Does Boot Camp Assistant Partition It in GUID or MBR?

Question

Hi. Does Boot Camp Assistant partition using GUID or MBR? Does it initially format it with FAT32, leave it blank or format it with NTFS for the Windows installer to be able to detect it? How's the Windows installer able to see the Boot Camp partition made by the Assistant? Thank you in advance. Gbu.

Answer 1

Microsoft recommends GPT for 2TB and larger volumes.
MBR can't boot from a volume larger than 1.9TB.
Windows 7 can see GPT just find, but not HFS+, and AppleHFS and MNT are buggy.
Disk Utility can create a drive that uses MBR.
GPT has support for sub-tables and for Master Boot Record.
Apple's implementation of MBR might be on the weak side.
Windows 7 wants to actually have and boot from the 100MB system partition.
Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Sun etc are members of EFI Group and Unified EFI is supported on Windows Vista SP1 64-bit and later 64-bit versions, but Apple's is more proprietary and differs, but is the sole reason really for Apple's excluding and including which Macs are "supported" (which really isn't true) running Windows 64-bit (Vista/7) - that they have to have EFI64 or UEFI 2.x.
The external drive is likely something else, as you could format a drive to GPT and NTFS and have it work fine.
The best way to 'clean' a drive of all partition tables and volumes is with Windows and something like WD Lifeguard or similar tool.
As for hybrid, while some Macs can now boot by default to 64-bit kernel mode, I prefer the "from the ground up" of Windows 7 64-bit which still supports and runs 32-bit apps, but of course mandates 64-bit drivers in places.
Your Apple disks not only have GPT, but have to have other partitions like EFI (128MB) after any HFS partition. GPT does have an MBR - see the Apple tech note #2166.
Windows and GPT FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx
*Secrets of GPT* http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html
Table 1: GPT Summary
Block Description
0 Protective MBR
1 Partition Table Header (primary)
2 through 2+b-1 Partition Entry Array (primary)
2+b through n-2-b partition data
n-2-b+1 through n-2 Partition Entry Array (backup)
n-1 Partition Table Header (backup)
The protective MBR is an MBR that defines a single partition entry that covers the entire area of the disk used by GPT structures and partitions. It is designed to prevent GPT-unaware programs from accidentally modifying a GPT disk. A GPT-unaware program sees the GPT disk as an MBR disk with a single, unknown partition. In a way, this is like the HFS wrapper around an HFS Plus disk.