

We have already looked at the differences in the boot processes which you should keep in mind when partitioning a drive or deciding a partition structure.

If you are interested in knowing more or are planning to setup your computer with a new operating system, then keep on reading.
#Where is a gpt stored windows 8#
If you have ever tried installing a Windows 8 or 10 operating system on a new computer, chances are you have been asked whether you want to use MBR or GPT partition structure. Differences Between GPT and MBR Partition Structures The boot process happens very first depending on your hardware capabilities. However, in UEFI, there's no going through multiple bootloaders as seen in BIOS. You may have noticed that both UEFI-GPT and BIOS-MBR loads a bootloader without loading the operating system directly. A bootloader initializes a windows boot manager which then loads the Operating System.įor Linux based Operating Systems, there’s an EFI aware version of GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) that loads a file such as grub.efi or the EFI loader that loads a file such as elilo.efi. The system partition contains bootloaders for all Operating Systems installed on other partitions on the hard drive. GPT defines the partition table on a disk from which the EFI bootloader identifies the EFI system partition. GPT is located on a drive's first blocks, just after block 0 which still holds MBR for Legacy BIOS. GUID stands for Globally Unique IDentifier. UEFI then reads the GPT - GUID Partition Table. So, on powering on your computer, UEFI first performs the system configuration functions such as power management, setting dates and other system management components just as in BIOS. On Windows-NT derived systems such as Windows XP, the IPL first loads another program called NT Loader (abbreviated as NTLDR) which then loads the operating system. The Initial Program Loader comprises the second stage bootloader which then loads the operating.
#Where is a gpt stored code#
The VBR usually contains an Initial Program Loader (IPL) which is the code that initiates the boot process.
