What are MBR and GPT hard drives? What is the difference between them?

When using hard drives, we often come across two popular formats: MBT and GPT. So what are these two standards? How are they different? How to distinguish them? Let's find out with HACOM through this article!

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What are MBR and GPT standard hard drives?

MBR

MBR – Abbreviation for Master Boot Record (roughly translated as boot management record) is a standard for managing distributed information that was born in 1983 at the same time as IBM PS DOS 2.0. But until now it is still widely used. MBR can support hard drives with a maximum capacity of 2 TB (2000 GB) and can support up to 4 partitions on the drive.

GPT

GPT stands for GUID Partition Table. This is a new standard, gradually replacing the MBR standard.

GPT is linked to UEFI, which is replacing the aging BIOS on many new motherboards. It's called a GUID Partition Table because every partition on your drive has a 'globally unique identifier' (GUID). GPT doesn't have the limitations of MBR, it can support drives up to 256TB and allows for up to 128 partitions on a drive.

How are they different?

Should I use MBR or GPT standard?

After learning about the two hard drive standards MBR and GPT, many people wonder whether to use MBR or GPT hard drive on their computer. Depending on the case and usage needs, we can flexibly switch and use differently. Here are some suggestions:

Use MBR hard drive standard when:

1. Hard drive capacity is less than 2 TB. If the hard drive has a larger capacity, you can still use the MBR partition standard but must use additional 3rd party software to support it, such as GParted on Linux, or MBR4TB on Windows.
2. There is no need to create too many partitions (split drives).
3. Your computer is running 32-bit Windows operating system.

Use GPT standard hard drive when:

1. Your hard drive is larger than 4TB.
2. The computer boots in UEFI standard, installing Windows on a GPT hard drive is suitable.
3. Use only 64-bit versions of Windows.

Depending on your computer's characteristics, you can choose between MBR or GPT.

If your computer uses  Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 64bit version  and  uses UEFI standard,  you should  choose GPT standard  for hard drive.

If your computer is an old computer, it  is more reasonable  to use MBR .

How to identify which hard drive is MBR standard, which is GPT

- Step 1 : Press the Windows + R key combination  to open the Run  dialog box   , then  type diskpart  and  select OK  to access.

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- Step 2 : Diskpart interface appears  . Here you  enter list disk  and  press Enter .

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- Step 3 : Pay attention to  the Gpt column,  if the hard drive name in the GPT column  has an *  , then that hard drive  follows the GPT standard .

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If  the GPT column does not have an *  , it is  MBR standard.

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Kareem Winters

Update 16 January 2025