Solved Need clarification before proceeding to convert mbr-gpt

[satrianiboys]

Hello everyone,

I will be doing this
Booting Windows 7 from a GPT Disk Using BIOS (non-UEFI) | Windows OS Hub
or
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...-7-8-gpt-bios-system-no-hybrid-mbrs-duet.html
procedure. But before i go, i want to ask a couple question. Since the links is old enough so i think i will not get any replies soon.. hopefully someone here will be reply this asap.

I have a 320gb HDD with windows 7 32bit (MBR) installed. The purpose i'll be doing that procedure (links) so my other HDD (3tb) will be fully detected and running fine. The question is, will it be detected and running fine? or do i have to re-install the OS to the other drive (3tb)?

I just want to make sure that i'm not waste any time. I prefer to keep the OS in the 320gb HDD though if there is any way, so i will not bother to backup my 3tb HDD (already have datas from a friend, and formatted as gpt)

my system is:
-AMD phenom x4 965be
-Asrock 770de3l

Sorry if my English is not correct. Thanks for the support.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You can continue to use the 320 GB MBR 32 bit drive for the OS and then initialize the 3 TB disk as GPT.

You say "I prefer to keep the OS in the 320gb HDD", but you also say "I will be doing this
Booting Windows 7 from a GPT Disk Using BIOS (non-UEFI) | Windows OS Hub".

So, it's not clear to me what you want to do.

 

[satrianiboys]

You can continue to use the 320 GB MBR 32 bit drive for the OS and then initialize the 3 TB disk as GPT.

You say "I prefer to keep the OS in the 320gb HDD", but you also say "I will be doing this
Booting Windows 7 from a GPT Disk Using BIOS (non-UEFI) | Windows OS Hub".

So, it's not clear to me what you want to do.

Oh, I don't know that. So you're saying that my 3tb HDD will work properly if it's contain only data/not OS? I'm in fear that it will not detected fully (like detected only 2tb, or some partition missing) because the OS is installed in MBR drive.

I will get the drive in about an hours though, so i'm preparing for anything worse that might be happen now. I'm still a little confused then about MBR and GPT.

Thanks for reply

 

[ignatzatsonic]

[

So you're saying that my 3tb HDD will work properly if it's contain only data/not OS? I'm in fear that it will not detected fully (like detected only 2tb, or some partition missing) because the OS is installed in MBR drive.

I will get the drive in about an hours though, so i'm preparing for anything worse that might be happen now. I'm still a little confused then about MBR and GPT.

Right now, my PC has 3 drives:

Boot drive is 80 GB SSD. It is initialized as MBR and has Win 7 64 bit installed.

Data drive 1 is 1 TB HDD. It is initialized as MBR and contains data only.

Data drive 2 is 3 TB HDD. It is initialized as GPT and contains data only.

All drives have just one partition.

I don't think the fact that you have 32 bit Windows is a problem as long as it's not on a GPT disk.

Try to initialize your new drive as GPT and see if it works and you can see the entire 3 TB capacity.

You could use MBR on the 3 TB disk, but that will reduce it's capacity to about 2.2 GB. Not good. Some older motherboards won't support GPT at all, but if you have fairly recent hardware you should be OK.

Here's some info on MBR and GPT as I understand it:


You can use an MBR boot disk of 2.2 TB or less and a separate GPT data disc on the same system.

Booting a GPT disk requires UEFI and 64 bit Windows.

Data drives must be GPT to utilize more than 2.2 TB on a drive, REGARDLESS of the number of partitions. If left as MBR, you are limited to 2.2 TB in one partition and can’t make a second partition of the remainder. Some motherboard manufacturers provide a special driver to let MBR drives access the full capacity of drives larger than 2.2 TB.

Booting from a partition greater than 2.2 TB requires GPT and UEFI, not BIOS.

Non-bootable partitions above 2.2 TB require initialization via GPT, but can still use BIOS. MBR partitions are limited to 2.2 TB, whether they are system or data partitions.

You can convert a GPT disk to MBR and vice versa, but only after removing all partitions.

 

[gregrocker]

Agreed, just add the new 3tb drive and initialize it in Disk Mgmt as GPT, creating as many partitions as you want.

This has nothing to do with the 320gb MBR OS drive.

 

[satrianiboys]

Right now, my PC has 3 drives:

Boot drive is 80 GB SSD. It is initialized as MBR and has Win 7 64 bit installed.

Data drive 1 is 1 TB HDD. It is initialized as MBR and contains data only.

Data drive 2 is 3 TB HDD. It is initialized as GPT and contains data only.

All drives have just one partition.

I don't think the fact that you have 32 bit Windows is a problem as long as it's not on a GPT disk.

Try to initialize your new drive as GPT and see if it works and you can see the entire 3 TB capacity.

You could use MBR on the 3 TB disk, but that will reduce it's capacity to about 2.2 GB. Not good. Some older motherboards won't support GPT at all, but if you have fairly recent hardware you should be OK.

Here's some info on MBR and GPT as I understand it:


You can use an MBR boot disk of 2.2 TB or less and a separate GPT data disc on the same system.

Booting a GPT disk requires UEFI and 64 bit Windows.

Data drives must be GPT to utilize more than 2.2 TB on a drive, REGARDLESS of the number of partitions. If left as MBR, you are limited to 2.2 TB in one partition and can’t make a second partition of the remainder. Some motherboard manufacturers provide a special driver to let MBR drives access the full capacity of drives larger than 2.2 TB.

Booting from a partition greater than 2.2 TB requires GPT and UEFI, not BIOS.

Non-bootable partitions above 2.2 TB require initialization via GPT, but can still use BIOS. MBR partitions are limited to 2.2 TB, whether they are system or data partitions.

You can convert a GPT disk to MBR and vice versa, but only after removing all partitions.

Yay, you're right. No need to do anything, installed the HDD and it's working fine. That's really a good information you type, i learned something new today.

Agreed, just add the new 3tb drive and initialize it in Disk Mgmt as GPT, creating as many partitions as you want.

This has nothing to do with the 320gb MBR OS drive.

Thank you for confirmed more!

===

Thanks for both of you guys
Solved