With UEFI largely replacing the BIOS in recent years, more and more users are changing their partition style from MBR to GPT. The latter, of course, is the newer standard that comes with a host of advantages over the old technology, including faster boot speed, better OS compatibility (GPT supports most operating systems including Windows Server and macOS), improved data protection, and more. Today we will show you how to convert MBR to GPT in Windows 10 to take advantage of everything modern hardware has to offer.
Convert MBR to GPT
While Windows offers a native solution to switch between MBR and GPT, you have to delete all the data on the disk to be able to use it. Fortunately, we have ways to do this without losing data, and today I’m going to show you exactly how. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how to convert the partition style on your PC from MBR to GPT. But before that, we’ll also take a look at what MBR and GPT are and how they affect the way you use your computer.
What are GPT and MBR?
MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) are two different partition styles for hard drives, and both are commonly used for partition management on Windows computers. The latter is a relatively new technology and is gradually replacing the old one because faster, safer and can locally address larger storage disks. MBR disks use the standard BIOS partition table, while GPT disks use UEFI.
How Is GPT Better Than MBR?
An important advantage of GPT disks is, you can have more than four partitions on each disk. It is also a prerequisite for large disks, as MBR only supports disks up to two terabytes (2 TB) in capacity, GPT can theoretically handle up to a maximum of 18EB (Exabytes). Moreover, you are only allowed to create up to 4 primary partitions on MBR disks, while you can create up to 128 primary partitions on GPT disk.
Another thing in favor of GPT is that it stores multiple copies of data on disk, making it a more robust solution in terms of data backup. In contrast, MBR disks store partition and boot data in one place, making them more vulnerable to being overwritten or corrupted. However, one thing to note is this: GPT disks do not support legacy BIOS firmwareso you will need to convert the partition style from GPT to MBR before using it as a system disk on older computers.
Things to Remember When Converting from MBR to GPT or Versa Versa
If you want to convert the boot disk on your computer from MBR to GPT, make sure your motherboard supports UEFI. For that reason motherboards with legacy BIOS do not support GPT partition as the boot drive.
Another important thing to note is that while there are multiple free and paid utilities to help you convert from MBR to GPT, most of the free methods for converting between the two formats will result in data loss. However, there are a way or two to do this for free without losing data, and today we’re going to show you exactly how to do it.
Method 1: Convert MBR to GPT Using Disk Management (Data Loss)
Note: Backup all your data before using this method.
- Search for ‘This PC’ in the Windows search bar. Now right click on the result and select ‘Manage’.
- Now click ‘Disk Management’ to list all available disks.
- Right click on each partition of the target disk and select ‘Delete Volume’ to clean the disk.
- Finally, right-click on the target disk and select ‘Convert to GPT Disk’. Confirm if prompted.
Method 2: Convert MBR to GPT Using DiskPart (Data Loss)
Note: Backup all your data before using this method.
- Open Command Prompt as administrator. (Search for ‘cmd’ in the windows search bar and select ‘Run as Administrator’ under Command Prompt).
- Type ‘diskpart’ (without the quotes) in the command prompt window and press Enter. Next, type ‘list disk’ and press Enter.
From the disks listed by the utility, select the disk you want to convert using the ‘select disk X’ command; where ‘X’ is the number assigned to the disk you want to convert. Now delete all data on the disk you selected by running the ‘clean’ command. You will get a message saying “DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk”.
- Finally, type ‘convert GPT’ and hit Enter. Wait a few seconds for the command to execute. You will have successfully converted the disk from MBR to GPT.
Note: Running the clean command deletes all partitions or volumes on the disk..
Method 3: Convert MBR to GPT Using Gptgen Without Data Loss
- First, download and install a utility called ‘gptgn’ (Free). Remember installation directory.
- Now open Command Prompt in Administrator mode and Type the path to your Gptgn installation using the syntax seen below. in my case, “C:\Users\
\Desktop\Stuff\File\gptgen-1.1″ so i will write “cd c:\Users\\Desktop\Stuff\File\gptgen-1.1” (without quotes). Note that the drive letter will depend on your installation directory.
