If you use Windows, you may have heard the terms GPT or MBR at some point. Before doing a clean installation of any Windows, You must first discover whether your computer’s partition style is GPT or MBR. Today, I’ll show you how to check if your hard drive is MBR or GPT in Windows 11. The same techniques apply in Windows 10, so you may use them to see if your hard disc is GPT or MBR in Windows 10.
What are MBR and GPT?
Master Boot Record (MBR), Master Boot Sector (MBS), and Sector 0 are all acronyms for Master Boot Record. The MBR is the first sector on a computer hard drive that instructs the computer on how to load and partition the hard disc. The master boot code, the disc signature, and the disc component table are all required by the executable code for MBR. When a storage device is partitioned using the MBR partitioning method, the MBR includes the key sections entered in its partition table.
GPT stands for GUID Partition Table and was created as part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Initiative (UEFI). For the older Master Boot Record, GPT provides a more versatile partitioning technique than the common PCs (MBR). The storage device employing the GPT partition scheme, for example, can handle a hard drive larger than 2 TB (MBR only supports drives up to 2 TB), and GPT does not limit the size of the partition. Furthermore, the GPT drive boots from a UEFI-based device, whereas the old BIOS drive boots from a BIOS-based device.
In truth, there are several techniques to discover whether your PC’s hard disc is GPT or MBR. In this article, I’ll just show you three methods for determining whether your PC’s hard disc is GPT or not. So, let’s get this party started.
Method 1. Check if Your Hard Drive is MBR or GPT in Windows 11 Via Disk Management
The most common and widely used way is to use disc management in Windows 11. If you’re running Windows 7, you can also use it to see if your PC’s hard drive is GPT or MBR.
- So, the first step is to open Disk Management by right-clicking on the start menu and selecting disk management from the menu.
- When the disk management is opened, right-click on the disk and select Properties.
- In the Properties menu, select Volumes, and check your Hard Drive type next to Partition Style in Disk Information Category.
This is one of the simplest and trendiest methods available on Windows 11.
Method 2. Check if Your Hard Drive is GPT or MBR using the CMD
CMD and PowerShell, believe it or not, are two of the most powerful tools in the Windows operating system. To be completely honest, all you have to do is type a single command and the outcome will appear in front of you. Follow the steps below.
- Press Windows key + R on your keyboard to open Command Prompt.
- In the Run dialogue box, type Diskpart and then click Ok.
- Now, type list disk and press Enter.
- At the last, there is written if your Hard Drive is GPT or MBR.
Method 3. Check if Your Hard Drive is GPT or MBR using the Windows Settings
We’ve noticed that Microsoft is gradually shifting options from the control panel into the windows settings since the release of Windows 10 in 2015. Almost half of the options in Windows 11 have been moved from the control panel to the windows settings. Microsoft’s move toward a single settings panel is a positive thing. Because Microsoft has moved all of them into the Windows settings, we’ll need to find the identical process we did with disc management in the Windows settings as well.
Here are the steps to check your Hard Drive:
- Open the Settings.
- Go to the Storage settings in the System’s category.
- Click on Advanced storage settings.
- Here, select Disks and volumes.
- When the disk and volumes settings are opened, you have to click on your hard disk and then you will see the Properties there, then click on it.
- When the Properties of the disk is opened, you will see the partition style of your disk whether it is MBR or GPT.
Summary:
This was all about how to Check If Your Hard Drive is GPT or MBR in Windows 11 in many ways. Moreover, You must first discover whether your computer’s partition style is GPT or MBR before doing a clean installation. If you don’t know the partition style, you may have to wipe everything to install Windows if you don’t know the partition style. Please let us know in the comments section below if you have any suggestions or subjects you’d want us to cover in a future post.
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