Creating GPT Drives

You can convert only empty, unpartitioned disks (raw drives or empty MBR drives) to the GPT format. To convert a volume that contains data, you must first manually delete the partition.

You can use the following methods to create GPT disks:

In the Disk Management console, right-click the MBR drive you want to convert to GPT and then click Convert to GPT Disk. If the drive is not empty or contains partitions, this option is unavailable.

In the DISKPART utility, select the drive you want to convert and enter the following command:CONVERT GPT

For raw disks, you can use two additional methods:

After you install a new raw disk, open the Disk Management console to start a wizard that you can use to configure the new disk. The wizard includes options to initialize the disk as MBR or GPT.

Initialize the new disk later by using the Initialize Disk option in the Disk Management console.