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

[ericzang]

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!

 

[jumanji]

...... 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.

.......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

 

[mjf]

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.

 

[ericzang]

thanks very much jumanji and mjf!