- Run the ‘list disk’ command as described earlier. To convert your target disk’s partition table from MBR to GPT, type the command: ‘gptgen.exe -w \\.\\physicaldriveX‘ (without the quotes) and press Enter (note that the ‘X’ indicates the disk you want to convert).
- Once the command is executed, you will successfully convert MBR to GPT without data loss. You might get a warning saying there is no guarantee of a successful conversion, but choose the option to continue anyway.
Other Methods to Convert MBR to GPT Without Data Loss
If the above operations seem too cumbersome, you can use other more user-friendly ways to convert your disks from MBR to GPT. All major disk partitioning software including Easus Partition Master, AOMEI Partition Assistant, MiniTool Partition Wizard and others offer the ability to convert MBR to GPT without losing data, not with the free version. So, if you’re willing to pay, it might be the easiest way to switch between the two with no data loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How Do I Convert MBR to GPT Using Rufus?
Rufus, USB keys/pen drives, memory sticks etc. It is a software that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives such as You can also use it to assign a partition style during the setup process.
Q. How can I boot into UEFI mode?
After Windows is loaded, the device will automatically boot using the mode in which it was installed. Microsoft recommends users install Windows 10 using UEFI mode unless you’re booting from a network that only supports BIOS. In this case, you need to boot into legacy BIOS mode.
Q. Is NTFS MBR or GPT?
Comparing NTFS and GPT is like comparing apples and elephants. GPT is a partition table layout whereas NTFS is a file system. The first defines the partition style on a hard drive, while the second is formatting so that an operating system can be installed. Examples of the first include GPT and MBR, while the second includes NTFS, FAT32, EXT4, etc. Includes. Compatible with UEFI and GPT extension as well as NFTS partition.
Q. Is GPT or MBR Better?
As we discussed earlier, GPT is the newer standard that comes with a number of advantages over older technology, including faster boot speed, better OS compatibility, improved data protection, and more. However, it’s only available with UEFI, so you’ll still need to use MBR on older systems.
Q. Can Windows 10 be Installed on MBR Partition?
Yes, it can. However, MBR comes with some structural shortcomings that you should remember before installing Windows 10 on an MBR disk. We have discussed these in detail earlier in this article.
Q. Will Converting to GPT Wipe Data?
There are both lossy and lossless ways to switch between two file systems, and we’ve discussed both in this tutorial.
Q. How to Convert C: Drive to GPT?
To convert your computer’s current boot drive from MBR to GPT, you need to use one of the lossless methods. You can use third-party utilities like GTPGN or the paid version of commercial programs like Easus Partion Master.
Q. How Do I Know if a Partition is GPT or MBR?
To check which partition table your disk is using, go to Disk Management as described in the tutorial. Now find the disk you want to check, right click on it and select ‘Properties’. Next, select the ‘Volumes’ tab and you will see ‘Master Boot Record (MBR)’ or ‘GUID Partition Table (GPT)’.
Q. Does My Laptop Support GPT?
As stated earlier, whether your device supports GPT or MBR depends on running UEFI or legacy BIOS. To check what type of motherboard firmware your PC is using, follow the instructions in our detailed article on this topic.
Q. How Do I GPT My SSD?
You can follow the methods described in the tutorial above to convert your SSD partition scheme to GPT. They work for both SSDs and mechanical hard drives.
Q. Can You Use GPT Without UEFI?
No, you can’t. GPT was introduced as part of the UEFI initiative. So to use it, the motherboard must support UEFI. If your motherboard does not support UEFI, you cannot use the GPT partition style on the hard disk.
Q. How Do I Get Rid of a GPT Partition?
You can convert GPT partitions to MBR just like you convert MBR to GPT. You can change the partition style as long as the disk is empty and contains no volumes. Before converting, back up all data on it and close any programs accessing the disk.
Convert MBR to GPT Without Data Loss
All three methods detailed above will help you convert your disk from MBR to GPT, while the third will do it for free and without any data loss. So, if you are looking for ways to hide your storage disks from MBR to GPT, try one of the above methods and let us know how that goes.
