Or which technology to choose?
Often when buying a laptop or system unit, you already have an installed operating system on board. This means that you no longer have to make a choice - everything has already been done for you. As a rule, the choice is always made by the computer manufacturer or assembler in favor of new technologies. Currently, GPT technology is used in conjunction with BIOS-UEFI.
Let's go in order.
Let's figure out what MBR is.
Wikipedia says MBR - master boot record - main boot record. That is in simple language- this is the code that is necessary to run the operating system installed on your computer. This MBR code is usually located in the very first sector of the hard disk and does not exceed 512 bytes.
When you turn on your computer, Bios determines where and what operating system you have installed and launches it, and MBR entry helps her with this. The MBR contains all the information about the partitions of your hard drive(or disks), and the code that runs the operating system.
In more detail, how the loading occurs, the entire algorithm is described in Wikipedia -.
This technology simple and reliable, used for many years. With the development of technology and progress, several shortcomings have emerged:
MBR does not support disks larger than 2 TB.
It also does not support more than 4 main partitions on one disk.
Now let's talk about GPT.
Currently used in modern laptops and GPT computers.
GPT or GUID Partition Table - new standard partition tables on the disk and is used in conjunction with EFI ( Extensible Firmware Interface - extensible firmware interface).
GPT is located at the beginning of the disk, but at the same time, it leaves room at the beginning of the disk for MBR. That is, they can exist together, but as a rule, for compatibility with the old ones operating systems.
A significant advantage of GPT is that disks larger than 2 TB can be supported, theoretically creating partitions up to 9.4 ZB (9.4 × 10 21 bytes) in size.
(1 zettabyte=1,000,000,000 TB)
Among the disadvantages of GPT, not all 32-bit operating systems support disks with GPT, only starting with Windows Vista.
If you have a 64-bit Windows operating system, then it will definitely recognize GPT.
Only Windows 8 and higher can boot the operating system from GPT, as well as with a BIOS with UEFI. That is, more modern versions. Some manufacturers have made it possible to update your BIOS to required version with UEFI support, but not all, you need to find out whether you have such an opportunity.
Read more about GUID Partition Table (GPT) on Wikipedia.
So what should you choose?
When choosing, you need to consider several factors:
- What version of windows are you going to use.
- Which HDD in terms of volume it will be used in your computer, laptop.
- Availability of UEFI support in your BIOS.
If you use more old version, for example XP is preferable to MBR.
If your BIOS supports UEFI, then you can use GPT and a more modern operating system, even preferable.
In each case, you need to decide separately what to use; you can’t definitely say which is better. MBR - supports all operating systems. GPT supports disks with large capacities and it is possible to boot the Windows 8 operating system and higher, and only if the BIOS has UEFI support.
If you've ever partitioned a disk, or even more so, tried to install Linux on a laptop with pre-installed Windows 8 or more new version, then you most likely came 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. Here we need a table MBR partitions or GPT. 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 old standard partition tables, 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 Windows boot loader, on Linux this is where the Grub initialization code is located. 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 limited quantity 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 its full compatibility with many operating systems, including including Windows, including older versions, Linux and MacOS.
GPT (GUID Partition Table)
GPT is modern standard manage partitions on your hard drive. 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. 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.
Besides service information GPT is duplicated, it is located not only at the beginning of the disk but also at the end, so in many cases GPT can work if damaged automatic recovery and you won't even notice the problems. Here it immediately becomes clear that better mbr or gpt.
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. Disks use globally unique identifiers GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier), this is one of the variations of UUID with more likely unique values, can also be used to identify drives instead of names.
The disadvantage or another advantage of GPT is that it checks when loading checksums tables, 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 since version 8, more early versions It will not be possible to install 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 new system LBA addressing instead of 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.
Tables are used on computer disks GPT partitions or MBR. On modern computers use GPT partition table in Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 (Windows 8) operating systems.
