![]() ![]() Although GPT may be gradually replacing MBR because GPT has more advanced features, MBR is still necessary in some cases. MBR has been in use for a long time, it’s stable and still the most compatible. GPT is a newer and more advanced partitioning structure, and comes with many advantages as I will list below. We have already looked at the differences in the boot processes which you should keep in mind when partitioning a drive or deciding a partition structure. If you are interested in knowing more or are planning to setup your computer with a new operating system, then keep on reading. If you have ever tried installing a Windows 8 or 10 operating system on a new computer, chances are you have been asked whether you want to use MBR or GPT partition structure. Differences Between GPT and MBR Partition Structures The boot process happens very first depending on your hardware capabilities. However, in UEFI, there's no going through multiple bootloaders as seen in BIOS. You may have noticed that both UEFI-GPT and BIOS-MBR loads a bootloader without loading the operating system directly. A bootloader initializes a windows boot manager which then loads the Operating System.įor Linux based Operating Systems, there’s an EFI aware version of GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) that loads a file such as grub.efi or the EFI loader that loads a file such as elilo.efi. The system partition contains bootloaders for all Operating Systems installed on other partitions on the hard drive. GPT defines the partition table on a disk from which the EFI bootloader identifies the EFI system partition. GPT is located on a drive's first blocks, just after block 0 which still holds MBR for Legacy BIOS. GUID stands for Globally Unique IDentifier. UEFI then reads the GPT - GUID Partition Table. So, on powering on your computer, UEFI first performs the system configuration functions such as power management, setting dates and other system management components just as in BIOS. UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is more advanced than BIOS and can parse a file system and even load files on its own. ![]() GPT uses UEFI which avoids the MBR process of storing stage one bootloader which then loads stage 2 bootloader. ![]() Still on the boot process with a GPT partition structure, the following happens. The second stage bootloader loads operating systems on the hard drive and presents the user with the list of operating systems to boot. GRUB Stage 1 loads second stage bootloader known as GRUB Stage 2. Under GRUB, the stage one bootloader is called GRUB stage 1. The boot process is just similar to the one described above, the only difference being at the naming of stage 1 and stage 2 bootloaders. On Windows-NT derived systems such as Windows XP, the IPL first loads another program called NT Loader (abbreviated as NTLDR) which then loads the operating system.įor Linux based Operating Systems, a bootloader called GRUB is used. The Initial Program Loader comprises the second stage bootloader which then loads the operating. The VBR usually contains an Initial Program Loader (IPL) which is the code that initiates the boot process. Disk partition table (16 bytes per partition X 4 partitions) - MBR supports only 4 partitions, more information on this later.Īt this stage, the MBR scans the partition table and loads the Volume Boot Record (VBR) into RAM.It contains three items that have to fit into this space: The first disk block is the MBR, and it has a size of 512 bytes. Once BIOS has detected the boot device, it reads the first disk block of that device into memory. Detecting and initializing the video card.Before the BIOS can detect the boot device, it goes through a sequence of system configuration functions starting with: The bootloader firmware contains low-level functions such as reading from the keyboard, accessing video display, performing disk I/O and the code to load a first stage bootloader. Now, BIOS - Basic Input/Output System comprises the bootloader firmware. So if your system is using the MBR partition structure, the first execution process will load the BIOS. The code used during startup if a partition is bootable.īack to our boot process.The partition structure on a drive defines three things: ![]() We have two types of partition structures: MBR and GPT. This first execution depends on the partition structure of your hard disk. When you hit the power button of your PC, an execution begins that will eventually load the Operating System into memory. The following chapters highlight differences between GPT and MBR partition styles, include instructions on how to convert between the two styles, and offer advice on what to choose. First, we start by understanding the boot process. In this article, we will compare GPT and MBR partition structures GPT stands for GUID Partition Table, while MBR stands for Master Boot Record. ![]()
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