GDP/gtp partition benifits vs mbr

[WINTERLORD]

ok I have a 2TB hard driver and I was wondering is there any advantage to partitioning it as a (I forget what its called gtp or gdp) partition rather then a regular MBR kind of partition?

only thing I know is windows says it cant install to a gdp partition wich would be ok cause I have other drives but was wondering if there is any benefit to having a gdp partition or should I just go ahead and format it as a mbr so I can use a dual boot on that drive from time to time

 

[ronintexas]

The only reason to use GPT is the capacity of a drive larger than 2TB requires it (your 2TB drive does not). Windows 8 is the first OS that can boot from a GPT partition - but it requires UEFI enabled to do so. See this webpage for "techie stuff": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

On virtually all of my computers, I have a primary OS drive (usually a SSD 128GB-256GB) that holds Windows and quite a few programs. I have a 128GB SSD that dual-boots 8.1 and 10 preview without an issue (not a ton of programs installed). I place 1TB - 4TB drives in the system for data, games, TV recordings, backups, etc. The backup drive is usually in another computer, and I use Syncback free to backup every night.

 

[spooky2th]

GTP partition is for HDD's larger than 2TB's. You need a UEFI BIOS to be able to install windows on a GTP formatted drive. Other wise use them for storage. It's an OS thing about the size is all as far as I know.

 

[Pinhedd]

ok I have a 2TB hard driver and I was wondering is there any advantage to partitioning it as a (I forget what its called gtp or gdp) partition rather then a regular MBR kind of partition?

only thing I know is windows says it cant install to a gdp partition wich would be ok cause I have other drives but was wondering if there is any benefit to having a gdp partition or should I just go ahead and format it as a mbr so I can use a dual boot on that drive from time to time

There are a couple of advantages to using GPT over MBR

1. GPT supports LBAs > 32 bits, up to 64 bits. This allows a drive to contain more than 2^32 addressable sectors, thus exceeding 2.2TB in capacity

2. GPT can contain up to 128 primary partitions. MS-DOS compatible MBRs contain only 4 primary partitions, one of which may be extended to create non-bootable partitions

3. GPT partitions can be named directly in the partition table, rather than requiring the filesystem to support a volume name

 

[WINTERLORD]

ok now my drive is a 4k cluster drive as well and I am wondering does keeping or making it a gdp drive does it at all boost the performance any?

 

[Pinhedd]

ok now my drive is a 4k cluster drive as well and I am wondering does keeping or making it a gdp drive does it at all boost the performance any?

The partitioning scheme does not affect performance in any way, ever.

I recommend using GPT simply because it's newer, nicer, and was designed in coordination with EFI.