GPT or MBR for Windows?

[Robert Heller]

At Tue, 20 Feb 2024 15:01:47 -0800 Nicholas Saunders <saunders.nicholas at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> I'm just getting a spare hdd for installing...wait for it...Windows!
> 
> So far in my adventures I've discovered that an ISO in Linux is different
> from an ISO for Windows, and now am getting deeper into UEFI.
> 
> Now, for installing with UEFI, that cannot be with MBR?  Or, must be with
> MBR?  I'll have to format the hard drive, of course.  Downloading Ubuntu
> ISO so that I can format the hdd so that I can use the Windows ISO to
> install Windows.

The choice of MBR vs. GPT is a function of disk size. MBR has a hard limit 
(somewhere between 500GB and 2TB -- I don't know the exact limit). Disks 
bigger than the limit cannot be fully used with a MBR partition table.

Modern PC firmware (BIOS/UEFI) and modern O/S's will work equally well with
either GPT or MBR. The only issue is raw disk size. I think for really "small"
"disks" (eg uSDs, thumb drives, and such MBR might have less "overhead" and
thus "waste" less disk space), but for large disks GPT would be a must.

I don't know about current MS-Windows versions, but way back in the old days, 
MS-Windows could only be installed on the very first partition of the very 
first disk. This was the case the last time *I* had anything to do with 
installing MS-Windows -- MS-Windows NT (I think). 

> 
> 
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Nick
> 

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