• Mbr to guid without data loss. How to convert GPT disk to MBR without data loss

    For many users, converting GPT to MBR when installing Windows 7 is necessary procedure.

    IN lately it became not so easy to reinstall hard drive, as before.

    The fact is that simultaneously with the start of production, hard drives with new section style.

    The difficulty is that to install such a disk, the style must be converted to the usual MBR.

    This can be done quite simply in several ways.

    General information

    In fact, this conversion procedure can be useful in various situations. But – the most common and popular of them.

    Often, having purchased a laptop with a pre-installed G8, the user wants to exchange the updated and changed OS for the familiar G7.

    And he is faced with the fact that it is impossible to do this.

    How are these formats different?

    • MBR– standard and familiar format hard drive. All users worked with it until the operating system came out Windows system 8, which became fundamentally different. Therefore, previously there were no problems with reinstallation;
    • GPT– a fundamentally new and unusual format for placing partition tables on a hard drive. For the first time, discs of this style appeared during the transition to new type BIOS - UEFI. The format is used on relatively new operating systems - “eight”, “ten”. Therefore, reinstalling and replacing with an older OS can be difficult.

    The need for such a transformation arises at several stages of working with hard drive. But during reinstallation - most often.

    The GPT format is much preferable in work. If it is present, the operating system loads faster, external and internal storage even very large volumes. The system works faster. However, some users still need to convert the disk format. It should be taken into account that all the positive aspects of GPT will be lost.

    Problem

    What is the essence of the problem? On initial stages installation no differences from standard procedure the user does not detect.

    He inserts a disk into the drive or inserts a memory card, and boots from them. After this, the language selection menu appears, where you can also freely select the system language.

    The user then specifies the partition where he wants to install.

    The standard user reaction to such a notification is to delete partitions and format the disk. But these actions do not bring results.

    The essence of the problem

    Decide this problem There is only one way - converting the outdated format to a new one. This is not difficult to do. No additional software or special abilities are required. The only thing required for this is installation disk with a new operating system.

    Command line

    One of the most simple ways conversion. In order to carry it out, follow the following algorithm:

    1. Run the installer again;
    2. Insert the installation disc;
    3. Boot from it;
    4. Select the system language;
    5. When the window for selecting partitions for installing a new OS opens, hold down Shift and F10 at the same time (without selecting a partition);
    6. This action launches the command line;
    7. Enter the command diskpart, this utility helps to cope with many problems that arise during OS installation;
    8. Enter the command list disk, as a result of which a list of disks will open, each of which will be assigned a number;
    9. Remember the number of the disk you want to convert;
    10. Now enter the command into the command line select disk#, where # is the number of the hard drive (according to the list) that will be converted;
    11. The next step will delete all existing data on the hard drive - something to keep in mind!
    12. Type into the command line clean command, which will completely clear the specified disk of any information;
    13. You can save data from disk only to external storage, if they are moved, for example, to drive D, this will not bring results (they will still be deleted);
    14. Wait a while for the cleaning to complete and proceed directly to the conversion;
    15. Dial convert mbr on the command line;
    16. The process of converting the outdated format to the updated one will start;
    17. Wait for the notification that the process has completed (usually it appears almost instantly).

    As soon as this process was completed, the hard drive acquired its usual format. You need to exit the converter utility. To do this, type exit on the command line. It is not advisable to go out in another way, for example, by turning off the computer.

    After that, connect the installation disk again. Complete the installation as usual. Now there will be no problems at the partition selection stage.

    Working with the command line

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    No data loss

    In some cases, losing data stored on your hard drive is unacceptable. At the same time, transfer them to removable media, and then back to the computer - a long time.

    Sometimes data volumes do not allow this, or removable storage of a suitable size is not available at all.

    1. Buy boot Live disk CD|DVD. Carefully study its assembly, since for conversion to mandatory you will need the Paragon Hard Disk Manager utility. Not every disk assembly has it, but without it it is not possible to convert partition formats;
    2. Install on your computer boot disk or memory card. Download and run the system from it. Wait until the desktop appears in front of you;
    3. Standard way open the Start menu and find the section there HDD Utilities and USB. Click on it and select Paragon HDM 2010 Pro from the list;
    4. Launch the program;
    5. After launch, a program window will open, which will display all hard drives. Choose basic GPT and click on it once with the left key;
    6. Now click on the “Hard disk” button, which is located at the top, in the header of the program window;
    7. A small menu will open in which you need to select a section "Convert to MBR". Click on the command. After this, confirm the process by clicking on green tick in a pop-up window;
    8. A window with parameters and settings will open conversion. You cannot change anything in it (sometimes this option is present). Just click on the button "Convert" at the bottom of the window;
    9. The conversion process has now started. In the window that opens, you can monitor the progress of the process based on the filling of the gray bar green. The process is not as fast as in the first case. Typically, this type of conversion takes a few minutes.

