How to View and Convert MBR to GPT on Windows 11 or 10?

Master Boot Record (MBR) disks use the standard BIOS partition table, whereas GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). One of the advantages of GPT disks is that you can have more than four partitions on each disk. Also, if your disks are larger than 2TB (TeraBytes), you need to use GPT because MBR only supports less than 2TB disks. Furthermore, an MBR drive can only have four primary partitions, whereas GPT drives can have up to 128 different partitions without using an extended partition.

Depending on your operating system and firmware, Windows uses either a Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT). Sometimes it’s necessary to switch between MBR and GPT, resulting in data loss. You can change a disk from MBR to GPT partition style as long as the disk contains no partitions or volumes.

Although GPT is suitable for dividing spaces into several partitions, not all versions of Windows can boot from a GPT partitioned drive, with many requiring a UEFI-based system.

• 64-bit Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and Vista require a UEFI-based system to boot from a GPT drive.
• 32-bit Windows 10, 8.1, and 8 require a UEFI-based system to boot from a GPT drive.
• 32-bit Windows 7 and Vista cannot boot from a GPT drive.
• All mentioned Windows versions could read and write to a GPT drive.

How to Identify whether your Disk is MBR or GPT?

Before making any changes to your HDDs or SSDs, you first need to know which partition table scheme you’re using. It’s pretty easy. Let me show you how.

Step 1. Open Disk Management tool.

Step 2. Right-click on disk in the left sidebar and select the Properties option.

Step 3. Switch to the Volumes tab.

Step 4. Besides the “Partition style,” you can see if your HDD or SSD uses GUID Partition Table (GPT) or Master Boot Record (MBR).

How to Convert MBR to GPT on Windows 11 or 10?

Ensure you have taken the backup of the disk you are going to convert from MBR to GPT. Because during the conversion process, it will erase all the data from the select disk.

To convert MBR to GPT on Windows 11 or 10, use these steps:-

Step 1. Open an elevated Command Prompt.

Step 2. Type the following and hit Enter on the keyboard:-

diskpart

Step 3. Next, type list disk and hit the Enter key on the keyboard to display all the disks hooked to the PC. If you see an asterisk ( * ) in the output column labeled Gpt, the disk is already GPT formatted. However, if you don’t find an asterisk ( * ) in the output column labeled Gpt, the disk is MBR formatted.

Step 4. Now, select a disk you want to convert into GPT format. To do that, use the following command and hit the Enter key on the keyboard:-

select disk #

Note: Please replace # with the disk number you want to select. For example, the following command will select the second disk:-

select disk 1

Step 5. Next, type clean and hit Enter key on the keyboard to erase all volume or partitions from the select disk. This will erase all data from the chosen disk.

Step 6. Finally, type convert gpt and hit Enter key on the keyboard to convert MBR to GPT.

How to Convert GPT to MBR on Windows 11 or 10?

Due to some reason, if you want to GPT to MBR on Windows 11 or 10 PCs, take the full backup of the disk before proceeding with the steps. Because during the conversion process, it will erase all the data from the select disk.

To convert GPT to MBR on Windows 11 or 10, use these steps:-

Step 1. Open an elevated Command Prompt.

Step 2. Type the following and hit Enter on the keyboard:-

diskpart

Step 3. Next, type list disk and hit the Enter key on the keyboard to display all the disks affixed to the PC. If you see an asterisk ( * ) in the output column labeled Gpt, the disk is already GPT formatted.

Step 4. Now, select a disk you want to convert into MBR format. To do that, use the following command and hit the Enter key on the keyboard:-

select disk #

Note: Please replace # with the disk number you want to select. For example, the following command will select the second disk:-

select disk 1

Step 5. Next, type clean and hit Enter key on the keyboard to erase all volume or partitions from the select disk. This will erase all data from the chosen disk.

Step 6. At last, type convert mbr and hit Enter key on the keyboard to convert GPT to MBR.