The GUID Partition Table (GPT) is part of EFI interface, which replaced the BIOS. The BIOS uses MBR (Master Boot Record) - the master boot record. Gradually, computers with MBR disks are being replaced by computers with GPT disks, types SSD drives or HDD, it doesn't matter.
The main difference between partition tables is as follows: on MBR disks you can create 4 main partitions, disks up to 2.2 TB are supported, on GPT disks the number of partitions is practically unlimited (depending on the operating system used), disks larger than 2.2 TB are supported TBH, there's more going on fast loading systems.
The advantage of GPT is that it stores its data in different places on the disk, unlike MBR, which is located in one place. In GPT, in case of corruption or failure, the data may be used from another location, on MBR disks, in which case loading will not be possible. The benefits of the GPT partition style are mainly realized in the 64-bit version of Windows (Windows 7 x64 is supported).
How to find out which disk is GPT or MBR? Find out the format MBR disk or GPT can be done using the operating system Windows systems, by using third party programs, designed to work with disks. The article discusses the program AOMEI Partition Assistant, other similar programs will do.
How to find out GPT or MBR in Disk Management
The easiest way to find out the disk partition style is to go into Disk Management.
On Windows 10, click right click mouse on the Start menu, select Disk Management. In Windows 7, right-click on “Computer”, select the “Manage” context menu item, and in the “Computer Management” window select the “Disk Management” section.
You can enter disk management in Windows in another way: press “Win” + “R” on your keyboard, enter the command “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes) in the “Run” window, and then click on the “OK” button.
After this, the “Disk Management” window will open, which displays all the disks connected to this computer.
At the bottom of the snap-in window, you will see all the physical disks connected to the computer, which are labeled: “Disk 0”, “Disk 1”, etc. Please note that one physical hard drive can have multiple partitions ("C" drives). ", "D", etc.).
Right-click on the drive name to in this case to "Disk 0", and in context menu select "Properties".
In the “XXX Disk Properties” window that opens, open the “Volumes” tab. In the Disk Information section, you will see an option called Partition Style: Table with Partition GUID (GUID). It means that this disk has GPT partition style.
After I entered the properties of “Disk 1” and opened the “Volumes” tab, I saw that on this disk there is MBR table- “Partition style: master boot record (MBR).”
How to find out GPT or MBR hard drive on the command line
Run Command Prompt as Administrator. In the interpreter window command line enter the command:
Diskpart
List disk
Click on "Enter".
The Command Prompt window will display all the physical drives connected to the computer.
One of the options displayed is labeled "GPT". A disk that has a GPT partition style is marked with an asterisk (“Disk 0”). This means that the remaining disks, where there are no asterisks, have the MBR partition style.
How to find out GPT or MBR disk partition in AOMEI Partition Assistant
AOMEI program Partition Assistant (free version- AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard) is designed to operate and manage disks. The program has convert (convert) GPT disks to MBR and MBR to GPT.
After launching the program, the computer disks will be displayed in the main window of AOMEI Partition Assistant. At the bottom of the application window, under everyone's name physical disk, the type of markup is shown: GPT or MBR.
Conclusions of the article
What type GPT markup or MBR drives on your computer, you can find out using the Disk Management snap-in, the command line and third party software: AOMEI programs Partition Assistant.
Which technology, MBR or GPT, is most suitable for hard drives- This is a question that worries many computer specialists, as well as PC users. We have long been accustomed to the fact that the development of new and promising information technologies often leads to their clash with old, but time-tested ones. And victory in this struggle is not always guaranteed for innovation. What will be the outcome of the confrontation this time, only time will tell.
As you know, in order for a computer to run an operating system, it first needs to find logical drive, on which it is located. The search for such a disk is carried out when BIOS help, and MBR helps her with this.
The abbreviation MBR stands for Master Boot Record. MBR is a small block of information and is usually located in the very first hard sector disk or other storage medium. Typically, the MBR size does not exceed 512 bytes.
The purpose of MBR is twofold. First, the MBR contains executable code that allows the BIOS to begin loading the required operating system. Secondly, the MBR contains information about sections of hard disk - the so-called partition table.