    Good day everyone!

    It sometimes happens that when you try to install Windows OS on your computer, you may see an error like: "Windows cannot be installed on this disk because the disk uses an MBR partition table. On systems EFI Windows can only be installed on a GPT disk" . Or it is possible that your system simply does not see a disk larger than 2 TB.

    In these cases, you need to convert MBR to GPT partition table to fix this problem. This can be done in different ways and ways, in this article I will look at how this can be done no data loss (see method 1 and 2)!

    As a remark!

    Difference between MBR and GPT. MBR supports partitions up to 2 TB. If your disk is, say, 4 TB (which is no longer uncommon), then when using MBR- 2 TB on such a disk will be listed as unallocated area (and will not be used).

    How to convert MBR to GPT

    Method No. 1: step by step in the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition program

    AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition

    Excellent and free program to work with hard drives. Allows you to change literally in 2-3 clicks file system, partition sizes, clone, etc. Moreover, many operations are performed without loss of information (which is so lacking in the tools built into Windows).

    Addition (from 11/10/18): option for MBR conversion in GPT in the 7th version of the program it became paid (in the 6.6th version it was free, and it was on it that I relied when writing the article).

    I don’t consider downloading and installing the program - it’s standard. After launching, in the main window of the program you can immediately find out which of the available disks in the system are in GPT and which are in MBR (see screenshot below).

    As you noticed, "Disk 3" is MBR and I am converting it to GPT.

    To do this, just right-click on the disk itself. (where it is directly written that this is “Disk 3”, see screenshot below), and in the menu that appears select "Convert to GPT disk".

    After that, in the left corner of the screen you need to confirm all the commands that we gave to the program in the current session: click the “Apply” button.

    A reboot will be required to complete the current operation. Therefore, first of all, save all your open documents, and then click the “Go” button in the program window (see example below).

    The final touch: we agree to reboot...

    After rebooting the device, instead of Windows boot special will be launched. conversion utility (see example below). Literally within a few seconds, my 1 TB disk was converted to GPT (I note again: without data loss).

    That, in fact, is all the action.

    Addition!

    If you want to convert your system drive (that is, the drive on which you have Windows installed and from which you are at the moment loaded) - then you won’t succeed. In this case there are two options:

    1) remove the disk from the PC/laptop, connect it to another device and perform the conversion operation;

    2) create bootable USB flash drive(can be done in the same AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard), and after booting from it, carry out the operation.

    Make bootable CD, wizard

    Method No. 2: using the MiniTool Partition Wizard utility

    Multifunctional program for working with hard drives. Allows you to split, format, resize partitions hard drives. Free version The program supports conversion from MBR to GPT (which is what we need).

    Perhaps one of the significant disadvantages for the majority will be the lack of Russian language.

    Note: the screenshots in the article were made from version 10.3.

    After starting the program, you will see a list of all drives connected to the system (HDD, SSD, USB flash drives etc.). Please note that next to the disk name its partition table (MBR, GPT) is indicated.

    To convert from one to the other: just right-click on to the desired disk and in the menu select "Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk" (example in the screenshot below).

    Then another warning will pop up, after confirming the operation - the disk will be converted. If you are converting a non-system disk (that is, not the one on which you have Windows installed), then the operation takes 1-2 minutes. (see screenshot below).

    Method No. 3. From the command line or disk management

    Important! This method will delete all your data on the disk!

    If you encounter an error "IN EFI systems Windows can only be installed on a GPT disk" when installing Windows: then in order to open the command line, press the button combination Shift+F10.

    In other cases, to start command line, open task manager (key combination Ctrl+Shift+Esc) , press "file/new task" and enter the command CMD(check the box that the task must be completed as an administrator!).


    Windows also has another good tool for working with disks. That's exactly what it's called - disk management .

    To open it, you need:

    1. press a combination of buttons Win+R ;
    2. enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

    To find out what partition is on the disk (MBR or GPT), just right-click on the disk (in the place where it says “Disk 0”, “Disk 1”, etc., see the example below), and open properties .

