Read GPT hard disk on Windows XP (solved)

**jaclaz** · July 12, 2023

Personally I recommend NOT using GPT on XP at all.

Either learn to live with internal hard disks smaller than 2.2 TB or find an external USB that exposes 4kb sized sectors and compatible with MBR up to 17 TB or so.

Now, finding these external USB enclosures might be unfortunately really tricky as producers/sellers are unlikely to highlight how their controller works.

On this thread where the matter is discussed on superuser there are a couple hints, but nothing "exact" on the make/models:

https://superuser.com/questions/1271871/4k-emulation-sata-usb-controllers

There is yet another option, use (if you can find one) a native 4K drive (that does not do "512e" emulation), I believe they exist only in largish sizes (8 TB and more) but really cannot say.

Remember that 4kb drives won't normally be bootable with MBR.

jaclaz

**Milkinis** · July 21, 2023

On 7/12/2023 at 1:06 PM, jaclaz said:

There is yet another option, use (if you can find one) a native 4K drive (that does not do "512e" emulation), I believe they exist only in largish sizes (8 TB and more) but really cannot say.

I was looking up this one as I don't want larger disks with helium

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-blue-desktop-sata-hdd#WD80EAZZ

**Milkinis** · July 21, 2023

On 7/12/2023 at 1:06 PM, jaclaz said:

Either learn to live with internal hard disks smaller than 2.2 TB or find an external USB that exposes 4kb sized sectors and compatible with MBR up to 17 TB or so.

I prefer the reliability of SATA ports and internal power supply over any USB external enclosure

anyway M$ stated that the 4K disks would not support anything under W8 :wacko:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/backup-and-storage/support-policy-4k-sector-hard-drives

**jaclaz** · July 21, 2023

3 hours ago, Milkinis said:

anyway M$ stated that the 4K disks would not support anything under W8

Sure, what did you expect?

jaclaz

**Milkinis** · July 21, 2023

3 minutes ago, jaclaz said:

Sure, what did you expect?

I expected nothing because I am not familiar with disks technology as you are.

are you sure that XP would be able to recognize any 4kn disk and create large partitions up to 17+ TB

**jaclaz** · July 21, 2023

21 minutes ago, Milkinis said:

I expected nothing because I am not familiar with disks technology as you are.

are you sure that XP would be able to recognize any 4kn disk and create large partitions up to 17+ TB

Of course cannot say for sure, what we know is that XP has had no issues with external USB disks exposing 4k sectors, which for all it matters are the same as 4kn.

The 17 TB limit is a theoretical one, the capacity of the field in the MBR is that one, and you are actually using it already when you reach the 2.2TB "limit", so that in itself poses no issues.

The NTFS in itself (like *any* filesystem) should depend not on sector size, but rather on cluster size, and XP is included in the OS's where NTFS volumes up to 256 TB are supported:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/default-cluster-size-for-ntfs-fat-and-exfat-9772e6f1-e31a-00d7-e18f-73169155af95

this does not mean that a number of MS (or third party) tools might have issues with largish volumes.

A good example (unrelated) is the mentioned issue with "new" alignment and Disk Manager incompatibility with logical volumes inside Extended partition (that BTW MS never publicized, let alone fix).

My "Sure, what did you expect?" note was more "general" and related to the fact that both XP and 7 (and Vista) are not supported anyway anymore and MS has spent time in the last few years to remove references to them and re-writing articles/Knowledge base/etc. to exclude them from lists of supported OS.

jaclaz

**Milkinis** · July 21, 2023

1 hour ago, jaclaz said:

what we know is that XP has had no issues with external USB disks exposing 4k sectors, which for all it matters are the same as 4kn.

what happens if the external enclosure goes bad ?

can you restore your disk data without the enclosure onto W7 ?

can you swap the enclosure out or does it have a unique ID for each disk ?

Edited July 21, 2023 by Milkinis

**jaclaz** · July 21, 2023

As always, it depends.

