How can I expand my partition beyond 2TB?

Updated by

Sherly 

Written by

Tracy King 

Last updated on April 19, 2024

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Why do I need partitions larger than 2TB?

Disk partitioning on a computer allows you to manage and organize data into separate areas. For example, you might have a 4 TB hard drive that you divide into four 1 TB partitions.

With the ever-increasing storage demands of modern applications, the need for partitions larger than 2TB has also grown. Many apps nowadays require a significant amount of storage space to be installed on a computer, which might prompt the need for creating a partition larger than 2TB.

Can MBR exceed 2 TB?

MBR stands for Master Boot Record. It's one of the common partition styles in the Windows operating system. MBR has its advantages, but one drawback is that it limits the size of an MBR partition to no more than 2 TB.

This is because MBR uses 32-bit addressing, which allows for a maximum of 2,199 TB. Thus, if you need partitions larger than 2 TB, you cannot use MBR.

But don't worry; you can use the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition style instead, which allows for partitions larger than 2TB. GPT is great for this because it uses more bits for its translation, so you can easily represent partitions larger than 2TB with GPT.

If your disk is in the MBR format, don't worry – we'll also cover how to convert from MBR to GPT. So, without further ado, let's get into how to convert MBR to GPT.

How do I create a partition larger than 2TB?

You can create partitions larger than 2 TB on a Windows operating system. However, there are limitations with MBR, so you'll need to convert from MBR to GPT before creating a partition larger than 2 TB.

This article contains two methods to convert MBR to GPT. Let's examine each method in detail.

1. Convert MBR to GPT Using Partition Management Software

A partition manager lets you create, manage, and delete partitions on your computer. There are many partition management software options available, but partition manager tools stand out among competitors due to their reliability.

"Partition Manager" is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool that aids in the effortless management of disk partitions. With just a few clicks, it carries out all operations. Hence, it is user-friendly and can be comfortably utilized by anyone, regardless of their level of computer expertise, without much hassle.

Features of the Partition Manager:

• Disk File System Converter: You can convert the disk file system to NTFS, FAT32, EX-FAT, and more.
• Partition Style Converter: Convert from GPT to MBR or vice versa without losing any disk data with just a few clicks.
• Main Partition to Logical Partition Converter: Easily convert disks from primary to logical partitions, or the other way around, with simple steps.
• Disk Type Converter: Use the partition management tool to switch disk types from Dynamic to Basic, or conversely.

These are some stunning features of the Partition Manager tool. Let's see how to convert MBR to GPT using this software:

Steps to convert MBR to GPT using a partitioning tool

Step 1. Download and run Partition Master on your computer.

Step 2: Go to “Disk Converter” and choose “Convert MBR to GPT”. Then, click “Next” to proceed.

Step 3. Select the MBR disk that you want to convert to GPT, and click "Convert" to start the conversion.

2. Convert MBR to GPT using Diskpart

Diskpart is an integrated utility in Windows that can be accessed through the CMD. It allows you to input commands to manage and manipulate your disks, including their partitions.

The only downside is that, due to the number of commands involved, beginners might find this method a bit difficult to use.

Here's how to convert MBR to GPT using Diskpart:

Step 1: Open the Command Prompt on your Windows computer.

You can do this by pressing "Windows + R", which will open the "Run" dialog box. Type cmd, then click OK.

Step 2: Type the diskpart command in CMD to open the Disk Management utility.

Step 3: Type list disk and press Enter to list all disks. Note the number of the disk that you want to convert from MBR to GPT.

Step 4: Select your MBR disk by typing select disk x (replace x with the number of the disk you want to convert to GPT).

Step 5: Type the command clean and press Enter. (This will remove all existing volumes on the MBR disk.)

Step 6: After the cleanup, type convert gpt and press Enter.

With this command, you can convert your MBR disk to GPT format.

Step 7: Close the CMD prompt and restart your computer.

After converting the MBR disk to GPT, type exit to quit the CMD.

Tip: What is the optimal number of partitions for a 2TB hard drive?

Deciding how many partitions to create on a disk can get quite complicated. However, you can follow this guide to help you decide how many partitions to make on a 2 TB hard drive.

• Organize your work: A key strategy is to categorize the work you do on your computer. For instance, if you use your computer for both work and personal tasks, it's good practice to keep them separate for better management. In this case, you might want to create three partitions: one for the operating system, a second for work data, and a third for personal data.
• Number of operating systems: You may run multiple operating systems on one computer. Each type of OS requires its own partition. Thus, create partitions based on how many operating systems you plan to install.
• Follow conventions: If you still can't decide on the ideal number of partitions for you, go with what's typical. For example, people often create equal-sized partitions. So, if you need to partition a 2TB hard drive, it would be best to create four equal partitions of 500GB each.

These are just a few basic tips to help you partition your 2 TB hard drive.

You can also learn how to check total hard disk space in Windows 10.

Conclusions

The data on your computer grows daily, and the root cause of this exponential growth is large and resource-hungry applications. To organize and manage a substantial amount of data, you need to create separate partitions on your computer.

Disk partitioning keeps your data well-organized. For instance, you can easily use partitions to separate work from personal data. Often, the data in these partitions becomes huge, requiring more than 2 TB of partition size.

You can only create partitions larger than 2 TB if your disk is formatted as GPT. If it's MBR, you're limited to 2 TB because it only supports 32-bit addressing.

Therefore, you need to convert MBR to GPT. This can be done with the Diskpart utility in Windows. However, the commands are not easy to use and are not suitable for all types of users.

Therefore, you can use the Ease US Partition Manager software. It's very reliable and offers a wide range of disk partitioning features. Moreover, it allows you to convert MBR to GPT effortlessly with just a few simple steps.