    • "Partition table with GUID..." is GPT;
    • O MBR partitioning will be stated directly.

    For MBR conversions to GPT - you must first completely delete all partitions on the disk (important! when deleting a partition, you will lose all data on the disk!) . If the partitions are not deleted, then the “Convert to GPT” button will simply not be active (as in the screenshot below).

    That's all for me today.

    Even if you belong to the category of those users who prefer not to interfere in any processes, life itself may still force you to join the study of some technical issues. The fact is that manufacturers of computer equipment and components direct their actions towards constant improvement, so now it is not surprising to find hard drives, the total volume of which reaches completely unprecedented values.

    How to convert a GPT disk to MBR and vice versa

    In addition, the style of the hard drive partitions is also surprising. If previously it was possible to encounter only MBR, now many people purchase hard drives with the GPT style. Everything would be fine; one would not be able to recognize at all what each of these styles represents if they did not interfere with the performance of certain tasks.

    In particular, MBR-style hard drives are not welcome by owners of huge hard drives, since it will not be able to ensure optimal use of the entire disk space. This style involves dividing the disks into no more than four partitions, each of which should not exceed 2 TB.

    You probably already felt that an MBR style hard drive will be able to use about 8 TB, but unless you purchased a PC with a large number disk space, then the rest will not be easily used. Of course, this is wrong, so the manufacturer developed this new style. By the way, GPT allows you to split your hard drive into hundreds of partitions, which impresses many users.

    However, it is also difficult for many to agree to this style, since when trying to install the desired operating system, problems will arise. system error. The BIOS version that is installed on your PC can also prevent the introduction of a new style on the hard drive. Considering this, it is not at all surprising that many users are willing to find information on how to convert GPT to MBR, so as not to infringe on their interests when installing their preferred “seven”.

    Conversion methods

    There are several options that can be used to successfully convert a hard drive from GPT to MBR. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with all the options to figure out for yourself which method will be preferable. And also before choosing suitable option We recommend that you set priorities and decide how tragic the consequences of losing content stored on your PC will be for you. We offer you two options, one of which allows you to save everything that you previously placed on your hard drive, and the second, on the contrary, is accompanied by their irreversible destruction.

    No erasing files

    If you have set a goal for yourself that involves changing the style of the hard drive, and also be sure to ensure that all existing documents, video recordings, audio materials on your hard drive, you will have to use additional software. Excellent options for such programs are:

    • Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional;
    • AOMEI Partition Assistant.

    The program that is first on this short list is not a free product, so if it inspires confidence in you, you will have to fork out the cash to become its owner. To practice or practically evaluate the capabilities of the Paragon Hard Disk program, you can download a demo version.

    We invite you to familiarize yourself with the operating principles of this program. Open on your computer technology Disk Management option. In this window you can see how many partitions you have, as well as estimate their size.

    If not one hard drive is installed, but two at once, you will also immediately notice this from the open program window. By right-clicking on each one and going to the “Properties” line, it’s easy to once again make sure which style your hard drive supports.

    Now run the Paragon Hard Disk program, in the window that opens you will again be able to find all the disks that your computer is equipped with. The supported style will be indicated next to each one. Hover your mouse cursor over the disk with GPT style, right-click, calling additional menu With the necessary options. In it you will easily find such an option as “Convert basic GPT to basic MBR disk”, feel free to choose it. After this, a new window will appear on the screen, in which you will again need to click the “Convert” button, confirming your desire.

    This is not the end of your agreement; now in the main program window you need to click on the “Apply” button, and then once again confirm your consent to make such changes. Next, the program will perform all the actions itself, you just have to wait a little. After an entry appears on the screen confirming the completion of the process, you can check your disk to make sure that you managed to make it different, now accompanied by the MBR style.

    ADVICE. If you really want to make, on the contrary, a disk with the GPT style, this program can again act as an ideal assistant. To achieve what you want, you will have to convert your disk in the same way, only this time you will have to select the “Convert to GPT disk” option.

    With file deletions

    If you want to use the command line, which also allows you to make your disk with the style that you prefer, you must note that all content stored on the hard drive will be permanently deleted. Of course, taking this into account, you need to analyze what value the stored files represent to you, and if necessary, first transfer them to new drives.

    We initially write diskpart on the command line, then we recommend that you write the list disc command, which will allow you to display all available disks.

