is it risky convert a drive from GPT to MBR and vice versa?

hi
is it risky convert a drive from GTP to MBR and vice versa?

about risky , i mean lost of data

and is it a long process ,does it tak long time seeing the drive it's 2TB ?

thanks

 

mantra,

It could be risky but I've done a lot and never had a problem. I'm sure you have an image so you could recover if there was an issue. How long does it take? 1 to 2 seconds. It's fast.

 

Windows only supports booting from GPT drive if motherboard's firmware has UEFI interface and it is enabled.

 

hi but they are 2 tb of data , how can i do an image?
thanks Brian
1 or 2 seconds with bibim or image of linux?
and you had only ntfs partitions? i have an exfat partition too

hi are only data , photo , music videos and so on
thanks reasonablePrivacy

 

You must do "Change Disk Type" outside of Windows. I suggest TBWinRE.

Don't worry about your exFAT partition as only the OS partitions are altered.

To create an image use IFW. Image RE, ESP, MSR, Win10. You don't have to image any data partitions. Or are you trying to convert a data drive and not an OS drive. That's quite different.

 

Hi Brian K, which advantages by convert MBR to GPT ?

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/

 

Hi Brian , i have not TBwinRe , i have BIBM and image for linux , i can have paragon hard disk manager or MiniTool Partition
the drive contains only data , no operation system
thanks Brian

 

mantra,

A data disk. That's easy. Use IFL Partition Work. Make sure you have at least 128 MiB of Free Space if you are converting MBR to GPT as a MSR will be created in this space.

chgdtype.tbs is in IFL but it's for OS disks.

 

Hi about 128MB of free space do you mean an unlocated space?
and about chgdtype.tbs , i don't know how use it or how invoce it ,linux is obscure for me
thank Brian

 

blacknight,

Regarding disk size...

A MBR disk is limited to 2^32 sectors. So if you have 512 byte sectors the maximum disk size is 2^32 * 512 which is 2,199,023,255,552 bytes. That is 2 TiB.

But what if the sectors are larger? Disks with 4K Native sectors, eight times larger than 512 byte sectors, can have a maximum MBR disk size of 16 TiB. They still have 2^32 sectors.

 

Free Space is the same as Unallocated Space.

You don't need to use chgdtype.tbs.

Open Partition Work, select your drive, click "Change Disk Type", make your choice.

 

@mantra
Since it is a 2tb disk and if you have only 3 partitions you can "transform" it in an hybrid mbr/gpt. (just add the 3 partitions in the partition table without removing the entry of the gpt table)

Panagiotis

 

Thanks for that advice Panagiotis.

Also thanks to OP for inquiring about it. I have a thread someplace now months old where I asked the same question, and for me anyway, micro modifying for this change was something like delicate surgery that I wasn't so sure I could pull off successfully so I kept mine MBR table.

Maybe I can give it another try AFTER I buy another new HD first.

 

mantra,

I forgot to ask, why do you want to convert the disk?

 

EASTER,

What do you plan to do with a GPT disk?

A GPT disk can be any size. I have a 120 GB data GPT disk that contains multiple bootable partitions. TBWinRE/PE, IFL, TBOSDT, PartWork, WinPE, EasyUEFI, Mint. I can restore my OS drive by booting IFL on this drive. UFDs or CDs aren't needed for a restore.

 

You are welcome Easter.
It is not risky if you know what you are doing.
From GPT to MBR the risk is to accidentaly removing or replacing the GPT Entry before inserting the other partions in the MBR and of course you should not have more than 4 partitions. It should be done in the order:
1st. insert the partitions entries in the mbr table (now the disk is an hybrid mbr/gpt disk).
2nd. remove the gpt entry from the mbr table (or replace it with the 4th partition if you have one)

Converting from MBR to GPT has higher risk since the parttion should be resized and moved before converting it to gpt.

Panagiotis

 

hi Panagiotis , the drive has 6 primary partition ,5 ntfs and 1 exfat
thanks

Brian , because i wanted to create an hfs+ partition , and it's more easy in mbr
thanks

 

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=580

 

Hi Brian

well i leave as GPT
thanks Brian always present , i always appreciate your help!

 

mantra,

You could convert to an EMBR disk and keep your 6 partitions but you would have to use BIBM to manage the partitions in and out of the LBA 0 partition table. Messy if you aren't familiar with using EMBR.

 

Brian K, thank you. So there are not other advantages to switch to GPT... Then for my need i can keep MBR.

 

blacknight,

Yes, keep your MBR disks. You need to have a reason to change. You drives won't be any faster if you convert to GPT.

Edit.. There is nothing wrong with installing Win10 on a MBR disk if you are interested in multi-booting. That's how I run my main computer.

 

Thank you. Not a bad idea. For a long time I had a Linux distro - Mint or Ubuntu - in dual boot with Windows in my previous pc. Now I could do it with 10.

 

hi
i will keep gpt
is there a way to change the paritions in logical in my GPT hard disk?
are all primary
thanks Brian