Nowadays most laptops and computers are sold with Windows 8 preinstalled. But not all users like it. Many people uninstall the new operating system and install the familiar Windows 7 instead.

However, during the installation process, the following message appears: “Installing Windows on this disc impossible. The selected disk has a GPT partition style. "

The thing is that new computers have hard drives with a GPT partition table instead of the usual MBR. it new standard developed by Intel, which is part of the UEFI BIOSa. Unlike the MBR table, which supported drives with a maximum capacity of 2 TB, the GPT partition table supports much larger hard drives.

But, despite all the advantages, sometimes you need to install the operating system on a disk with the MBR partition table. Let's see how you can transform HDD from GPT to MBR.

During Windows installation

Delete all sections

ATTENTION!!! All information stored on the hard drive will be deleted.

During the installation of the operating system, in the window where you need to select the partition for installation, click on the button "Disk setup"... Then delete everything and recreate them. If the volume of your hard drive is less than 2.2 TB, then new disc will be created with the MBR partition table.

Converting via the command line

This method also implies complete deletion of data from all partitions. That is, if you had partitions C :, D :, E :, then the information will be deleted not only from C: on which the system was installed, but also from D: and from E :.

In the window where you need to select the partition for installing the operating system, press Shift + F10.

A command prompt window will open. We will convert GPT to MBR using special utility built into Windows. Enter the command diskpart and press "Enter".

The list disk command will open a list in which you can select the one you want. Please note that if the disk contains the GPT partition table, there will be "*" in front of it.

The select disk 0 command will allow you to select desired disk... Here, instead of "0", there should be the number of your hard drive, which was determined by the previous command - it can be 0, or 1, or 2, depending on how many of them are installed on the computer.

The clean command will completely clean it up - remove all sections and information from them.

The convert mbr command converts hard to MBR.

Enter exit once to exit console utility DiskPart, and exit again to close the command prompt.

Now on the hard partition table MBR, you can proceed with the installation of the operating system.

Conversion without data loss

If you do not want to lose the information that is on the hard drive, but convert it to MBR as needed, then we will use the Paragon Hard Disk Manager program. You can download it from the official website. The only thing is that this program is paid. Of course, there is a Demo version, but the GPT to MBR converter is not active in it. Therefore, you only need to install the full version.

We run the program on a computer with using Live CD or bootable USB stick. Then select the hard one to be converted with the mouse. Here you can also see which partition table is on it.

If such a list does not open for you, find the item in the program window "List of disks and partitions" and click on the black small arrow opposite it.

Click on the desired right click mouse and select the item "Convert basic GPT to basic MBR disk".

In the next window, click on the button "Convert".

To apply the changes, click on the green checkmark in the upper left corner.

A confirmation window will pop up, click "Yes".

After the process is complete, click "Close".

Now the name will change in the list - "Basic MBR hard drive".

We open the disk through the explorer and see that all the files have remained in place.

Convert on a computer with two hard drives

Consider this option as well. The computer has two hard drives, divided into partitions. Your main OS is on the first, on the second you want to install a new system. In this case, you can convert GPT to MBR using Windows itself, or using Paragon Hard Disk Manager.

With the removal of information

Let's consider the first option. In this case, the information from the selected hard disk will be deleted. To do this, go to "Disk Management": press the combination Win + R and in the "Open" field type diskmgmt.msc, click "OK".

The window we need will open. I have only one hard drive installed. You will have "Disk 0" and "Disk 1". Select the one on which you are going to install the new OS. Now right-click on any partition and select "Delete volume" from the context menu. Repeat this for everyone else on this hard drive.

Now right-click on the hardest one and select "Convert to MBR Disk"(you will have it).

After that, the partition table will be MBR. You can partition the disk into the necessary partitions.

With the preservation of information

The second option is to use the Paragon Hard Disk Manager program. Run it on a computer with a working operating system. All information will be saved. Then select the hard one that you want to convert, the main thing is not the one on which the working OS is installed, and repeat all the steps with the program that were described in the paragraph above.

As you can see, there are different ways to convert a disk with a GPT partition table to MBR. You can convert the disk to MBR when installing the operating system, or use Paragon Hard Disk Manager and save all the data.

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Hello friends, today's article will be devoted to converting hard disk... I wrote an article about what. The solution to the problem turned out to be quite simple, it was necessary to convert the GPT to MBR. We did it using the utility dispart, unfortunately, the disadvantage of this method is that the data on all partitions is completely destroyed. Recently I got this question, but how to convert GPT to MBR without data loss? Today we will deal with this.

As it turned out, this transformation can be carried out, but only with the help of third-party software. In this case, we need to use software Paragon Hard Disk Manager... I want to say that the program works only in the environment of operating systems, therefore, I do not advise you to remove the OS by formatting the partition with the system. First, do the conversion of the disk, and then perform the operations you want, what you want.

You can download this program from the official website. It is paid, but there is also a trial version, which is enough for us. In order to download the program, you need to register, the download link will come to your mail. Install the program and run it.

