I need to convert this hard drive to MBR. I'm trying to dual boot Windows and Linux and my Windows XP install disk won't even attempt to install anything on it (doesn't even see it). I have a Knoppix LiveCD that I can boot said machine with and fdisk -l shows that the partition type is EFI GPT. fdisk doesn't seem to want to do anything more than list this information. parted's man page doesn't seem to say anything about converting to MBR. I've got a windows machine that I can mount the hard drive on (in an external enclosure). I tried using the windows utility diskpart to convert it to mbr, but it doesn't show the disk as being GPT, so it won't convert it.

What exactly does EFI GPT mean anyway? And how can I convert this beast to MBR?

Thanks everyone in advance!

When in doubt try wikipedia.
If were my disk, I'd just zero the start of the drive, then use [cs]fdisk to write a partition table. Haven't tried it though, so take it for what it's worth.

and if the next time you give info like machine model types of hard drives etc etc would be nice. A mbr is the very first segment of the hard drive that is set to hold a boot loader. all dos Disk Operated Systems look for this it is called the mbr. if you want windows loader back boot your live cd sudo fdisk mbr
if you want to dual boot read the links.