What is the Difference Between GPT and MBR Partition?

GPT

GPT stands for GUID Partition Table disks that use a unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI). GUID partition on your drive has a “globally unique identifier,” or GUID — a random string so long that every GPT partition on earth likely has its own unique identifier.

GPT can make use of a very large space that is more than the 2TB limit of MBR disks. GPT disks allow an almost unlimited number of partitions. Each GPT partition has a unique identification GUID and a partition content type. And you can have more primary partitions.

The widespread MBR partitioning scheme, dating from the early 1980s, imposed limitations that affected the use of newer hardware. Intel, therefore, developed a new partition-table format in the late 1990s as part of what eventually became UEFI. The GPT as of 2010 forms a subset of the UEFI specification.

GPT doesn’t suffer from MBR’s limits. GPT-based drives can be much larger, with size limits dependent on the operating system and its file systems. GPT also allows for a nearly unlimited number of partitions. Again, the limit here will be your operating system—Windows allows up to 128 partitions on a GPT drive, and you don’t have to create an extended partition to make them work.

MBR

MBR (Master Boot Record) disks use the standard BIOS partition. MBR disks do not support more than four primary partitions on each disk. The MBR partition is not supported for disks larger than 2 terabytes.

MBR was first introduced with IBM PC DOS 2.0 in 1983. It stands for Master Boot Record because the MBR is a special boot sector located at the beginning of a drive. This sector contains a boot loader for the installed operating system and information about the drive’s partitions. If you have Windows installed, the initial bits of the Windows boot loader resides here—that’s why you may have to repair your MBR if it’s overwritten and Windows won’t start. If you have Linux installed, the GRUB bootloader will typically be located in the MBR.

MBR does have its limitations. MBR works with disks up to 2 TB in size. MBR also only supports up to four primary partitions—if you want more, you have to make one of your primary partitions an “extended partition” and create logical partitions inside it.

MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) are two different ways of storing the partitioning information on a drive. This information includes where partitions start and begin, so your operating system knows which sectors belong to each partition and which partition is bootable. This is why you have to choose MBR or GPT before creating partitions on a drive.

Why should convert GPT to MBR?

GPT disk is much better than MBR. Why should we convert GPT to MBR? When installing Windows on BIOS-based PCs using Windows Setup, have you received the error message:

“Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style”?

Actually, some personal computers' motherboard supports BIOS and it is installed with MBR, so, many users, they always install windows system on the MBR disk. Some of the computers don’t have EFI motherboards, and many people can’t install Windows systems on GPT disks. Your PC is booted in BIOS mode, but your hard drive is not configured for BIOS mode. That’s why you need to convert GPT to MBR during Windows installation.