The following window opens to our eyes:

In this window, we see all connected disks that have been converted to GPT and MBR. As a test disk, I took a regular USB flash drive converted to GPT. I'll show you how to convert it to MBR. This can be done with any hard drive.

So, there are files on this disk (flash drive), after conversion they will remain.

To perform this operation, you need to right-click on the disk. It is the disk, not the partition. A context window will pop up, in which we select "Convert Basic GPT to Basic MBR".

A window will appear in which you need to click the button "Convert".

Once you've done that, the changes need to be applied. To do this, at the top of the program window, click the button Apply.

That's all. We have converted a flash drive, but this can be done with a hard drive. The files that were on the flash drive remained intact.

In this tutorial, I will show you how you can convert GPT disk to MBR without data loss. Most often, this may be needed if you decided to reinstall Windows, but when you tried to start the installation instead of starting the installation of the system, you received a notification stating "That it will not work to install Windows on this disk as the disk has GPT partition style."

In principle, I have already published the instruction on how to convert a disk from GPT to MBR on our website, it is located here. I will not tell you separately what GPT and MBR are, you can read it in the same instructions, the link to which I left above.

In the previous tutorial, I gave an example of converting from complete removal and storing data on the hard disk. So, the way to convert a GPT disk with data saving to Paragon seemed to me somewhat outdated and I decided to update this information.

Well, the update will consist in the fact that I will show you a few more options for converting a disk from GPT to MBR without losing data, which I myself use.

Convert the style of disk partitions from GPT - MBR to MiniTool Partition Wizard

There are a lot of programs that can work with hard drives, including converting their partition table. In principle, in fact, they are all the same and know how to perform all the tasks you need, they probably differ only appearance interface and that some of them are freely available, while others are paid.

Today my favorite program for converting disks from GPT to MBR and vice versa is MiniTool Partition Wizard. I like it for its simplicity, convenience and quality of performance of the assigned tasks, and the most important thing is that you can download it absolutely free.

This program distributed in two versions, to work in the usual Windows interface and a bootable image that can be written to a USB flash drive, like a LiveCD. In this case, to convert a disk from GPT to MBR without losing data, we will use the bootable version, which you can download from this link.

In the meantime, the program is swinging, start copying the necessary information from the system drive "C: \" to the drive "D: \".

Convert GPT disk to MBR in Acronis Disk Director

In the second method, we will use an acronym. I chose it not because I feel some incredible sympathy for it, no, most likely because you can find it on almost every LuveCD disc.

You can download it without any problems on the Internet by specifying in search query like "download boot disk with Acronis Disk Director ”or simply“ Boot CD Acronis Disk Direcror ”. In general, we load ISO image we write it to a USB flash drive, restart the computer and boot from the drive.

Don't forget to move the data you want from drive "C" to drive "D".

In the boot menu, select the version of the program we need, for me it looks like this.

In general, in order for us to be able to convert GPT to MBR or vice versa, we will have to delete the reserved partition (which is 100 Mb) and the system partition, that is, drive C.

To do this, select the partition and click on the "Delete volume" button, we do the same with the "C" drive.

Now we press " Apply expected operations"And wait for the utility to finally get rid of the volumes you selected.

We return directly to the transformation. So, right-click on the disk to open context menu and choose "".

After we have chosen the conversion, we confirm the execution and click "Continue" in the window that appears.

After a few moments, you will receive a full-fledged disk on which you can install anything.

However, my favorite way of converting GPT to MBR is the usual command line conversion. Dropped required files on a USB flash drive, quickly converted and installed, the same. In general, as for me, much less time is spent on it.

If you are used to acting the old fashioned way, i.e. good old BIOS plus a regular hard drive with an MBR table, then when installing operating Windows systems 8 and Windows 8.1 on modern computer with UEFI BIOS, you may encounter an error: “Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk contains an mbr-partition table. On EFI systems, windows can only be installed to a GPT disk. "
There are two ways to solve this difficulty.

First- switch UEFI to Leagcy Mode. But this is not the best way out due to the fact that the UEFI system is more productive and perfect. In addition, now there are disks with a capacity of 3-4 TB, and MBR does not know how to work with partitions larger than 2TB. By the way, if you have a regular BIOS, you won't be able to install Windows on a GPT disk at all.
Second- convert the partition table from MBR to GPT and install the system already on it. This is a more correct way out, because that is why we will now consider it. In principle, we do not need any additional tools - everything is on installation disk... The instructions below are relevant for both Windows 8 and Windows 10. The only note - you need a bootable USB flash drive for UEFI.
Insert the bootable USB stick into the socket, boot up and start installing the system. In principle, all actions are performed as usual until the moment you come to select the partition for installing the system, where the error "Installing windows on this disk is not possible" is displayed.
Now, to change MBR to GPT, you need to start converting. To do this, using the Shift + F10 buttons (on laptops, sometimes you need to press also function key Fn, i.e. Fn + Shift + F10) launch the command line. In it you need to type the command diskpart to call the built-in utility for working with disks and partitions.

