How to Convert GPT to MBR or Convert MBR to GPT Disk?

About MBR and GPT Disk

MBR - Master Boot Record: it is a guide sector in the very front of drive. It was named in 1983 when partition the hard disk or flash disk of IBM compatible personal computer. At that time, PC DOS 2.0 was able to support hard disk. MBR describes the information of logical, including file system and organization type. Besides, MBR also contains the executable code produced when computer loads operating system in the second stage of start or the boot record connecting every partition (VBR). Such MBR is usually called boot routine.

Note: MBR cannot exist in a media which cannot be partitioned, such as soft disk.

Why Do You Need to Convert MBR/GPT Disk?

As mentioned above, MBR disks only support up to 2TB partition size, so if you have a disk which is MBR formatted and larger than 2TB, you could only use 2TB disk size among it, but the rest of it could not be used. Converting MBR disk to GPT disk is considerable necessary to make full use of the disk space.

On the other hand, since Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 32-bit, or Windows XP 32-bit version does not support GPT partitions. A GPT disk will display as GPT protective partition in these systems, thus you could not access the data until you convert it back to MBR disk. In such situation, you have nothing to do but to convert your GPT disk to MBR one. But note if you want to convert any larger than 2TB GPT disk back to MBR disk, you'd better ensure that the data does not account for space more than 2TB. Otherwise, the overloaded data will get lost. However, if you really want to convert your GPT drive, on which there are more than 2TB data, into MBR disk, you can transfer the extra data to other place before you start to convert.

How to do the conversion between GPT and MBR disks?

Download AOMEI Partition Assistant first, you can use the software: AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition or Server Edition to realize this conversion.

Step1: Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Select the data disk you want to convert and right click it. And then select "Convert to GPT Disk" (or Convert to MBR Disk) in the drop-down menu.

Step2: Click "OK" after confirming the operation.

Step3: You can preview the conversion. To save the change, please click "Apply" on the toolbar.