GPT vs MBR

[grimpr]

Is there any advantage using GPT vs MBR in standard storage hdd's for use in a pool?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Yes. 

 

GPT supports addressing more than 2TBs of space without the need for advanced formatting, as well as native support for advanced formatting.  Additionally GPT supports very large disk capacities specifically (in the ZB/billions of TB range).

 

Additionally, GPT drives provide redundancy, in the form of writing the the GPT header and partition table at the beginning and end of the disk (this helps prevent the "RAW" issue, along with other issues). 

 

 

Aside from these, the only desernable difference is the boot drive. BIOS based systems (or legacy boot modes) require MBR disks, while UEFI usually require GPT disks. 

 

For storage though, there is no noticeable difference for "daily use". Other that stated limitations of MBR.

[grimpr]

Thanks, i will reformat my drives as GPT and using a 64k cluster size as mentioned in another thread, faster and more reliable.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

IIRC, StableBit DrivePool initializes new disks as GPT by default. So if that matters... 

 

And yeah, the 64k cluster/allocation unit size is worth it. Especially with Seagate Archive drives!

[grimpr]

Nice to know, i have 2 drives as GPT in my pool and the rest MBR, Drivepool initialized only those two and the rest stayed as they were, now with the new information from you and other threads i'm in the process of emptying one by one the drives and reformatting them again to GPT,64k cluster size.