The code contained in the MBR is called at the very end of the BIOS bootloader, and in fact it is to it that the BIOS transfers control. The code contained in the MBR examines and verifies the partition table contained in boot sector, and then transfers control to the bootloader of the specific partition that contains the operating system.
To identify the master boot record, a special signature 55h AAH is usually used, which is located at the very end of the sector in which the MBR is located.
The MBR concept first began to be used in the first versions of DOS in the early 80s. Despite the extreme simplicity and relative reliability of this technology, it also has a number of disadvantages. The main disadvantage of MBR is the lack of support for disks larger than 2 TB, which are this moment are no longer rare. Also, the Master Boot Record cannot support more than 4 primary partitions on a single drive.
GPT - history and features
The disadvantages of MBR have prompted developers to look for ways to overcome them. One of the alternatives to MBR is GPT (GUID Partition Table) technology. This new format partition tables appeared after implementation modern technology BIOS – UEFI, which we talked about in the corresponding article.
GPT, like MBR, is located at the beginning boot disk, however, as a rule, it occupies not the very first sector, but the second sector. The first sector is reserved for the MBR, which can also be present in GPT disks, but only for compatibility with older operating systems. The GPT structure is similar in many ways to the MBR structure, but there are some differences.
First of all, GPT does not limit its size to one sector of 512 bytes. The partition table in GPT can be 16 KB in size and, with a sector size of 512 bytes, located in 32 sectors. This feature allows you to bypass the inherent limitation of MBR on maximum size 2 TB disk. IN GPT maximum The disk size can be more than 9 zettabytes (1 zettabyte=1,000,000,000 TB).
Additionally, a useful feature of GPT compared to MBR is the duplication of partition table information. In addition to the original GPT at the beginning of the disk, there is a copy of it at the very end of the disk, which allows you to restore the partition table in case of damage.
The disadvantage of GPT, as well as many other new technologies, is the lack of support for it in many operating systems. Many operating systems recognize and can read GPT, but not all can boot using it. From 32-bit versions Windows GPT can read all desktop operating systems, starting with Windows Vista, as well as server OS, starting with Windows Server 2003 SP1. Among 64-bit GPT systems recognize all operating systems starting from Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003.
Among the operating systems that can boot at GPT help, include all 64-bit versions of Windows starting with Windows Vista. From 32-bit versions Windows boot using GPT is supported only by Windows 8. In the case of desktop OSes, loading the operating system using GPT is only possible if the computer has a modern BIOS version– UEFI.
Also, modern versions of other OS families support booting using GPT:
- Solaris - starting from version 10
- FreeBSD – from version 7.0
- Linux Fedora – from version 8.0
- Linux Ubuntu – from version 8.04
- OS X – from version 10.4.0
Selecting the required technology
What is better to use, GPT or MBR? As we found out, GPT has a number of advantages over Master Boot Record. However, for the final choice it is worth considering three main factors:
- What operating system are you going to install on your computer?
- The size of the hard drive on which you are going to install this OS.
- Availability on motherboard UEFI computer.
The last factor is the most important. If your computer does not have UEFI, then it is preferable to use MBR, since desktop operating systems Windows family will not be able to boot from such a disk. MBR is also preferable if you are going to install an older operating system, such as Windows XP or older.
For computers that have UEFI, it is preferable to use GPT because GPT offers more possibilities to partition the disk, and, importantly, can be restored from a backup.
Conclusion
What is better - a new promising technology, or an old, time-tested one? The answer to this question cannot be known without taking into account the requirements that apply to each technology in a particular case. MBR and GPT perform the same function - storing information about the disk structure and ensuring the operating system boots. In many ways, these technologies are similar, but there are also differences between them. Currently, MBR is supported by almost all operating systems, however, GPT has many advanced features. In addition, in some cases it is impossible for the user to do without GPT installations, for example, when using disks larger than 2 TB.
