Read GPT hard disk on Windows XP

[Andalu]

There are versions ported from Win8 (storahci.sys v6.2.9200.16384 and storahci.sys v6.2.9200.20652) but I actually don't remember testing them with the GPT Loader.

I will give them a try.

[Cixert]

On 4/16/2024 at 1:27 PM, Dave-H said:

Ah thanks. That's an older version of the Paragon driver than the one I have.
IIRC it was buggy, and the version 10 driver is much better.

This version is older than "Paragon HFS for Win v.10.5.0.95", the MAC system reader, also installs GPT on Windows XP with drivers updated to version 10.5.0.95 and seems to fix many issues from the previous version.

On 4/16/2024 at 9:46 PM, Outbreaker said:

v8 was a very od one. The new one that was added is v11.0.0.175

https://www.mediafire.com/file/gj2i59pdix1o180/Windows_XP_-_Integral_Edition_-_Paragon_GPT_Loader_v11.0.0.175.zip/file

I didn't know about this one, thanks.
What version is build based?
 

[Andalu]

@roytam1

None of the storahci.sys drivers known to work in XP allow recognition of GPT disks.

Tried after installing the GPT_Loader with both storport.sys from Win7 (disk not even listed in Device Manager) and storport from Win8 (disk listed in Device Manager but no volume detected).

Same behavior even without installing the Paragon driver.

 

 

 

[Outbreaker]

22 hours ago, Cixert said:

This version is older than "Paragon HFS for Win v.10.5.0.95", the MAC system reader, also installs GPT on Windows XP with drivers updated to version 10.5.0.95 and seems to fix many issues from the previous version.

I didn't know about this one, thanks.
What version is build based?
 

Paragon HFS  v11.0.0.175 was still compatible with Windows XP only the installer wasn't. 

[Andalu]

I have done a test to check the behavior of the Paragon GPT Loader driver with the 2TB limit in an XP system configured in IDE mode.

After formatting my 4TB Seagate ST4000LM024 GPT disk in Win10, I started to fill it always in Win10 by copying in a progressive way the files numbered from 01 to 432 until to reach 2,194,897,825,792 bytes (at the end of the copy I made sure that all the files were uncorrupted):

 

After connecting the disk to the XP system with Paragon GPT Loader installed, I first verified again that all files were not corrupted and then copied a single file to the disk reaching a total of 2,199,889,600,512 bytes:

 

Checking once again the integrity of all files, I noticed that the first file copied a few days earlier (the one marked with the number 01) was now corrupt while all the others were intact. But on the next system reboot, here is what happened:

 

The problem encountered is almost the same as the one I detected using the asmedia asahci32.sys driver in a system configured in SATA/AHCI mode. The difference, which is no insignificant, is that at least with the asmedia driver, by following the identical procedure above, the drive was still accessible in XP and other files were still correctly available although the 2,199,023,255,552 bytes limit was exceeded.

 

At this point, I also have serious doubts whether the GPT Loader can effectively work on 3TB GPT disks. It certainly does not work on 4TB GPT disks.

 

Edited April 22 by Andalu

[Outbreaker]

@Andalu
Will this corruption problem also happen with the Win2k "disk.sys" and "partmgr.sys" files?

Edited April 24 by Outbreaker

[Cixert]

On 4/22/2024 at 4:40 PM, Andalu said:

At this point, I also have serious doubts whether the GPT Loader can effectively work on 3TB GPT disks. It certainly does not work on 4TB GPT disks.

 

If it is partitioned with a 2 TB limit, do you have problems?
For example, 4 TB hard drive divided into 2 partitions.

Edited April 24 by Cixert

[Andalu]

23 hours ago, Outbreaker said:

@Andalu
Will this corruption problem also happen with the Win2k "disk.sys" and "partmgr.sys" files?

Yes, I used those two drivers from Win2003

[Andalu]

21 hours ago, Cixert said:

If it is partitioned with a 2 TB limit, do you have problems?
For example, 4 TB hard drive divided into 2 partitions.

Thanks for the suggestion, but splitting a disk into multiple partitions is not my goal. I would like to use a single partition. I really can't see my 16TB disk divided into 8 partitions.

Also, since the Paragon GPT Loader driver is supposed to work only by enabling IDE mode, which is no longer provided in modern systems, I don't think it's worth spending any more time on it.