image an mbr drive to a gpt drive will work when using WinPE?


  1. Posts : 2
    win 7 home premium 64
       #1

    image an mbr drive to a gpt drive will work when using WinPE?


    I want to use an imaging program to backup my system drive, for example EaseUS Todo Backup (free). My C: system drive is an MBR type (NTFS) of less than 500GB. I was figuring my backup drive to be a similarly sized (slightly larger just in case) partition on a 4TB external drive, which necessarily is GPT type (also NTFS).

    In my forum browsings I found some comments saying imaging an MBR to a GPT drive could be a problem if one wants to boot from the GPT. Does this problem apply in my case where I would be booting from the Rescue Disc (WinPE), then restoring from the image on the GPT partition?

    Would there be no problem with restoring the image in these 2 possible situations?:

    My original MBR C: drive is ok, I just need to restore my system to a previous state. Therefor, image on the GPT drive is being transferred to the C: drive which is MBR.

    or

    The original MBR C: drive has failed. I get another hard drive, I suppose format it as GPT for consistency/better compatibility? Then restore from the image.

    I haven't gone through a recovery procedure before, so perhaps I'm misunderstanding something fundamental? Thanks for any insight!
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  2. Posts : 7,055
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
       #2

    ericzang said:
    ...... My original MBR C: drive is ok, I just need to restore my system to a previous state. Therefor, image on the GPT drive is being transferred to the C: drive which is MBR.........
    You can restore the image present on the GPT drive. It would not matter whether the image is on a GPT drive or MBR drive.

    ericzang said:
    .......The original MBR C: drive has failed. I get another hard drive, I suppose format it as GPT for consistency/better compatibility? Then restore from the image........
    No, you cannot restore an MBR image onto a GPT drive since GPT has a different partition structure.
    Also Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems. (Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008)

    Further while the PC is in UEFI mode, the Windows PE version must match the PC architecture. A PC in 64-bit UEFI firmware mode can only boot 64-bit versions of Windows PE. A PC in 32-bit UEFI firmware mode can only boot 32-bit versions of Windows PE. On PCs that support both UEFI mode and legacy BIOS mode, you may be able to run 32-bit Windows PE on a 64-bit PC by changing BIOS menu settings from “UEFI mode” to “BIOS mode”, assuming the manufacturer supports legacy BIOS mode.

    Windows and GPT FAQ (Windows Drivers)

    UEFI_Firmware
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  3. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #3

    Macrium Reflect apparently allows you to restore an MBR image to a UEFI/GPT although I have not personally tried it.
    How to Restore an MBR System image to UEFI/GPT (Convert, GPT, MBR, Restore)
    If you have a Windows inbuilt image you will need to attach/mount it then make a Macrium image of the mounted image.
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  4. Posts : 2
    win 7 home premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    thanks very much jumanji and mjf!
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