Windows 7 - MBR or GPT??

Is there a way to tell whether a disk is formatted as MBR or GPT?

Will Windows 7 boot from a GPT disk?

Hello Cluent,

You can tell in Disk Management by right clicking on the Disk #. It will be the opposite of whatever you have as an option to "Conver to (MBR or GPT) disk". Unless your motherboard supports a EFI BIOS (most do not), then you will most like need to use a MBR disk for Windows 7. By default, all hard drives are formatted as a MBR disk unless you manually convert it to a GPT disk.


You can read more details about MBR and GPT in the tutorials below though.

Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk

and

Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Ok, my disk is clearly MBR and I don't have Itanium.

If I add a second internal drive (probably 2TB), is there any advantage to GPT?

Cluent,

Unless you wanted to create more than 4 "primary" partitions on the new drive, then probably not. You can compare the differences in the NOTE box in the tutorial below though to see if one or the other may work better for you.

Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk