Managing Disks
Partition Styles
GUID Partition Table (GPT)
- Intel created a new standard in the 1990s
to replace the traditional BIOS with a new standard called Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI).
Intel still holds the copyright on it but has given the specification to a trade organization to
develop and promote as the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).
- The GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a replacement for MBR specifications. Partitions of a GPT disk are each identified with a unique coded label called a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).
- One of the primary advantages to using the GPT
partition style instead of MBR is that it supports drives larger than 2 TB. However, the GPT
partition style is restricted to certain computer configurations.
- Only computers designed with EFI/UEFI (Extensible Firmware Interface/Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) firmware running the 64-bit Editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 can boot from a disk drive that is using the GPT partition style.