If you’re seeking a tool to help you transition from old MBRs to embrace the modern era of GPT disks, I’ve got you covered!
You might be wondering, what am I talking about?
The GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition table format is the successor to the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition tables that have been in use since the 1980s. GPTs offer important benefits, such as better partition management and better support for large disks.
GPT fdisk is a clone of fdisk that includes several tools (gdisk, cgdisk, sgdisk, and fixparts) that will allow you to perform various cool operations with your GPT (or MBR) disks.
For example, you will be able to convert an MBR disk to GPT without any data loss (or sleep ^^) and even convert BSD disk labels to GPT without breaking anything. You will also be able to edit GPT partition tables on Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, or Windows.
However, where this tool truly becomes essential is in repairing unfortunately damaged GPT (or MBR) data structures.
Keep in mind, though, that if you’re on macOS, System Integrity Protection (SIP) on macOS 10.11 or higher will limit the tool’s capabilities. And if you’re running Windows, your machine will need to be UEFI-enabled to boot to a GPT disk. Otherwise, you can find all the documentation here! I recommend that you take a look at it to understand how to use the different tools.
In short, it’s a great tool for system administrators who will be able to perform maintenance operations directly from the GPT fdisk interface or simply from the command line.