    At the end of the line followed by the disk, you may notice an asterisk or note its absence. It is this asterisk that indicates that a particular disk is accompanied by the GPT style. Opposite each disk there is a numerical indicator; find out which specific disk you would like to convert now. Only then enter the following command sel dis 1, specifying the correct numeric indicator.

    Next, to clean up this disk space, you will only need to enter the clean command. This completes the preparatory part, you can start converting by entering the convert mbr command. Finally, all that remains is to enter the traditional exit command.

    Now you can make sure that everything worked out perfectly for you, but only in this case will your disk sparkle with its “purity”, since during the process all information was deleted from it.

    So, the process of converting disk space from one style to another is quite doable and anyone can do it. To eliminate any worries, read the instructions, theoretically master the basics, and then proceed to their practical implementation.

    In order for programs to have access to disk space drive, it is not enough to simply physically connect it to the motherboard. Required condition is to preliminary perform the so-called breakdown and create a certain surface structure. There are currently two available standard(hereinafter we will talk about systems Windows family) - Master Boot Record (MBR, master boot record) and Extensible Firmware Interface (GPT, extensible firmware interface). Regardless of the name, they determine the method of data about the beginning and end of each section, service records, etc.

    Comparing “bosom enemies”

    The MBR standard has been used since the days of DOS, so it has been studied far and wide. Everyone can work with drives with a similar format. existing applications, that is, compatibility is 100%. The prerequisites for creating something new were some limitations inherent in MBR. In particular:

    It is possible to work with drives with a capacity of no more than 2 TB;

    When partitioning, you can create only 4 main/main partitions, and the rest of the space has to be given to extended and;

    Since information about partitions and the boot record are recorded in one place, in some cases they may be damaged and require restoration.

    All this was successfully overcome in GPT. In addition, the developers have provided a mechanism that allows you to easily convert GPT to MBR and vice versa. Theoretically, this problem can be solved in a couple of clicks of the manipulator. However, in practice there are a number of nuances that force you to carefully consider the feasibility this decision. Before you figure out how to convert MBR partition in GPT and vice versa, it is important to remember that for the latter partition table to work, support from other components is required computer system. So, instead of BIOS, a newer UEFI should be used (that is, only new motherboards are suitable), and the operating system simply must be able to work with such a breakdown. If we talk about the Windows family, then this is the 64-bit eighth version. Although previous Win 7 and Vista see such disks, we are not talking about full support.

    Need for transformation

    Each user has his own reasons that force him to convert the drive to one structure or another. The question “how to convert MBR to GPT” is most often of interest to curious users who, having read information about the supposedly increased performance of the new system, decide to do something similar. This is perhaps the most common reason.

    Well, those who are interested in how to convert GPT to MBR are, as a rule, owners of new laptops who have decided that their specific case such a forced transition is untimely. It is worth noting that it is not always possible to get by with little effort and convert a GPT disk to MBR while preserving all the data recorded on it. Therefore, before such an operation, all information of any value to the user must be copied to another intermediate medium.

    Installing the operating system

    If you try to install a 32-bit on a GPT partition, you will receive a message stating that such an operation is impossible. There is no way around this limitation. This means that the GPT disk must be converted to MBR. This problem can be solved in several ways. One of the simplest involves using the built-in capabilities of the Windows system itself.

    There are two options. The first is to convert a new drive at the stage of installing the operating system. To do this, during installation, on the partition selection screen, you need to press the combination Shift+F10 and type diskpart in the line that appears. Next, in order to convert a GPT disk to MBR, you should use the list disk command. A list of partitions and media is displayed. After carefully studying it, you need to specify select disk X (where X is the number in the list). After this, all that remains is to delete the partitions and recreate the structure, alternately using the clean and convert mbr commands. Actually, on new computers whose hard drives are not “cluttered” with information, it is very easy to get confused about how to convert GPT to MBR, since you can experiment with peace of mind: you won’t be able to “break” anything in this way.

    Built-in command line mechanism

    In some cases, it is necessary to perform a partial conversion of GPT partitions to MBR. For example, if several hard drives are simultaneously connected to the motherboard (laptop), one of which has an operating system installed and running Windows versions Vista-8.1, then the user has the opportunity to convert non-system disks to one or another structure.