Proprietary enclosures (those disks "born USB" such as many WD and Seagate external units) may have some form of identifying the disk in it (the real issue may come out if you use the provided encryption feature) but, also, some have "non-standard" disks inside (without an actual SATA connector) and in case of problems you would need to trace and solder to the PCB, example:

https://blog.acelab.eu.com/pc-3000-hdd-how-to-solder-a-sata-adapter-to-the-usb-western-digital-drive.html

Third party enclosures/bridges are simpler as the disk itself is a standard one, and there is no "disk ID matching) so it should work the same in another enclosures (that behaves the same, i.e. either performs or does not perform a sector size translation, and this may happen only when the disk is over a given size or not work at all), here is a related report:

https://goughlui.com/2013/10/02/experiment-usb-to-sata-bridge-chips-and-2tb-drives/

There are in any case (though the el-cheapo ones might have size limitations) SATA to USB converters, normally used in data recovery or for temporary access to a disk to be later mounted internal, that work with *any* disk.

Just like enclosures, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to know (as the manufacturers do not include this info) how a given bridge will behave.

Some chips can be re-programmed using their manufacturer tool (some of them are available for Asmedia chips, as an example) but as well the manufacturer of the bridge or enclosure won't say which chip is used in their product.

If the disk is functional, you can always recover the data at file level, even if there is a sector size mismatch, using suitable tools, whether it would be possible to directly restore it may as well depend on a number of factors, hard to say.

jaclaz

**Milkinis** · July 22, 2023

14 hours ago, jaclaz said:

Third party enclosures/bridges are simpler as the disk itself is a standard one, and there is no "disk ID matching so it should work the same in another enclosures

I don't like the propietary enclosures because of this and one doesn't actually know what is buying, SMR or CMR disks.

if the disk fails you may not get it back working with a different disk

you have to send it in thousands of Km away to the service center.

the 3rd party enclosure sounds like a better alternative if it can convert any disk into 4Kn but we are stuck on the same problem mentioned before

if the enclosure ever goes bad you have to find a identical one that coud restore the partition

**jaclaz** · July 22, 2023

1 hour ago, Milkinis said:

if the enclosure ever goes bad you have to find a identical one that coud restore the partition

Well, no, you need a similar one (in the sense of one that makes the same translation or no translation) if you want to use the disk normally, but data recovery is possible no matter if the sector size exposed is different, by using *any* other enclosure or connecting the disk drive directly to a computer.

Of course in this case you need another suitable disk to copy to, but this is standard procedure when recovering data.

jaclaz

**Cixert** · July 22, 2023

On 6/27/2023 at 5:19 AM, realisty said:

@Cixert did the win2003 drivers worked for you?

readed here: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=79711&start=20

about file corruption using 2k3 drivers.. anyone can confirm this??

I have tried the following 2 methods with external USB drives and have had no problems if these steps are followed and the indicated errors are avoided.

WORKING WITH GTP HARD DISKS ON WINDOWS XP
Update 2025-02-06:
It can be done with any of the following methods depending on the hard disk connection mode.

A - With the "Paragon GPT Loader" driver v. 8.0.1.0 on SATA ports.

B - With the "Windows 2003" drivers on USB ports until 16 Tb.

A - With Paragon GPT Loader driver v.8.0.1.0 on SATA ports.

