MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

User discussion and information resource forum for BootIt Bare Metal and BootIt UEFI
Post Reply
AGH1965
Posts: 85
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:36 pm
Location: Netherlands

MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

Post by AGH1965 »

Although I have a lot of experience using BIBM and even BING, I'm preparing myself for using BIU by studying the manual, but I have some questions now.

When I look at BIU's Boot Menu configuration dialog, then I see a clear difference between the MBR Details and the GPT Details. Where the MBR Details part has buttons for adding, removing and changing the order of partitions, the GPT Details part hasn't. Do I understand it correctly that the GPT Details part always shows all partitions and that you can only hide or unhide them? So if I hide a partition in the GPT Details part, then it still remains visible in this part, but the operating system won't see it? What will the operating system see then if I hided a partition in the GPT Details part, unpartitioned space or a partition that is supposed to be ignored? (With BIBM I never hided partitions; I simply didn't put any partitions in the MBR that I didn't want to be seen by the operating system.)
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

Post by Brian K »

AGH1965 wrote:

> (With BIBM I never hided partitions; I simply didn't put any
> partitions in the MBR that I didn't want to be seen by the operating
> system.)

Same here.


> Do I understand it correctly that
> the GPT Details part always shows all partitions and that you can only hide
> or unhide them?

Yes. In Part Work you can Reorder partition slot numbers but you needn't study that until much later when you have installed and removed multiple OS.


> So if I hide a partition in the GPT Details part, then it
> still remains visible in this part, but the operating system won't see it?
> What will the operating system see then if I hided a partition in the GPT

In Disk Management the Hidden partition will be "Healthy (Primary Partition)" and its size in MB or GB. Disk Management sees the Capacity of a Hidden partition but not the amount of Free Space in the partition. The Hidden partition has no drive letter and it can't be assigned a drive letter. The Partition Type of a Hidden Partition is "BootIt Hidden". You can see the various Partition Types in Part Work of BIU (Properties) or in PartInfo in Windows.
dax321
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:07 pm

Re: MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

Post by dax321 »

HI, I think it's related,
may I ask about the differences between Setting partition table order in BIU and BBM?
In fact I'm setting up a laptop in UEFI mode, with 2 GPT hdds, and I need to know whether BIU allows me create as many boot configurations and primary GPT partitions as BBM does with EMBR.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

Post by Brian K »

A GPT disk can have up to 128 partitions. BIU can work with these partitions.
dax321
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:07 pm

Re: MBR Details versus GPT Details (BIU)

Post by dax321 »

I know, 128 is more than enough, it depends on how BIU isolates the partitions for every boot entry apart.
Post Reply