is a newer and more advanced partition structure, and it has many advantages, which I will list below. MBR has been in use for a long time, it is stable and has maximum compatibility. Although GPT may eventually replace MBR as it offers more advanced features, in some cases only MBR can be used.

Master Boot Record

MBR is a traditional structure for managing disk partitions. Since it is compatible with most systems, it is still widely used. The master boot record is located in the first sector of the hard drive or, more simply, at the very beginning. It contains a partition table - information about the organization of logical partitions on the hard drive.

The MBR also contains executable code that scans partitions for the active OS and initiates the OS boot procedure.

An MBR disk allows only four primary partitions. If you need more, you can designate one of the partitions as an extended partition, and you can create more subpartitions or logical drives on it.

The MBR uses 32 bits to record the partition length, expressed in sectors, so that each partition is limited to a maximum size of 2 TB.

Advantages

• Compatible with most systems.

Flaws

• Allows only four partitions, with the ability to create additional subpartitions on one of the main partitions.
• Limits the partition size to two terabytes.
• Partition information is stored in only one place - the master boot record. If it is damaged, the entire disk becomes unreadable.

GUID Partition Table (GPT)

GPT is a newer standard for defining the partition structure of a disk. Globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are used to define the structure.

This is part of the UEFI standard, meaning a UEFI-based system can only be installed on a drive that uses GPT, such as the Windows 8 Secure Boot feature.

GPT allows for an unlimited number of partitions, although some operating systems may limit the number to 128 partitions. There is also virtually no limit on partition size in GPT.

Advantages

• Allows an unlimited number of sections. The limit is set by the operating system; for example, Windows allows no more than 128 partitions.
• Does not limit partition size. It depends on the operating system. The maximum partition size limit is greater than the capacity of any disk available today. For drives with 512-byte sectors, a maximum supported size of 9.4 ZB (one zettabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 terabytes)
• GPT stores a copy of the partition and boot data and can recover the data if the main GPT header becomes corrupted.
• GPT stores cyclic redundancy checksum (CRC) values ​​to verify the integrity of its data (used to verify the integrity of GPT header data). If corrupted, GPT can notice the problem and attempt to recover the corrupted data from another location on the disk.

Flaws

• May not be compatible with older systems.

GPT vs MBR

• GPT allows an unlimited number of primary partitions, while MBR allows only four primary partitions and the rest are secondary.
• GPT allows you to create partitions of any size, while MBR has a limit of 2 TB.
• GPT stores a copy of the partition data, allowing it to be restored if the main GPT header becomes corrupted; MBR stores only one copy of partition data in the first sector of the hard disk, which can lead to the loss of all information if partition information is damaged.
• GPT stores checksum values ​​to verify that data is not corrupted and can perform necessary recovery from other areas of the disk if corruption occurs; The MBR has no way of knowing if data is corrupted; you can only find out if the computer refuses to boot or the partition disappears.

Operating system compatibility

The first sector (sector 0) on a GPT disk contains an MBR protection record, which records that the disk has one partition that spans the entire media. In case of using older tools that only read MBR disks, you will see one large partition the size of the entire disk. The protective record is made to prevent the old tool from mistaking the disk as empty and overwriting the GPT data with a new master boot record.

MBR protects GPT data from being overwritten.

Apple MacBooks" and use GPT by default, so it is not possible to install Mac OS X on an MBR system. Even though Mac OS X can run on an MBR disk, it is not possible to install on it. I tried this, but without success.

Most Linux kernel operating systems are GPT compatible. When installing Linux OS on the disk, GRUB 2 will be installed as the bootloader.

For Windows operating systems, booting from GPT is only possible on UEFI computers running 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and related server versions. If you bought a laptop with a 64-bit version of Windows 8, then there is a high probability that it has GPT.

Windows 7 and earlier systems typically install on MBR drives, but you can still convert partitions to GPT, as discussed below.

All versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 can read and use data from GPT partitions - but they cannot boot from such non-UEFI drives.

So GPT or MBR?

You can feel comfortable with both MBR and GPT. But considering the advantages of GPT mentioned earlier and the fact that modern computers are gradually switching to this technology, you may prefer GPT. If the goal is to support older hardware or need to use a traditional BIOS, then you are stuck with MBR.

