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[Acronym] for __G__UID __P__artition __T__able

GPT was introduced for IA64 systems, to get around a fixed 32bit issue in the msdos partition type. If you want to have a partition greater than 2TB, you need to use a GPT disklabel.

Most partitioning tools under linux will fail to do anything sensible with a > 2 TB partition. As of this writing, <tt>parted</tt> is the only one that understands it. <tt>parted</tt> will also let you set the GPT label on the disk.


There is a lot of information stating that you cannot boot off a GPT enabled device. Most of the claims imply that the fault is with lilo or grub not understanding GPT devices. We've not tested this, but GPT and traditional [MBR]s will coexist.

The GPT differs from the msdos partition table in a number of ways:

* Allows for > 2 TB partitions
* Up to 128 primary partitions (as opposed to 4)
* No need for extended partitions
* GPT is easily extensible.
* Each partition is identified by a [GUID] so you can reference that partition even if disks are moved around.
* Each partition type is identified by a [GUID] to avoid issues with partition type conflicts that plagued the older IBM PC partitioning format.
* A 46(?) charactor utf16 partition label to identify partitions.
* Has a "fake" [MBR] for backwards compatibility.
* Includes a CRC32 to detect corrupt partition tables.



References:
* [MS Knowledge Base| http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkd_tro_zkfe.asp]

One page links to GPT:

Partition

Version 2, saved on Wednesday, June 22, 2005 11:17:16 am by PerryLorier

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