Problems Installing Windows on GPT Hard Disks

Computers with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) use GUID Partition Table (GPT) as the standard hard disk partitioning system. Intel proposes it as the replacement for the PC BIOS that uses Master Boot Record (MBR).In GPT partitioned disks, data that is important to platform operation is placed in partitions and not in hidden or unpartitioned sectors as done in MBR partitioned disks.
Due to this and similar other factors, you sometimes observe issues, especially while installing a Windows operating system. To solve such issues, you might need to delete all hard disk partitions and opt for suitable partitioning scheme. This deletes all data and thus to restore information, you require using your recent data backup that should be complete and valid to restore data. However, if data backup is not updated, is corrupt or absent, you can use Data Recovery applications to scan and recover your data.
As a practical instance, when you attempt to install Windows Server 2003, a x64-based Windows Server 2003 version or Windows XP, you might receive the below error message:
"Setup cannot install to the selected partition. You can only install to GPT disks on IA-64 machines and MBR disks on X-86 machines. You can only upgrade installations on GPT disks on IA-64 machines and MBR disks on X-86 machines. To go back to the previous screen press ENTER."

Cause

This error message occurs if these both conditions are true:
An operating system is already installed on hard drive or it had an operating system, which has now been removed.
Hard disk is GPT formatted
You fail to install required operating systems on GPT hard drives because of following reasons:
On GPT hard drives, you can only set up Windows Server 2003 on systems that are Itanium-based.
You can't set up Windows x64 and Windows 32-bit operating systems on GPT based hard drives.

Solution

You need to convert your GPT hard disk to a MBR drive. You can use Disk Management or Diskpart command for it, if an operating system is already installed. You can also delete all existing drive partitions while running Setup program and opting for the option to convert the partitioning scheme. In Windows Server 2003-based systems, it must have Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 installed. After this, you can restore lost information from backup. If backup produces errors or has not been taken, you can use Recovery applications.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a complete and robust Data Recovery software. It supports FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file system based drives and volumes. It is a read-only Hard Drive Recovery application. It is compatible with Windows 7 ( currently in RC1), Vista, Server 2003, XP and 2000).

Simpson a student of Mass Communication doing research on hard drive recovery software. He is also a freelancer for image recovery software.

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