¡¡¡CAUTION!!!
+2TiB hard disks connected to the SATA port only work with Paragon GPT Loader driver version 8.0.1.0.
-Higher versions of the driver cause data corruption when writing to sectors above 2^32 (4,294,967,296) this is 2TiB.
-With PAE enabled to work with +4GiB RAM cause data corruption when writing to sectors above 2^32 (4,294,967,296) this is 2TiB.
-The driver usually only works with the BIOS/UEFI set to IDE mode. With AHCI/RAID drivers generally cause data corruption when writing to sectors above 2^32 (4,294,967,296) this is 2TiB. If you have other hard disks connected in AHCI/RAID mode or you don't have IDE mode, the solution is to install a PCI Express SATA card with a switch that enables "IDE mode" or "No-boot mode".
-This driver does not work via USB.
-Most software tools for editing hard disk partitions do not work on Windows XP with GPT hard disks.
-Make a partition table copy because in certain circumstances partitions disappear just by opening Windows XP Disk Manager without performing any additional operations.*
-Chkdsk does not work until Windows XP is booted. In case of a file system error the boot will say that FAT32 and exFAT partitions are RAW. On NTFS partitions it will proceed to perform CHKDSK, but it will be invalid. Once Windows boots you have to run chkdsk manually.

Most versions of Paragon GPT Loader do not work well with hard disks larger than 2TiB. If the first partition is larger than 2TiB, file system corruption will occur. If the second partition is larger than 2TB, the same will occur. If there are partitions larger than +2TB, then Windows XP will not recognize them.

I have found that there is a version that does work well with +2TiB hard drives and also fixes the blue screen problem with FAT32 boot partitions. This version is included in Paragon Partition Manager 15 (aka 2015) Professional x86 v10.1.25.779 (2015-09-18)
It contains the 8.0.1.0 driver, it is a downgrade driver but makes several registry changes that other versions containing the same driver or higher versions do not.
Use only this version to install the Paragon driver on Windows XP. You do not use forks or other versions. Driver version 10.5.0.95 is limired at 4,294,967,296 sector (this is 2TiB).
Also do not use the Paragon HFS v11.0.0.175 fork with a higher driver version as it contains the same problems.
The issue is explained here
https://msfn.org/board/topic/181911-read-gpt-hard-disk-on-windows-xp/page/23/#findComment-1276273

To get GPT working on Windows XP via SATA port simply install Paragon Partition Manager 15 Professional x86 v10.1.25.779 with Paragon GPT Loader 8.0.1.0 option enabled and connect the hard disks to the SATA port with IDE mode enabled in the BIOS/UEFI or install a PCIExpress card with SATA ports that has a switch to enable "IDE mode" or "No boot".
You can install two mod updates for Paragon GPT Loader 8.0.1.0 later but do not install the base mod as it will most likely cause BSOD.
http://hardwarefetish.com/777-paragon-gpt-loader-3
http://hardwarefetish.com/612-gpt_loader-sys-revisited-file-read-problem
http://hardwarefetish.com/524-paragon-gpt_loadersys-bsod-analysis-and-fix
(on this website there are only patches, there is no full version)
You don't use the fork version 8.0.1.2 this can cause BSOD.

*Update:
-In some circumstances when I open the Windows XP Disk Manager the partition disappears immediately, without performing any additional operation. To prevent losing the partitions I suggest making a partition table copy with Eassos DiskGenius from Windows Seven or higher in the menu Disk>Backup Partition Table.
If you do not have a partition table copy, you can recover it from Windows Seven with this same program from the menu Tools>Search for Partitions , choosing the Whole Disk option and in the search, clicking on "Reserve" when the appropriate partitions appear.
The pity is that we need Windows Vista or higher or use a bootable disc with a program, since once the partitions are lost in XP the hard disk only shows a capacity of 1493 Gb, so we need to boot an operating system that recognizes the real disk capacity.

B - With the 2003 Windows drivers on USB ports until 16 Tb

¡¡¡CAUTION!!!
This driver should only be installed for use with +2TB hard drives connected to a USB port using a SATA to USB adapter that translates logical sectors from 512 bytes to 4096 bytes. This allows 2^32 (4,294,967,296) sectors to hold 16 TiB of data as each one measures 4096 bytes instead of 512 bytes.
+2TiB hard disks connected to the SATA port with Windows 2003 drivers cause data corruption when writing to sectors above 2^32 (4,294,967,296) this is 2TiB.
-See the particularities of Paragon GPT Loader driver if you finally install the hard disks in the SATA port. Both drivers can coexist at the same time. Windows 2003 for USB and Paragon for SATA.
-No problems have been reported with PAE and Windows 2003 drivers.

