# Reading & Writing to GPT Partition from WinXP



## The_Janitor (Sep 10, 2012)

So, as a result of data recovery issues from this thread, I decided to remove the 500 Gbyte hard drive from the customers brand-new Windows 8 laptop, and using Easeus Partition Mamager, I repartitioned it so that the system files are operating on 100 Gbytes of disk space, and a new partition (named "Data") had the remaining 400 Gbytes.

Then, I ran a very long data recovery operation with the old hard drive installed as a secondary on a spare WinXP machine, and have identified the recoverable data.

The idea is/was to install the newly partitioned hard drive in a USB enclosure, and write all the recovered data to the 400 Gbyte partition, only <sound of brakes squealing.....>:

WinXP informs me that the entire hard drive is a "GPT Partition" (which I have never heard of before) and according to wikipedia, XP is not going to be able to read from or write to this hard drive. So, before I completely change gears and try to figure out another way to do this, I'd like to check in with the hope that there is a way to salvage this data recovery method.

Are there any 3rd party softwares that will be able to access an installed GPT hard drive on a WinXP machine?

From what I've read, converthing GPT to MBR is not an option (it's a brand-new Win8 installation, and I'm not risking that for any reason). If necessary, I can purchase a 1 Tbyte external USB Hard Drive, and back up the data to that. I was just hoping to avoid that expense.

Any help?


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## The_Janitor (Sep 10, 2012)

The_Janitor said:


> Are there any 3rd party softwares that will be able to access an installed GPT hard drive on a WinXP machine?


So I decided to get over my snit and start looking for a solution, rather than waiting around for it. And found this:

GPT Mounter

Looks promising. Going to try it. Will report on outcome.


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