    This method is ideal for those who are looking for an answer to the question “how to convert GPT to MBR”, having several hard drives on hand. This mechanism is analogous to the one you specified, with the only difference being that it requires a running operating system. That is why we emphasized that conversion is available only for those hard drives from which the operating system does not boot. So, on the desktop you need to press Win + R and type diskmgmt.msc in the line that appears on the screen. A utility will launch to manage all disks. Here, using the cursor, you need to select the desired partition on the drive and select “Delete volume” through the right-click menu. The operation must be performed for each letter. It is important not to make a mistake with the disk, so you need to check at least the capacity. Next, there is nothing complicated about how to convert GPT to MBR: you need to right-click on the selected hard drive in the list and select the appropriate command that converts to a disk with MBR partitioning.

    The nuances of using third-party programs

    Of course, converting GPT partitions to MBR is not limited to the above methods. There are much more flexible and convenient software tools. For example, the same Acronis DD, Paragon HDM, Minitool PW, etc. The peculiarity of working with them is the need to load the operating system from another hard drive, the so-called “Liv SD-DVD”, or a prepared flash drive that has the corresponding program. Since most often the need to convert basic GPT to MBR arises among owners of new laptops, Live DVDs are in demand. You must first download this on another computer ISO image from the Internet and burn it to a CD, making the latter bootable. Then the laptop needs to boot from this Live DVD, run the partitioning program and perform the conversion operation. In general, such disks often turn out to be very useful if, for example, you need to “cure” your computer from viruses or restore information.

    Flash drive or disk

    The downloaded Liv DVD/SD image can be written not only to a CD. The cost of USB flash drives is constantly decreasing, so you can consider purchasing a cheap, small-volume model designed specifically for emergency or recovery booting. Write down ISO file and you can make the flash drive bootable using Rufus programs. After launching, you need to select the device and click on the CD icon, which opens the explorer to indicate the location of the ISO. Additional changes no need to enter. All that remains is to press “start” and wait for the flash drive to be prepared.

    How to boot from prepared media

    If the “Live DVD” was recorded correctly, then you need to insert it into the drive and immediately after turning on the computer, frequently press F12, which leads to the display of the boot source selection menu. Sometimes this function can be assigned to F8. Usually, a hint for this hot key always appears on the screen. Ideal option- open the instructions for the board.

    You can also select the boot source in the BIOS itself (UEFI). To do this, after turning on the power, press the Delete button, and then in the settings find the item that allows you to select First Boot Device(main or first boot device). Regardless of which method is used, you need to select CDROM or USB-Flash (if a flash drive is used instead of a disk).

    Famous Paragon

    People who had the opportunity to partition disks in those days when a 40 GB hard drive seemed huge are probably familiar with the Paragon Partition Magic program. Its capabilities made it possible to do a lot with the drive. A lot has changed since then, and the application has evolved into Paragon Hard Disc Manager (PHDM). And not at the expense of functionality. It can be used to easily convert GPT to MBR. Paragon performs this operation so that all data on the drive remains safe. Great opportunity! However, it is recommended to avoid conversion if possible and perform the breakdown from scratch. This ancient rule is still true today. So, after launching the application, a panel with disks will be displayed. The target one is called “base GPT”, the model is usually unknown. Having selected this line with the cursor, you need to select “Convert to MBR” in the “Hard Disk” menu. After that in the left top corner Click the green checkmark to start the process. The time until completion will also be displayed here. The data is saved. Note that in some combinations of “drive + motherboard configuration”, using Paragon to solve this problem is impossible. It is also worth considering that PHDM version 15 at the time of writing will cost the buyer almost 3 thousand rubles.

    "Immortal" analogue

    There are still ongoing debates about which is better - Paragon or its twin brother Acronis. Both programs have similar capabilities, so which one to use depends on the preferences of the computer owner. This is true only in the case of a test period of use or “pirated” copies. The licensed version of Acronis-12 costs 1,600 rubles. With this program you can easily convert GPT to MBR. Acronis Disc Director, like Paragon, performs conversion without deleting user data from the hard drive. After launch, the window displays the detected drives. The one you are looking for will be designated as “base GPT”. You need to right-click on it and select the item that, after confirmation, starts the conversion process to MBR. It's that simple. In principle, the algorithm of actions is almost the same as for Paragon.

    Free alternative

    An excellent analogue to the above programs is MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional. Although the ninth version costs almost $40, it is now available for free as part of a promotion. We will not compare the functionality of applications, since with the described task - GPT conversion in MBR - they all do a great job. After the main program window appears, you need to select the desired GPT disk and perform the conversion through the menu.

