How do I mount a “GPT Protective Partition” in Windows XP?

Question

I formatted an external USB harddrive while it was connected to a 32-bit Windows 2003 Server Std. edition server.

After loading it up with files, I moved it to my Windows XP SP3 where it didn't show up automatically in My Computer. I opened up Computer Management>Disk Management and see it listed as a "Health (GPT Protective Parititon)".

What's up with that? Can I mount it?

Answer 1

According to this FAQ, GPT partitions cannot be mounted with Windows XP.

Answer 2

How to delete GPT Protective Partition In Windows XP Professional, if you cannot access or modify GPT disk, you can convert a GPT disk to MBR by using the clean command in DiskPart, which will remove all data and partition structures from the disk.

1. You might see S2VR HD 5 Drives in GPT status.

2. Go to DOS command line (click on “Start Menu”, then “Run”, type in “cmd” in textbox, and hit “OK”)

•Type in “DiskPart” in command line. •Type in “list disk” in command line to show all disks in this machine. •Use “select” to set the focus to the specified partition, for example “select disk 1″. •Use “clean” command to remove GPT disk from the current in-focus disk by zeroing sectors. 3. Go back to Disk Management, you can see all S2VR HD disks are “unallocated” now. Right click on disk info, choose “Initialize Disk”.

1. Choose all drives in S2VR HD and initialize them.

Warning: This command will erase all data on the disk, so please backup your data first.

Answer 3

Maybe use some LiveCD Linux, mount the GPT partition on it and backup all your data to another disk, then convert use on windows this manual and restore your data.