SATA to USB: Do they work for MBR and GPT HDD's?

[Mrcreosote]

I have a Seagate Backup Plus that has that docking base which contains the SATA to USB circuitry.

Since it is a 2TB drive, I'm assuming the HDD is MBR. (HDD was recognized by a garden variety SATA to USB kit - the type used to make a temporary connection with wires and adapters laid out on your table top.)

These docks are hard to find. But I found one for a 4TB drive which obviously is GPT.

QUESTION: Can is use the 4TB dock on my 2TB HDD?

NOTE: It seems that SATA to USB docks/converts/adapters come in two flavors: up to 2TB and above 2TB where the latter claim "for all drive sizes."

One would think that when they designed the GPT USB circuitry, they would have made it compatible for all SATA drives including much smaller MBR ones.

Of course that is not to say that Seagate designed their 4TB docks that way if they intended them to be dedicated to the drive it was shipped with. But what are the odds that someone would have designed a specialized "only GPT" USB conversion? That sounds way loser.

I'm going to call Seagate but expect them to say buy a new dock or another external drive.

Thanks

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

I assumed usb to sata interfaces designed for greater than 2TB also work for less than 2TB drives AND do not care if gpt or mbr partitioning used.

Often modern pc's and laptops use gpt partitions when it is not strictly necessary to do so with drives up to 2TB

It cant do any harm to put new hdd in existing docking base and see if you can partition it. If it does not show a full 4TB it is not compatible

Similar problems can occur on old pc's with sata interface on the motherboard.

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[Mrcreosote]

It's not quite that simple. This is a backup drive I need the information off of - so the HDD is old.

And I'd be buying the Seagate 4TB Dock hoping it would work.

Since the old HDD worked on a old SATA to USB termporary adapter, I'm guessing it is MBR. My concern is if I put it in a dock that does not recognize MBR (very unlikely), is there any risk of data loss?

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

The USB to SATA bridge (docks) do not know about MBR or GPT partitioning

They are reading a numbered sector of the hard disk as instructed by the operating system

The limit was the maximum number of sectors which could be addressed and if sector is 512 bytes (0.5K) or advanced format 4K (8x 512) or advanced format which can not emulate 512 sectors

regards
Mike Barnes

 

[Mrcreosote]

Interesting. Then I wonder why some USB to SATA are restricted to drives with a max limit of 2 TB?

 

[Mrcreosote]

Seagate said any of their HDD's will work with any of the docking bases.