Check the hard drive partition type

On each Windows hard drive, you can check the partition type using Disk Management. To launch Disk Management, do the following:

Press the Windows + R hotkey combination to open a window for launching programs.

Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

Windows will scan your hard drives and show them shortly. To check the partition type of any hard drive, right-click on the disk plate at the bottom of the interface. You need to click on “Disk 0”, “Disk 1” and so on, and not on partitions.

In the context menu that appears, select “Properties”. A window with the properties of the selected disk will open.

Go to the Volumes tab and look at the Partition Style value.

If you prefer the command line, you can choose another option. Its advantage is that it is slightly faster, since it immediately displays drives and partition styles.

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd.exe, hold Ctrl and Shift, press Enter.
2. Confirm the UAC message about increasing system privileges.
3. Type diskpart and press Enter.
4. Type list disk and press Enter again.

All drives are listed. The Gpt column indicates the partition style for each disk. If you see an asterisk in the column, then it is GPT; if it is not there, it is MBR.

Convert between MBR and GPT during Windows installation

There are two common error messages that may appear when installing Windows on a hard drive:

• Error #1: “Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk does not have a GPT partition style."
• Error #2: “Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk has a GPT partition style."

When one of these two errors appears, you may not be able to select a partition to install. But this does not mean that there is something wrong with the computer.

As you already know, MBR and GPT are two completely different hard disk partition structures. MBR is the traditional partition structure, while GPT is the newer one.

Error #1 occurs when you try to install Windows on a UEFI computer and the hard drive partition is not configured for UEFI mode or Legacy BIOS compatibility. Microsoft TechNet offers two options to resolve the issue.

1. Reboot the computer in Legacy BIOS compatibility mode. This option will keep the current section style.
2. Reformat the disk for UEFI using the GPT partition style. This option will allow you to use UEFI firmware features. You can do the reformatting yourself by following the instructions below. Always back up your data before formatting.

Of course, there are third-party utilities that can convert disks to GPT while preserving the data, but it is still safer to make a backup copy in case the utility fails to complete the conversion.

Instructions for converting a hard drive from MBR to GPT

Using Windows Setup

1. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will detect that the computer is booted in UEFI mode and will automatically reformat the drive using the GPT partition style. The installation process will begin immediately after this.

Manual conversion

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in UEFI mode.
3. Clean the disk: clean .
4. Conversion to GPT is done with the convert gpt command.

Instructions for converting a hard drive from GPT to MBR

Sometimes it is necessary to convert a disk to an MBR partition structure. For example, if you receive the following error message during Windows installation:

"Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk has a GPT partition style"

Booting from GPT is only supported on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and corresponding server versions on UEFI systems. This error message means that your computer does not support UEFI, and therefore you can only use a BIOS that works with the MBR partition structure.

Microsoft TechNet offers two solutions to this problem.

1. Reboot the computer in BIOS compatibility mode. This option will keep the current section style.
2. Reformat the disk using the MBR partition style. Always back up your data before formatting. Although there are third-party utilities that can convert disks to GPT while preserving the data, it is still safer to make a backup copy in case the utility fails to complete the conversion.

If you chose the second option, then follow the step-by-step instructions:

Using Windows Setup

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in UEFI mode.
3. Select "Other" (Custom) in the installation type.
4. A screen will appear asking “Where do you want to install Windows?” Select all partitions on the disk and click Delete.
5. After successful removal, the disk will be a single area of ​​unallocated space.
6. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will detect that the computer is booted in BIOS mode and will automatically reformat the drive using the MBR partition style. The installation process will begin immediately after this.

Manual conversion

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in BIOS mode.
3. From the Windows installation, press Shift+F10 to open the console. After each next command, press Enter.
4. Run the diskpart tool with the diskpart command.
5. To select the disk to convert, type list disk .
6. Specify the disk number to convert: select disk # .
7. Clean the disk: clean .
8. Conversion to GPT is done with the convert mbr command.
9. Type exit to exit diskpart.
10. Close the console and return to the Windows installation.
11. When choosing an installation type, select "Other". The disk will be a single area of ​​unallocated space.
12. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will begin installation.