What is a GPT disk? How to recover data from a GPT partition?

A partition is a contiguous block of storage space on a physical or logical disk that appears to be a physically separate disk. Partitions are visible to the system firmware and the installed operating system. Access to partitions is controlled by the system firmware before the operating system is booted, and by the operating system after it starts.

GPT disks can be extended to very large sizes. The number of partitions on a GPT disk is not limited by stopgap solutions such as the Master Boot Record (MBR) Extended Boot Record (EBR) partitioning scheme.

The GPT partitioning format is well-defined and fully self-describing. Data essential to the operation of the system is stored within partitions, not in unpartitioned or “hidden” sectors. GPT disks use both a primary and a backup partition table for redundancy, and include a CRC32 field to improve the integrity of its partition data structures. The GPT partition format includes version and size fields to allow for future expansion. Each GPT partition has a unique GUID identifier and a type code, so that partition identifiers can be used without fear of conflict. Each GPT partition also has a 36-character Unicode name, meaning that any software can display a human-readable name for a partition without needing to understand its contents.

To maintain backward compatibility with disk-management utilities that use MBR, the GPT contains a protective MBR. The GPT header defines the range of logical block addresses (LBAs) available for partition entries. The GPT header also defines its location on the disk, its GUID, and a 32-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC32) checksum used to verify the integrity of the GPT header. Each entry in the GUID Partition Table begins with a partition-type GUID. The 16-byte partition-type GUID is similar to a system ID in an MBR disk partition table and identifies the type of data contained in the partition and the purpose of the partition (for example, whether it is a basic or dynamic disk). Note that each GUID partition entry has a backup copy.

Solutions to Recover Data from GPT Disk in UTF-8 Encoding Format

Data Recovery Software Tools compatible with all Windows OS to recover files lost due to deletion, formatting, raw partition, virus attack, system crash from GPT disks.

Data Recovery Wizard is the best data recovery software to solve all your data loss issues – recover files from hard drive, external hard drive, USB drive, memory card, digital camera, mobile phone, music player and more storage devices. It recovers files lost due to deletion, formatting, software crash, hard drive failure, virus attack, partition loss or any other unknown reasons. Just 3 simple steps and a few clicks, you can get back all your lost contents!

GPT disk backup software

If the data on the GPT drive has been overwritten by new content, the chances of recovery will be slim. To better safeguard the data security on your GPT disk, you can use a backup software like Todo Backup. It offers system backup & restore, hard disk or partition backup & restore, and disk cloning to protect your system and disks. It can back up your entire PC, including the operating system and all your data, applications, settings, and everything else.

GPT Disk Partition Management Software

If the partitions on a GPT disk fail to meet the demands, for example, system partition runs out of space due to system updates or any other reasons, the system will run slowly and the PC performance will decrease. It's a good idea to solve this problem with a partition manager.