How to check the partition style of a disk on Windows 10
Hard drives have to be partitioned on a specific ‘style’. This style determines how information is written to the disk and it’s important. Some systems can only read and write information to a disk if it’s partitioned on a specific style. Here’s how you can check the partition style of a disk on Windows 10.
Check partition style
There are two ways to check the partition style of a disk on Windows 10. You can use the built-in disk management tool, or you can use a simple third-party tool for the job. Connect the disk that you want to check the partition style for to your PC and then use a method from the ones given below.
Disk Management
Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the run box. In the run box, enter the following and tap the Enter key.
diskmgmt.msc
This will open the Disk Management tool on Windows 10. Right-click the disk you want to check the partition style for and select Properties from the context menu.
On the Properties window, go to the Hardware tab and click the Properties button. In the window that opens, go to the Volumes tab and click the Populate button. When the information loads, it will show you in the partition style.
Command prompt
Open Command Prompt and run the following command.
diskpart
Next, run this second command.
list disk
This will return a list of the disks connected to your system. There will be a Gpt column and if there is an asterisk next to a disk in this column, that disk is using the GPT style. If the asterisk is absent, it is using MBR.
Show Disk Partition Style
Show Disk Partition Style is a third-party app that makes it a lot easier to check the partition style of a disk. Download and run the app.
The app will automatically detect all disks connected to your system and display basic information about them, including the partition style.
You can change the partition style of a disk from one to the other. Generally speaking, when you change the partition style of a disk, you will end up wiping it. This holds true if you use the Disk Management tool on Windows 10. There are third-party tools that can change the partition style of a disk without erasing the data. They’re not free.
In some cases, these tools may work great but it is possible that you end up with errors on the disk that manifest in the form of problems in the OS you’re running. Try and format the whole disk, and partition is all over again if you can and avoid third-party tools.