Step 1 - From another operating system copy the Windows 2003 drivers replacing the current XP.

"Partmgr.sys" copy in the folder:
Windows \ System32 \ dllcache

"Disk.sys" and "Partmgr.sys" copy in the folder:
Windows \ System32 \ drivers

Any version of Windows 2003 drivers works both v. 5.2.3790.3959 (W2003 SP2) as v. 5.2.3790.1830 (W2003 SP1).
Both files have = number of bytes, only change version number.
The files are valid for all languages (at least work with XP English & XP Spanish).
Check that there are no more old versions in other folders such as \ Windows \ Lastgoods

If these files are sought with the Windows XP search engine these do not appear, since these are special system files.
Use an alternative search engine like "File Finder."

Note:
To copy them from the operating system itself, both files would have to be glued very quickly in both folders and then update the folder view checking that version 5.2 has been fixed
Ideally, paste the files on the hard drive from another operating system, since we will not be able to perform step 2 from Windows XP itself.

You can also try to deactivate Windows file protection:
-To disable the Windows files protection, activate SFCdisable in the registry:
HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon
SFCDisable = 1

Restart Windows and copy the files.

-Then activate the protection again:
SFCdisable = 0
And restart Windows.

Step 2 - Copy the "disk.sys" file of Windows 2003 inside the "sp3.cab" file that is in \ windows \ driver cache \ i386 with the Windows CAB file packaging" tool called "iexpress.exe" (Windows Cabinet) that is in \ Windows \ System32

Extract sp3.CAB:
- Extract the files that sp3.CAB contains with Winrar or with 7zip or with IExpress (slower) in a folder whose name does not match "SP3" the name of the file to be created, since if it does not let it create it when packaging.

- Paste the "Disk.Sys" file of Windows 2003 replacing the XP file.

Packing sp3.CAB:
- Go to start+run and write "iexpress".

- In the menu choose «Create New Self Extraction Directive File» and press next.

- In the menu choose «Create Compressed Files Only (Active X Installs)» and press next.

- Add the files contained in the "ADD" folder.

- To record the file to choose the location to examine, but the file.CAB is created in
C: \ Documents and Settings \ User

- Choose a name of 8 characters.

Note:
If the same file name is chosen as the folder enters the folder instead of saving it.

- Mark allow compressed files to have a long name in "Store Files Using Long File Name Inside Package", leaving the other white box (Create Fixed Sice Cab File (s)).

- Optionally save compilation.

Note:
If the same name as the folder has been chosen, the .CAB file is created in
C:\Documents and Settings\user
because the location is automatically blanked.

Note:
If step 2 is not done, then Windows XP stops booting when a new USB stick is installed.
Since to install its drivers the original version of "disk.sys" of Windows XP is restored.
There is no problem if you install the pen with the Windows XP drivers from before step 1 and then recopy the Windows 2003 drivers. At least until you reinsert a new pen.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/183225-windows-xp-does-not-start-after-entering-kingston-usb-pencil/#comment-1210203

Step 3 - Star Windows XP

The first time Windows XP starts with the new files takes several minutes.
Be patient and wait.

Note:
Tested in Windows 2000, this gives blue screenshot with MBR discs, you can't access the Boot Device.

