Trying to understand my Boot Options - USB listed twice - which one?

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  1. steveeyes
    Posts : 19
    windows 7
       New #1

    Trying to understand my Boot Options - USB listed twice - which one?


    I have a gigabyte z97 series mother board. By pressing f12 I can choose my boot options instead of going into setup.

    To boot from a USB I have to have a USB in a USB port. So I put my USB in a port, reboot, press F12 to get my boot options.

    The options look like this:

    PO: Samsung SSD 850 EVO
    P2: ATAPI iHAS124E
    P1: WDS WD10003FZEX
    UEFI: UFD 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100
    UFD: 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100

    Pretty sure the last two listings is for my USB port.

    But why does it list it twice when I only have one USB in my port?

    Which one would I choose for booting off of a USB flash drive?

    Thanks

    p.s. not sure if it makes a difference but I will be booting from a USB stick with windows 10 installed.
    Also when I go into my setup it says I have a "Gigabyte UEFI Dual Bios" if that helps.
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  3. SIW2
    Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       New #2

    Depends if you want to boot in efi mode or bios mode.

    If you installed windows in efi mode, then choose that option and vice versa
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  4. steveeyes
    Posts : 19
    windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Hmmm, I guess I'm still confused. This will be a new installation of windows 10 on a new ssd drive. I guess I'll ask my questions again. Please note that I'm a real novice so these terms I'm just now learning about.

    1. In my post above I list what my boot options were. Why does it list it twice when I only have one USB plugged into my usb port? My gut says it has something to do with BIOS mode v.s. EFI mode as posted above. I don't understand the difference to know which is best.

    Is there a way to find out how my current mode of booting in windows 7 is?

    2. From the two USB options in my boot options (pressing f12) above, is one choose better than the other? When I load my boot options by pressing F12 it says at the top of my options Gigabyte UEFI Dual Bios

    Again sorry but this is so foreign to me that it seems like a completely new language. I tried googling for an answer but had no luck.
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  6. SIW2
    Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       New #4

    If windows is installed on a disk with mbr partition style - it is bios.

    If windows is installed on a disk with gpt partition style - it is efi. Windows can only boot under efi from a gpt disk.

    (As always, there are geek workarounds to many of these things - but you probably don't want to muck around with that stuff.)

    If you boot the windows installation media under efi, it will tell you it can't install to mbr disk. If the disk is not initialized, it will automatically initialize it to efi and create the necessary partitions during installation.

    If you are booting up recovery\repair media you need to use the correct mode or the windows system recovery tools will not function properly.

    This is why you have a choice of modes to boot from usb.

    There are two bios modes - the original has been around a long time and is simply called bios - a more recent thing is called efi or uefi.

    There are two disk partitioning styles - mbr and gpt.

    it is confusing because both modes support both partition styles. For example, it is possible to have windows installed in bios mode on an mbr disk and at the same time have a data disk which is partitioned gpt style ( which is required to access all availabe space on disks larger than 2tb). There is a 2tb limit on the size of disk that mbr partition style can address.
    Last edited by SIW2; 22 Nov 2019 at 10:31.
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  7. SIW2
    Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       New #5

    If you are about to install win10 you will have to decide which mode you want. Obviously your mobo bios can do either. Most mobos since about 2010 can.

    If you are unsure you can just look at the disk you are booted into , or you can run bcdedit at command prompt. If the loader is listed as winload.exe that is bios. If it is listed as winload.efi, that is efi.

    Trying to understand my Boot Options - USB listed twice - which one?-bcdedit-winload.jpg
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  8. SIW2
    Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       New #6

    You could have win7 installed in bios mode on one disk, and win10 installed in efi mode on a different disk.
    But that could be a bit awkward when it comes to selecting which disk to boot into.


    There is probably a "both" setting as default in your bios configuration. Press something at startup - probably F2 for gigabyte and you can have a look round your bios settings and check.


    You haven't listed the mobo in your specs.



    Windows Setup: Installing using the MBR or GPT partition style | Microsoft Docs

    Boot to UEFI Mode or Legacy BIOS mode | Microsoft Docs
    Last edited by SIW2; 22 Nov 2019 at 10:44.
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  10. steveeyes
    Posts : 19
    windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    Trying to understand my Boot Options - USB listed twice - which one?-mobo.jpg


    Wow..thank you...great info. Not sure if the attached is my mobo specs or not. Thanks again.
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  11. Megahertz07
    Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       New #8

    steveeyes said:
    I have a gigabyte z97 series mother board. By pressing f12 I can choose my boot options instead of going into setup.

    To boot from a USB I have to have a USB in a USB port. So I put my USB in a port, reboot, press F12 to get my boot options.

    The options look like this:

    PO: Samsung SSD 850 EVO
    P2: ATAPI iHAS124E
    P1: WDS WD10003FZEX
    UEFI: UFD 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100
    UFD: 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100

    Pretty sure the last two listings is for my USB port.

    But why does it list it twice when I only have one USB in my port?

    Which one would I choose for booting off of a USB flash drive?

    Thanks

    p.s. not sure if it makes a difference but I will be booting from a USB stick with windows 10 installed.
    Also when I go into my setup it says I have a "Gigabyte UEFI Dual Bios" if that helps.
    As I understood, the USB drive is a Win 10 installation disk.
    As SIW2 already explained, you can boot this installation disk into 2 ways: Legacy or UEFI

    Installation
    Both modes install same Win 10 but in different modes:
    - If you boot as Legacy it will install Win 10 as Legacy - MBR (the disk will be MBR style)
    - If you boot as UEFI it will install Win 10 as UEFI - GPT (the disk will be GPT style)

    Win 10 (or Win 7) will work the same way on a Legacy or UEFI. I use UEFI - GPT as it is more up to date.

    Maintenance
    To repair an installation you must boot in the same mode you have installed.
    - If you installed Win 10 in Legacy - MBR you must boot the Win 10 installation disk as Legacy.
    - If you installed Win 10 in UEFI- GPT you must boot the Win 10 installation disk as UEFI.

    Can you please post an image of Disk Manager (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) to see what you have?
    Do you plan to install Win 10 in the same disk you have Win 7 (dual boot)?

    PS.: Gigabyte UEFI Dual Bios means that you have the MoBo firmware in two memory chips. It's a Gigabyte characteristic. If one gets corrupted it will use the other. Nothing to do with installation mode.
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  12. steveeyes
    Posts : 19
    windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    Trying to understand my Boot Options - USB listed twice - which one?-diskmgt.jpg


    Thanks for the info. Appreciate it. Crossing my fingers the attachment is what you are looking for.

    Based on the feedback from you all, it seems I can go either way: UEFI or Legacy.

    When I Press F12 for my boot options I get the following:

    The options look like this:

    PO: Samsung SSD 850 EVO
    P2: ATAPI iHAS124E
    P1: WDS WD10003FZEX
    UEFI: UFD 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100
    UFD: 3.0 Silicon-Power 32G1100

    The bottom 2 is for my USB so if I understand you all, I can use either one when I install my windows 10.


    Thanks
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  13. Megahertz07
    Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       New #10

    Your Win 7 disk is UEFI - GPT.
    Your D: disk is MBR (but you can convert to GPT)
    Do you plan to install Win 10 in the same disk you have Win 7 (dual boot)?
    Is \Users on the D: drive?
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