Recruiting a team list disk to view available disks:

Select the disk that will be converted using the command select disk... In my case, it is Disk0, so the command will look like this:

We clear it using the directive Clean:

To convert the partition table from MBR to GPT, we type the command convert gpt:

If the conversion is completed successfully and the disk has been converted, close the Diskpart utility with the command Exit:

Push the button Refresh and continue installing the system further. Separately, I would like to note that using Diskpart you can repartition the entire hard disk, but most often it is easier and much more convenient to do this using the graphical menu of the Windows installer.

Who else does not know what is the difference between GPT and MBR, I recommend reading this. Modern versions of Windows and others OS can be used as. Here's how to find out which of these standards is used on your computer and change one of them to another.

It's simple different ways storing the partition table on the hard disk. GPT is a more recent standard required to boot Windows systems into. The MBR, in turn, is required to boot older Windows systems in BIOS mode, although 64-bit Windows version 7 can boot in UEFI mode too.

How to check which partition table your disk is using

If you want to know which partition table a disk is using, you have two options: you can use the Windows built-in graphical Disk Management utility or the command line.

First option: Use a disk management tool

This information can be viewed in the Disk Management tool included with Windows. To access it, right-click on the Start menu or use the Windows key + X keyboard shortcut and select Disk Management. Alternatively, you can press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type “diskmgmt.msc” in the text box, and press Enter.

Find the drive you want to check in the Disk Management window. Right-click on it and select Properties.

Go to the "Volumes" tab. In the "Section Style" line, you will see either " Master Boot Record (MBR)" or " GUID Partition Table (GPT)", Depending on what your disk is using.

Second option:

You can also use the standard diskpart command from a command prompt window. First, launch Command Prompt as Administrator by right-clicking on the Start button or by pressing the Windows + X keyboard shortcut and selecting Command Prompt (Administrator). In addition, you can find the command line icon in the Start menu, right-click on it and select "Run as administrator".

Enter the following two commands, pressing Enter after each one:

diskpart

list disk

You will see a table listing the connected drives. If the disk uses GPT, there will be an asterisk (* symbol) in the “Gpt” column. If the MBR standard is selected, the Gpt column will be empty.

For example, in the screenshot below, Disk 0 and Disk 1 are using GPT, and Disk 2 is an MBR disk.

How to Convert Between MBR and GPT: Back Up Your Data and Format Your Disk

Before upgrading from MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR, you need to clean up your disk. First, do backups all the data stored on it. During disk conversion, all data and partition tables will be erased, and then the new partition scheme will be applied to the disk.

Technically, this is not the only way to convert. Some third party programs Partition Management promises you to perform MBR to GPT and GPT to MBR conversion without data loss. However, they are not supported by Microsoft, and you should still back up your data just in case before using such utilities.

We recommend simply backing up your entire drive, formatting it, and then copying important data back. Of course, this will take some time, but you are guaranteed to save your information and be able to avoid problems with partitions.

Option one: Use disk management

Do not forget make backups of your files before proceeding! This process will clean up the drive that you will be converting!

To convert one partition table standard to another, locate the drive in the Disk Management utility. Right-click on any of its sections and select "Delete Volume" or "Delete Partition". Repeat this operation for each partition on the given disk.

When all partitions are removed, right-click on it and select "Convert to GPT Disk" or "Convert to MBR Disk". These options will become available only after clearing all partitions.

When the conversion is complete, you can create new partitions on the disk directly from the Disk Management window. Just right click on the unallocated space and create one or two partitions. Then you can transfer your data to one of these sections if you want.

Option two: Use the Diskpart command

All of this can also be done using the diskpart command in the Command Prompt window. In some cases, this way will be preferred as the clean command allows you to modify partitions and disks that appear to be locked in the Disk Management GUI.

Remember what you need make backups of data before proceeding with disk conversion! During the conversion process, the disk will be completely erased!

First, run Command Prompt as administrator. Then run the following commands one after the other:

diskpart

list disk

You will see a list of your computer's drives. Remember the number of the disc you want to convert. You can distinguish one disk from another by their size.

Now, enter the following commands, hitting Enter after each one and replacing "#" with the drive number you want to convert. The "clean" command will erase all data and partition records from the disk, so be sure not to be mistaken with the disk number.

select disk #

clean

To convert a disk from MBR to GPT:

convert gpt

To convert a disk from GPT to MBR:

That's all. Now you can use the disk management window to create partitions. The same can be done in command line using other diskpart commands. If desired, you can transfer the previously saved data to new partitions.

As we mentioned, there are ways to convert MBR to GPT and vice versa without data loss. At least in theory. But we cannot confirm the reliability of these third party tools in every possible situation. So, you'd better use the official methods, which include disk cleanup. You will spend more time, but you will guarantee the safety of your data.