Previous Post 2023-07-22
Edit: This is no longer necessary. This bug is present in previous versions of the Paragon GPT Loader driver 8.0.1.0. If you have the previous version of this same driver you should apply this fix only if your boot drive is FAT32.
Remember that you should not use a version of Paragon other than 8.0.1.0

Error correction:
Any version of the Paragon GPT Loader driver that we install, be it the original, the HFS or the modified fork, contains an error that will cause us to suffer a blue screen when rebooting the system, at least if we have FAT32 on the Windows XP boot partition . This is because the driver file name "gpt_loader.sys" contains 10 characters instead of 8.
It is installed in the \WINDOWS\system32\drivers directory.
To solve it, we will modify the Windows registry as soon as we install it and before restarting the system.
Go to start + run, type "regedit" and search
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\gpt_loader

Here change the value of ImagePath which says:
system32\DRIVERS\gpt_loader.sys
by
system32\DRIVERS\GPT_LO~1.SYS
and then reboot.
Problem solved.

Fork version
In addition to the official version there is a fork that fixes the bugs of Paragon GPT 8.0.1.0.
The current fork version is 8.0.1.2
On their website they do not give the full version 8.0.1.2 (despite the fact that it exists on other websites). And they do legally give the patches to correct the official version 8.0.1.0
http://hardwarefetish.com/777-paragon-gpt-loader-3
(on this website there are only patches, there is no full version)

How to install the fork
1 - Unzip
2 - Right click on the .inf file
3 - Install
To uninstall the fork we need to install some official version and then uninstall it.

~~But, as far as I've checked, currently it's better to install Paragon HFS for Win v.10.5.0.95 which contains the 10.5.0.95 driver.~~

Edited February 26 by Cixert
Update 2025-02-06

**Cixert** · July 22, 2023

How to edit GPT partitions from Windows XP

In 2016 I tested the partition programs that work correctly with MBR disks larger than 2TB in Windows XP, ruling out the others.

The ones that worked were the following:
-Windows XP Disk Manager
(partitions on AF hard disks are misaligned to sector 63).
-Acronis Disk Director
(partitions on AF hard disks are misaligned to sector 63).
-EaseUS Partition Master.
-Eassos DiskGenius
-Macrorit Disk Partition Expert
-MiniTool Partition Wizard
(for partitions to be aligned on AF hard disks to sector 2048 they must be created with the align to MB option, not cylinder aligned)
-Guiformat aka "Fat 32 Format" only for format large FAT32 partitions.

In 2022 I have tested which of the above work correctly with GPT disks in Windows XP.
In Windows 10 they all work but in Windows XP they don't. It only works correctly:
-Windows XP Disk Manager*
(partitions on AF hard disks are created misaligned to sector 63)
-Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 (year 2019)
(partitions on AF hard disks are created misaligned to sector 63)
-Guiformat aka "Fat 32 Format" with the same version number 1.0.1.0 as the previous version 1.0.1.0 but it measures 77,824 bytes instead of 73,728 bytes.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.htm

The following programs detect the GPT disk and its capacity but neither read the partitions nor allow them to work with the disk:
-EaseUS Partition Master 16.8 (year 2022)
-MiniTool Partition Wizard 12.5 (year 2021)

In addition, the following program does not read the partitions but it does let you work with the disk, although it is possibly unable to complete the operations and leaves the disk defective:
-Macrorit Disk Partition Expert 6.1.2 Pro (year 2022)

The following program does detect the partitions, but when performing a disk operation it is unable to complete it and leaves the disk defective:
-Eassos DiskGenius 5.4.6.1432 (year 2022)

Therefore, only the following programs allow working with GPT partitions in Windows XP:
-Windows XP Disk Manager.
*Update: Before make a partition table copy because in certain circumstances partitions disappear just by opening Windows XP Disk Manager without performing any additional operations.
-Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 (year 2019)
The problem with both is that you will get misaligned partitions on AF disks.

Being able to work alternatively with any of the programs mentioned in this post in its WinPE boot disk version (I have not tried it).

Regarding Paragon Partition Manager 15, contained in the installer that gives us GPT capability, I didn't have the best experience with MBR + 2 TiB on v.14 and earlier.
I have done some small tests with v.15 on GPT and I didn't have the best experience either.
For example, after creating the second partition without taking up all the disk space the rest of the disk space has disappeared.
In case of problems you can reset the disk with Acronis Disk Director with the "Clean up disk" option which will leave the disk uninitialized.
We can use Paragon Partition manager 15 without any apparent problems for simple operations such as changing the drive letter.

