GPT

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In what situation would you want to set your HDD from MBR to GPT? I see that GPT can work with volumes larger than 2TB and support 128 partitions. We use Dell latitude laptops with 512GB SSD HDD with two partitions. We are going to set the BIOS to UEFI. Am I gaining anything using UEFI with GPT HDD or will I be fine using UEFI with MBR HDD?
Thanks,
Steven

Steven,

Great question! There are several benefits to using UEFI and GPT. One that you mentioned is with GPT you gain larger volumes, which is great in a world with 3,4,6,8 TB drive sizes. The second one you mentioned already as well, 128 partitions, which might be more than you need. However, there are other benefits to UEFI and GPT. Below are some additional examples:

1- GPT is redundant, unlike MBR

• When traditional BIOS finds the MBR to bootstrap the OS, BIOS stops regardless of the condition of the MBR. This means if the MBR is corrupted then boot fails

• GPT hand two tables, the secondary one being protected and will continue to bootstrap even if the primary is corrupted.

2- UEFI allows for protection of the bootloader through Secure Boot.

• Bootloader viruses, untrusted bootloaders and rootkits can be a pain with the traditional BIOS. With Secure Boot you have the option to protect the machine from these issues.

3- Fast Booting

• Improve boot performance

4-Better graphical interface

• This one only affects how pretty the UEFI interface is

These are a few of the additional benefits that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope this helps!

Thanks Wes!