MBR or GPT both are used to format the hard disk in a way so that PC knows where all partitions are located. PCs get the information from the device’s Master Boot Record (MBR) but in now days a new technology has taken the place of MBR i.e. GUID Partition Table (GPT). We are going to discuss about which one is better MBR or GPT.
The GUID Partition Table format is a new technology where GUID stands for globally unique identifiers which uses unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI). GPT allows to use much larger disks up to 9.4 Zettabytes (ZB) or approx. 10 billion terabytes. It allows to partition a disk up to in 128 partitions.
On MBR formatted drive a user cannot create a 5th partition, if user wants to create more partitions of drive it will be converted into dynamic drive which may occurs many errors and unable to install OS in drive.
Where GPT has no limitation to divide the drive or with storage capacity. GPT supports up to more than 2TB and GPT users can divide their drive up to 128 divisions. Are these benefits shows that you can adopt this kind of partition? No there are some issues with GPT like compatibility and some more are given below:
But if you want compatibility with older hardware the MBR is the only option yet.
MBR and GPT- An Introduction
Master Boot Record (MBR) format has been in use since 1980s to format the hard disk using BIOS based partition table and make easy to use for PCs. MBR can manage a hard drive up to 2TB and it can make only four partitions of a hard drive. MBR doesn’t work with more than 2TB hard drive.
The GUID Partition Table format is a new technology where GUID stands for globally unique identifiers which uses unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI). GPT allows to use much larger disks up to 9.4 Zettabytes (ZB) or approx. 10 billion terabytes. It allows to partition a disk up to in 128 partitions.
Which one is better- MBR or GPT?
On MBR formatted drive a user cannot create a 5th partition, if user wants to create more partitions of drive it will be converted into dynamic drive which may occurs many errors and unable to install OS in drive.
Where GPT has no limitation to divide the drive or with storage capacity. GPT supports up to more than 2TB and GPT users can divide their drive up to 128 divisions. Are these benefits shows that you can adopt this kind of partition? No there are some issues with GPT like compatibility and some more are given below:
- Windows XP (32-bit), Windows 2000, Windows NT 4, or Windows 95/98 cannot read, write, and boot from GPT disks, they only supports MBR.
- Windows XP (x64) Edition can use GPT disks for data only.
- Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012 all these operating systems can use GPT disk partition to read and write the data but the Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.
Conclusion
So if you want to use a larger hard drive then go for the GPT formatted partition with multiple partitions.But if you want compatibility with older hardware the MBR is the only option yet.
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