PROCEDURE TO CONVERT MBR DISK TO GPT
1- With Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 right click on the disk and press "Convert to GPT".
The procedure is not reversible if there are more than 4 partitions.

Note: If the hard disk is AF, it is best not to attempt the following operations from Windows XP as these will be misaligned. Use Windows Vista or higher or use a WinPE boot disk with one of the programs mentioned above.

2- To create the partitions you must also use Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 or alternatively the Windows XP Disk Manager. Both programs give the same result, these set the first partition to sector 63 (misaligned on AF disks). You can try Paragon Partition Manager 15 to see if it works. The partitions should be aligned.

3- Format partitions with Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 or with Paragon Partition Manager 15 or FAT32 with Guiformat aka "Fat 32 Format".

4- I don't know of any program with which you could align GPT partitions directly from Windows XP, so you would have to align them from another operating system or with a boot disk from one of the programs mentioned earlier in this post.

PROCEDURE TO CONVERT GPT DISK TO MBR
It requires disk erasing, although it could work without data loss if there are a maximum of 4 primary partitions and no extended ones.

The best procedure to convert GPT to MBR and partition the disk is:
1- With Acronis Disk Director 12.5.0.163 convert the disk to MBR or use the "Clean up disk" option which will leave the disk uninitialized. The options are seen with a right click on the disk (not on the partitions).

2- Create MBR partitions with MiniTool Partition Wizard 10.3 with MB aligned partitions (not cylinder aligned) or use Eassos DiskGenius 5.4.

3- Format large NTFS partitions with MiniTool Partition Wizard 10.3 or Eassos DiskGenius 5.4 or if these are created in FAT32 with "guiformat.exe" aka Fat 32 Format.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.htm

4- Align partitions with MiniTool Partition Wizard 10.3
(versions higher than 10.3 produce various problems when formatting partitions)

Note:
After aligning the partitions, I understand that there is no problem of losing extended partitions when using the Disk Manager of higher versions of Windows, even though they have been created from the Windows XP Disk Manager.
If it could happen the other way around, that after aligning the partitions there are problems with the Windows XP Disk Manager.

Edited February 26 by Cixert

**jaclaz** · July 23, 2023

10 hours ago, Cixert said:

Note:

After aligning the partitions, I understand that there is no problem of losing extended partitions when using the Disk Manager of higher versions of Windows, even though they have been created from the Windows XP Disk Manager.
If it could happen the other way around, that after aligning the partitions there are problems with the Windows XP Disk Manager.

Yes :yes: , to be more accurate what "may" happen is the following:

1) in XP the "standard alignment is on cylinder/head, so primary partitions will always start on a CHS s=1 h=0 or 1 and end on a CHS s=63 h=max (usually 254, in a nx255x63 geometry)
2) this applies also to logical volumes inside extended, the net result is that each volume will have an offset of 63 from the relative Extended MBR
3) in Vista and later (over a certain - small - size of the device) an alignment of 1 MB (2048x512=1048576) is instead used, and it also applies to the offset to the relative Extended MBR of logical volumes inside extended
4) If you create the Extended partition and logical volumes in XP or however with 63 sector alignment you won't have any issue with both XP and later windows Disk Manager
5) but if you create the Extended partition and logical volumes under a later OS or however with 1 MB alignment, the XP Disk Manager may decide, when performing even an unrelated operation to disk (as an example changing the bootable status of a primary partition), to check/re-calculate the offset of the logical volume from the relative Extended MBR, and silently delete the logical volume entry in the EMBR:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160308045741/http://www.dcr.net/~w-clayton/Vista/DisappearingPartitions/DisappearingPartitions.htm

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Read GPT hard disk on Windows XP (solved)

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