Solved MBR with Windows 8

Computer0304

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Does MBR work with Windows 8 and if so, will it work on boot drives?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
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How do you think that the OS is able to boot up. If there is no Master Boot Record, the bios would be telling you that the OS is missing, or that there is an problem with the hard drive.

"A master boot record (MBR) is a special type of boot sector at the very beginning of partitioned computer mass storage devices like fixed disks or removable drives intended for use with IBM PC-compatible systems and beyond. The concept of MBRs was publicly introduced in 1983 with PC DOS 2.0.The MBR holds the information on how the logical partitions, containing file systems, are organized on that medium. Besides that, the MBR also contains executable code to function as a loader for the installed operating system—usually by passing control over to the loader's second stage, or in conjunction with each partition's volume boot record (VBR). This MBR code is usually referred to as a boot loader.
The organization of the partition table in the MBR limits the maximum addressable storage space of a disk to 2 TB (2[SUP]32[/SUP] × 512 bytes).[SUP][1][/SUP] Therefore, the MBR-based partitioning scheme is in the process of being superseded by the GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme in new computers. A GPT can coexist with an MBR in order to provide some limited form of a backwards compatibility for older systems.
MBRs are not present on non-partitioned media like floppies, superfloppies or other storage devices configured to behave as such.:

Master boot record - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Also see Master Boot Record See this regarding the Windows 7 & 8 GPT Protective MBR & Partition Table. The Windows 7 & 8 GPT 'Protective' MBR and EFI Partitions
 

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No I mean is will MBR work? I know that it could use GPT but I need to be able to use MBR for my External drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 400/Toshiba Satellite T135
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel Pentium
    Memory
    2GB/4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express
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    Internet Explorer 11/Safari 5/Mozilla Firefox 20
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No I mean is will MBR work? I know that it could use GPT but I need to be able to use MBR for my External drive.

At this point, your issue is not totally clear. Is this a new external drive you are trying to configure or is an existing drive that cannot be detected for some unknown reason? In any event, try plugging it in and give us a screenshot or (if new), just format it (right click in disk management) as a simple volume in disk management like so:

Screenshot (896).png

So, if there's more to this story that we need to know, please be specific and also identify the external drive make/model number in question (ie, WD Passport, MyBook or external enclosure w/drive make/model number inside).

Hope this helps.

my2cents
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
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    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
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    400w
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    57/11
A existing drive. It is a WDBBEP0010BRD-01 WD My Passport 1TB.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 400/Toshiba Satellite T135
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel Pentium
    Memory
    2GB/4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11/Safari 5/Mozilla Firefox 20
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    AVG Anti-Virus Free
A existing drive. It is a WDBBEP0010BRD-01 WD My Passport 1TB.

Ok, thanks for that. Now, what is the issue? Again, a screenshot of disk management with the drive plugged in would be helpful. Is it not being detected at all? Please understand you need to provide adequate details.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
This is just for future reference since soon I will be upgrading to a Win8 PC.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 400/Toshiba Satellite T135
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel Pentium
    Memory
    2GB/4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11/Safari 5/Mozilla Firefox 20
    Antivirus
    AVG Anti-Virus Free
As I think you were referencing, the only drive limited to GPT or MBR is the Booting drive. You can use whatever you want on other drives, so the external will be fine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
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    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
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    i7 3770K
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    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
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    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Oh. Thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 400/Toshiba Satellite T135
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel Pentium
    Memory
    2GB/4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel G33/G31 Express
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11/Safari 5/Mozilla Firefox 20
    Antivirus
    AVG Anti-Virus Free
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