I recently had to rehouse an 8 TB drive due to damage to the micro B socket. It has only ever been one partition. Windows 8 and Windows 10 incorrectly identify it as being split into 3 partitions. One is unallocated and approximates the amount of data I had on the drive (5 TB); there is also another unallocated drive, and a “healthy” primary RAW partition that is an eighth the full drive size. My research suggests the cause of the problem is that, although drives of that size have to use the “advanced format” (4096 byte sector size – or is it cluster size?), the drive is misinterpreted as using the more traditional 512-byte system. The drive is currently recognised as MBR, so I need to effect an MBR to GPT conversion. Many methods can do this, but my choice is restricted as I don’t want to lose the data. I’ve tried several programs that can do this, such as EaseUS Partition Master and AOMEI Parition Assistant. This has led to me to conclusion that the process will take about 30 seconds, but the programs I’ve tried demand I buy a licence first. Does anyone know a free alternative? [This guide][2] reveals that AOMEI Partition Assistant Lite Edition previously provided a free solution, but does not in its most modern version. Therefore, for my purposes it would suffice if someone knows an appropriate old version number for me to use.
Edit: I've been advised to compare my situation to that described in another question, where GParted was advised. There are some differences between the two situations. Firstly, I need to preserve the data, and GParted carries a data loss risk that the software I listed above does not. Secondly, I'm not trying to partition a drive ready for an OS to be installed on it; my drive will only ever be used externally as additional storage space. However, if GParted can meet my requirements anyway, I'll need to do some more research into how to use it on Windows OSs.
