Convert GPD Disk

[Lisa]

I have a USB external HD case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332008

I put 3 drives in. Using normal mode. Not spanning. 2 of the drives
are GPD or GUID or something that Vista made. How can I convert these
drives to regular drives that XP can see? I need to access these from
Vista and XP. I can't find any way to convert. Paragon can't do it.
Neither can Partition Magic. I have Googled and can't really find a
way. Can anyone help?

Thx!

 

[Arno Wagner]

I have a USB external HD case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332008

I put 3 drives in. Using normal mode. Not spanning. 2 of the drives
are GPD or GUID or something that Vista made. How can I convert these
drives to regular drives that XP can see? I need to access these from
Vista and XP. I can't find any way to convert. Paragon can't do it.
Neither can Partition Magic. I have Googled and can't really find a
way. Can anyone help?

Repartition and reformat under XP?

Arno

 

[Lisa]

Repartition and reformat under XP?

Arno

I can't. In disk mgt I can see the partitions in xp. Xp even
identifys them as GPT Protective Partitions. Theres no drive letter
in xp. All the options like format are grayed out.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Repartition and reformat under XP?

Arno

[/QUOTE]

I can't. In disk mgt I can see the partitions in xp. Xp even
identifys them as GPT Protective Partitions. Theres no drive letter
in xp. All the options like format are grayed out.

Ok, that is a problem. Best approach is to use a disk wipe utility
to clear the disk, restart and then partition and format under XP.

Since I do such things under Linux, I don't know what tools
are best for XP, but google("wipe disk") should find several
and the archives of this newsgroup should also contain relevant
information.

Arno

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I can't. In disk mgt I can see the partitions in xp. Xp even
identifys them as GPT Protective Partitions. Theres no drive letter
in xp. All the options like format are grayed out.

It appears that the MBR and partition table that XP sees is a dummy.
For a GPT disc, the real partition table is at sector 2, not sector 0,
and partition 1 starts at sector 34, not 63. AFAICT, if you want your
hard disc file systems to be visible to both XP and Vista, then you
will need to backup your data and repartition and reformat using NTFS.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

"The primary purpose of the MBR at the beginning of the disk is to
prevent MBR-based disk utilities from mis-recognizing, and possibly
over-writing, GPT disks. A single partition, encompassing the entire
GPT drive, is indicated. The System ID for the partition is set to
0xEE, indicating that it uses GPT. Because of this, EFI ignores the
MBR. Some 32-bit OSes which cannot read GPT disks nevertheless
recognize this ID and present the disk as an inaccessible GPT disk."

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Lisa]

It appears that the MBR and partition table that XP sees is a dummy.
For a GPT disc, the real partition table is at sector 2, not sector 0,
and partition 1 starts at sector 34, not 63. AFAICT, if you want your
hard disc file systems to be visible to both XP and Vista, then you
will need to backup your data and repartition and reformat using NTFS.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

"The primary purpose of the MBR at the beginning of the disk is to
prevent MBR-based disk utilities from mis-recognizing, and possibly
over-writing, GPT disks. A single partition, encompassing the entire
GPT drive, is indicated. The System ID for the partition is set to
0xEE, indicating that it uses GPT. Because of this, EFI ignores the
MBR. Some 32-bit OSes which cannot read GPT disks nevertheless
recognize this ID and present the disk as an inaccessible GPT disk."

- Franc Zabkar

I have seen that. Drives are currently NTFS GPD. Tell me how I can
format to regular NTFS. Drives are empty. I think I may have to
disassemble and put drives in my pc and format from an IDE connection
using the Samsung floppy. I'd rather not do all that.

 

[Lisa]

I have seen that. Drives are currently NTFS GPD. Tell me how I can
format to regular NTFS. Drives are empty. I think I may have to
disassemble and put drives in my pc and format from an IDE connection
using the Samsung floppy. I'd rather not do all that.

I did it! Someone in the Vista NG gave me this link
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...f633-4f49-90d4-171c59f64de81033.mspx?mfr=true

Thx everyone!

 

[Arno Wagner]

I did it! Someone in the Vista NG gave me this link
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...f633-4f49-90d4-171c59f64de81033.mspx?mfr=true

Thx everyone!

Congrats!

Arno