This article introduces what Gptgen is in Windows 10, as well as how to use it to convert MBR disk to GPT disk without losing data step by step.
MBR and GPT are two different partition tables of disks. Compared with MBR, GPT has many advantages, and you may think it is necessary to convert MBR to GPT in the following situations.
1. MBR disk supports 4 primary partitions at most. If you need more partitions on an MBR disk, you can only change one primary partition to an extended partition, which allows you to create more logical partitions on the hard drive. While GPT disk allows you to create up to 128 primary partitions.
2. MBR disk supports disk capacity up to 2TB, while GPT disk breaks out this limitation. If your 3TB hard drive only shows 2TB in Windows Disk Management, you may need to convert to GPT to use the hard drive fully.
3. "Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table.” error appears when you install Windows OS on a hard drive. Because Windows can only be installed on GPT disks on EFI systems. If you meet this problem, you can convert the disk from MBR to GPT first, and then, install Windows OS.
To directly upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, both a GPT system disk and a UEFI boot mode are required, so, there will be more users who want to convert MBR to GPT. If you don't want to lose all data on the disk during the conversion, using Gptgen in Windows 10/8/7 to convert MBR disk to GPT disk should be a good method.
Gptgen is a simple command line tool for converting hard drives from the “MBR” partitioning scheme to the GPT (GUID partition table) partitioning scheme while keeping all data on the hard disk.
As mentioned, in those specific situations, you need to convert MBR partition table to GPT via Gptgen tool for the sake of data security. Here come the detailed steps to convert MBR to GPT without losing data on the disk via Gptgen. Step 1. Gptgen download link can be found by searching on the Internet. After you download it, please unpack it to any directory. Remember where you installed the Gptgen on. Here we installed on "c:\tools\gptgen-1.1". Then, run Gptgen on Windows 10 with the Administrator privileges.
Step 2. Then, run the command diskpart, under diskpart, and type list disk to display all disks in the system.
Here you can see that the Disk 0 is an MBR disk (the GPT column is empty).
Step 3. Using Gptgen to convert the partition table of Disk 0 from MBR into GPT, type the syntax: gptgen.exe -w \\.\\physicaldrive0
While running this command, there appears a warning “ This tool cannot guarantee that such partitions will remain bootable after conversion.” and ask “Do you want to continue? [Y/N]”, type y and it will execute immediately.
Thus, converting MBR to GPT without data loss using Gptgen has been successful!
However, the Gptgen command line isn’t the simplest way, and it is difficult to operate for users who do not have enough computer knowledge. Since the operation is irreversible, it will cause data damage. Moreover, this program is unable to support dynamic disks and the last update of Gptgen could trace back to a few years ago.
Thus, here we highly recommend the easiest way to convert MBR to GPT instead of using Gptgen Windows 11/10/8/7.
The AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional should be the best alternative to Gptgen tool in Windows 10. It is a great partition manager that can help you to manage your hard drive partitions in the best status. For example, it can resize partition, create partition, delete partition, wipe hard drive, secure erase SSD, etc.
What’s more, it allows you to convert MBR to GPT with GUI (graphic user interface), which is relatively easier compared to command lines, and it supports all Windows operating systems including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. AOMEI Partition Assistant can help Windows 10 convert MBR to GPT without losing data no matter whether you are planning to convert the data disk or system disk.
Here is the guide for how to convert MBR to GPT disk using the Gptgen alternative - AOMEI Partition Assistant.
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, it will show you the main interface containing the basic situation of your disk(s). Select the MBR disk you need to convert, right-click it, and select Convert to GPT in the pop-up menu.
Step 2. It will confirm if you are sure to convert the MBR disk to a GPT disk. Click OK.
Step 3. You will go back to the main interface, and you can see that the disk has already changed into the GPT partition table, click Apply at the toolbar.
To convert MBR to GPT using Gptgen in Windows 10 is a good way for professional computer users. However, for novices, the command line might not be an ideal tool. Thus, you might as well try another better alternative, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a powerful and versatile software utility able to help convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR without any data loss within only a few clicks. If you are working with Windows Server OS, you can try its Server edition.