Solved Is it really possible to clean install win7 with GPT on 160GB HD?

[robwin7fo]

Hello everyone!

I have an old HPdc7100 CMT machine, and I have tried to clean install Win7 ult 32 bit on this old motherboard. My wish is that, if I could do it with GPT instead of MBR. With MBR, that is not a problem at all.

Now, I made the 160GB Hard Disc unformatted (with no partition, blank, unallocated from start to finish). I inserted the installation DVD. Once started, at some point I chose to run on DOS mode to do the commands such as:
diskpart
list disk
select disk <disk number:0 in this case>
clean
convert gpt
exit

and from here I continue the installation to the end. But, when I looked at the Partition Table with EASEUS, the Boot sector is "Basic MBR" (But not GPT). I kept on repeating this, but it ends with the same result. So my question is: Is it really possible to clean install Win7 with GPT on a 160GB HD (not large HD more than 2TB, but lesser as it is now on 160GB) on an old motherboard?

Thank you in advance for help.

 

[MeOnMine]

Your old Mother Board has old BIOS it does not have UEFI.
UEFI will understand GPT format but BIOS will only understand MBR.
This is not 100% truth as I have loaded MBR OS Win 7 and then formatted over 2.2 Gig HDD in GPT so it could be utilized to its full capacity however the M/B had UEFI.
Also Win 7 was not designed for UEFI but it can be worked around.
Disclaimer: I am no expert in UEFI.

 

[robwin7fo]

Thank you for the reply.

It makes sense for one good reason, because I couldn't do it. Thank you again.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Why would you want too on such a small hdd ?

 

[robwin7fo]

Thank you for the reply.

I don't know quite much about the GPT, but I heard it doesn't crush that much compared with the MBR. I have enough with the Booting problems. That is the reason why I wanted it if possible. Thank you again.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I have not read that
MBR is stable if the machine crashes I would suspect the hard drive or other hardware more than the disk format
MBR supports up to 4 partitions which is way more than the size of your hard drive would ever need.

Besides having a bunch of partitions only complicates a disk
Partitions are never the right size and I've found just using folders is way more officiant than dealing with resizing partitions after they are created with data on them.

Large hdd's only hurt more when they fail

 

[robwin7fo]

ThrashZone:

I am always grateful to you for your expertise. Now, perhaps the thing which drives me craving for this GPT could be from this article, as I am already exhausted with repairing booting troubles. Let's bear in mind that, I was only attracted by the passage talking about the advantage of the GPT over MBR without paying attention to the rest of the text. Here it is...

========================================================
On an MBR disk, the partitioning and boot data is stored in one place. If this data is overwritten or corrupted, you’re in trouble. In contrast, GPT stores multiple copies of this data across the disk, so it’s much more robust and can recover if the data is correupted. GPT also stores cyclic redundancy check (CRC) values to check that its data is intact — if the data is corrupted, GPT can notice the problem and attempt to recover the damaged data from another location on the disk. MBR had no way of knowing if its data was corrupted — you’d only see there was a problem when the boot process failed or your drive’s partitions vanished.
=========================================================

What?s the Difference Between GPT and MBR When Partitioning a Drive?

I like the word saying... "GPT stores multiple copies of this data across the disk, so it’s much more robust and can recover if the data is corrupted..."

After all, as MeOnMine above said that it's not possible to have it on an old motherboard, I might as well settle with that.

Once again, thank you very much for all the inputs.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
All I know is no system reserved is actually needed at all
C partition I prefer it to span the entire disk.

If I ever have boot issues I would use a WinPE recovery disk created by Macrium Reflect free which is easier to deal with than GPT on a 160gb hdd or any size hdd for that matter
Plus you have a system image to a totally separate hdd to fall back on
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

So it sounds to me you just need to start using system imaging as a better way around boot problems and loss of data because just the windows update system has become quite a nightmare
There is no fool proof way around boot issues using GPT that is an illusion.

 

[robwin7fo]

ThrashZone:

Thank you again for more information. I must admit I had no idea about the WinPE and the imaging before. I read through them, and certainly I will adopt them as the way of dealing with this kind of problem from now on. Thank you so much again.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi
Yea I like this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQA7NlLvxg8

 

[robwin7fo]

A Great video. Thank you for the link.