    Configuration

    A prerequisite for using a GPT-partitioned disk is the UEFI system (evolutionary development of BIOS). By default, its settings are made for a GPT disk. For conversion to MBR to be successful, you need to go to the UEFI settings (Delete button), select Boot section, and in the Mode sub-item set the Legacy mode. It should also be banned use of Security Boot.

    I am glad to meet you again, my dear readers. I know for sure that many of you are constantly improving your skills, and, for example, reinstalling the OS is not particularly difficult for you. But, as practice shows, even experienced users Sometimes they encounter a problem caused by mismatched disk layouts. Therefore, today's conversation is about how to convert GPT to MBR.

    I'll start my story with a short introductory information.

    Most of you have one hard drive at home or at work; a slightly smaller percentage have several separate volumes on it: C:\ - for the system and, for example, D:\ - for storing documents, media files and work programs.

    To carry out such a division, the main format was created at one time boot entry(master boot record) MBR, which determined the disk layout parameters, the location of volumes and the order in which they were loaded.

    But with the advent of the expandable firmware interface and computers using UEFI instead of BIOS, it was decided to improve the partition layout system using a new GUID identifier.

    Thus, the GUID Partition Table or GPT appeared, actively supported by modern disks and motherboards. But the thing is that not everything operating systems, know how to work with such information, and when installing them a problematic situation arises, accompanied by the message: “ Windows installation on this disk impossible. The selected disk has a GPT partition style."

    In this situation, you just need to change the markup type from GPT to the understandable MBR. And this can be done in several ways.

    Another proof of the wide capabilities of the command line

    First, let's look at a typical situation when installing a new OS. As follows from the above, problems begin at the stage of working with HDD partitions, therefore, as soon as you reach this stage, then turn to the help of the command line by calling it by pressing the combination Shift keys+ F10. Now follow the simple instructions:

    • activate the disk utility by entering the command “diskpart”;
    • Using “list disk” you will display a list of connected physical disks and determine the number (Nd) of the hard drive of interest. By the way, pay attention to the information in the last column of the table: an asterisk indicates that the disk supports GPT, and its absence indicates MBR;
    • switch to working with this particular media by entering “select disk Nd”;
    • then you can immediately clean the entire HDD with the “clean” command or perform this operation with each volume separately by following the following steps;
    • enter “detail disk” to view detailed information and pay attention to the layout and numbering of sections (Nv);
    • select a separate volume with the command “select volume Nv” and delete it using “delete volume”;
    • when the disk is cleared, we convert it to an MBR by specifying the command “convert mbr”;

    All we have to do is exit Diskpart by entering “Exit” and close the command line window. You can continue installing the operating system and partitioning the disk as usual.

    If the disk is less than 2 TB, then you can do without the command line. During the installation process, you will reach the “Disk Settings” item, using which you should delete existing logical partitions and create them again. In this case, the system itself will partition the HDD in MBR format.

    We work with a native utility from Microsoft

    Of course, getting to know the problem of GPT non-recognition during the OS installation process does not give us the best emotions. So I suggest being one step ahead and preparing in advance new system partitions on your HDD. This can be done using the built-in Windows tools and I will show you the procedure using the example of “ten”:

    • in the search system window or in the “Run” utility, called up by the “Win ​​+ R” button combination, enter “diskmgmt.msc” and go to the “Disk Management” window;
    • now we find the one physical media, which we are going to work with. Please note that we are talking about additional HDD. System disk C:\ should not be touched;

    • will delete on the selected hard drive logical partitions by right-clicking on each of them and selecting context menu"Delete volume";
    • Now, when the disk remains without partitions, call up its context menu and activate the “Convert to MBR disk” item.

    That's it, now you can re-create a structure on it with new markup, or use to install the OS.

    Programs that save information

    The described methods have one significant drawback: the disks are completely erased. But there are technologies that allow you to switch to MBR without losing data. For this you will need special programs. There are several paid ones, such as Paragon Hard Disk Manager (you can download via torrent) and fewer free ones. Among them, I recommend Aomei Partition Assistant.

    Their operating algorithm and interface are largely similar:

    • the list displays the format in which you have marked up;
    • in the context menu of the selected disk, select “convert to MBR;
    • confirm your actions and restart your computer.

    Usually everything should work right away, but sometimes you need to make simple changes to UEFI settings(shutdown Secure Boot Eneble and install Legacy boot mode).

    We can stop here, my dear friends.

    The listed methods for switching to MBR are reliable, effective and easy to use.

    I hope there will be no problems with their implementation.

    And I say goodbye to you until new articles and wish you all the best.