HP 600B GPT Hard Disk Drives for HP Business Desktops - Page 6

Figure 4. Startup Menu OS Support 32-bit Microsoft Windows™ will not provide boot support for GPT. For HP desktops, bootable GPT drives and data storage drives will be initially supported under the Microsoft Windows 7™ SP1 64-bit OS. Bootable GPT drives can also be supported under the Microsoft Vista™ SP1 64-bit OS. Both of these operating systems require a UEFI BIOS to support a bootable GPT drive. Data storage-only GPT drives will be supported under 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7™ SP1 and can be supported under 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Vista™. At this time, there are no immediate plans for HP Desktops to directly support GPT drives under Linux™ (HP Workstations have separate OS plans). Table 2 summarizes current OS support for HP Desktops. Table 2. Summary of OS support for GPT drives by HP Desktops Operating system GPT Boot Support? GPT Data Storage Support? Windows 7™ SP1 64-bit Yes (requires UEFI BIOS) Yes Windows 7™ SP1 32-bit No Yes Windows Vista™ SP1 64-bit Yes (requires UEFI BIOS) Yes Windows Vista™ SP1 32-bit No Yes Linux™ No direct support from HP No direct support from HP Storage Driver Support Since GPT drives have capacities beyond 2.2TB, support is required through updated storage drivers. Storage driver support can be provided with certain newer operating systems' AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) drivers for larger drive capacities. For improved performance, HP Desktops support GPT hard drives with storage device drivers from AMD™ and Intel™. These drivers will support both single drive implementation in AHCI and RAID 0 (striped) and RAID 1 (mirrored) formats. Expected timeframe for AHCI support is 1H 2011. Support for GPT drives in bootable RAID configurations is expected in 2H 2011. 6