Lacie 2big USB 3.0 User Manual - Page 26

LaCie 2big USB 3.0 • DESIGN BY NEIL POULTON User Manual 3.4.3. Formatting for Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users Master Boot Record or GUID Partition Table? Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning has been the hard drive standard for many years. It supports a maximum of four primary partitions with a size limit of 2TB per partition. Due to partition limitations in the face of ever-expanding hard disk drive sizes, Global Unique Identifier Partition Tables (GPT) has been established to allow for more partitions with greater capacities. Further, GPT has many additional advantages that may offer enhancements in performance. However, GPT is not compatible with Windows XP 32-bit. While Windows XP 64-bit supports GPT, it is best to use MBR if you intend to share your LaCie device with computers running Windows XP 32-bit. Switching from MBR to GPT or, conversely, from GPT to MBR, is not difficult. Please copy all important data to a separate disk before making the change since adjusting the partition table format is destructive: Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage. From the Manage window select Disk Management and find your LaCie disk drive. Right-click on the disk number to choose GPT (Fig. 25) or MBR (Fig. 26). The steps listed below will help you format and partition your disk drive using Windows Vista and Windows 7. Please see 3.4.2. Formatting for Window XP Users or 3.4.4. Formatting for Mac Users for instructions on formatting using alternative operating systems. For more information on the optimal file format, go to 3.4.1. File System Formats. 1. Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage. From the Manage window select Disk Management. 2. From the list of drives in the middle of the Disk Management window, right-click on your LaCie hard disk drive. Select New Simple Volume... (Fig. 24) Fig. 24 Fig. 25 continued on the next page>> Fig. 26 Formatting page 26