Because you are not limited to four partitions on GPT disks, you do not have to create extended partitions on logical drives. On GUID partition table (GPT) disks, you can create up to 128 primary partitions. You can also use free space on an extended partition to create logical drives. On master boot record (MBR) disks, you can create up to four primary partitions on a basic disk, or up to three primary partitions and one extended partition. A basic disk is a physical disk that contains basic volumes (primary partitions, extended partitions, or logical drives). If you cancel the wizard, you may find that when you try to create a partition on the new hard disk, the Create Partition option is unavailable (appears dimmed).īasic disk storage supports partition-oriented disks.

The first time that you run the Disk Management snap-in after a new hard disk is installed, the Disk Signature and Upgrade Disk Wizard starts. Before a new, unpartitioned disk can be used in Windows (partitioned or upgraded to Dynamic Disk), it must contain a disk signature.

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