2TB 3 partition bootable MBR to 3 partition bootable GPT 4TB drive

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  1. Posts : 135
    Win7 x64
       #1

    2TB 3 partition bootable MBR to 3 partition bootable GPT 4TB drive


    I have a 2TB MBR drive w/ W7 in the 1st partition. Partitions 2 & 3 are used as separate storage.
    I want to xfer all of that to a 4TB GPT drive including resizing the 2nd & 3rd partitions. Most of that storage material are mp4 movies.

    I realize the MBR to GPT problem due to the drive sizes, but I wanted to use a 'image' of Win7 to go in the 1st 32GB active partition. Transferring that data isn't a issue, it's xfering the MBR W7 to a GPT W7 in that 1st partition w/o the hassle of re-installing Windows .

    I have AOMEI Partition Assistant which I just got, but my images are from True Image 2019 that I've been using for some time now. Can I setup a clean HDD to GPT, making it bootable & active then using one of the other programs restore that image to that 1st partition?

    Hope all of that made sense.
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  2. Posts : 16,395
    7 X64
       #2

    You could.

    1. initialize the target 4tb disk to gpt and create esp and msr partitions on it.

    2. mount your acronis image as a physical disk

    3. use something like winntsetup wincopy to migrate from the mounted image to the gpt disk.
    I haven't tried using diskgenius os migration to migrate from mounted mbr image to gpt disk, that might also be a way to do it.

    **************************************************************************************************** ********

    A different way is to restore the mbr image to the the 4 tb disk. Then convert the 4tb to gpt afterwards and adjust the partition sizes. Unless you know what you are doing, you might end up with the esp partition in an awkward place.
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  3. Posts : 135
    Win7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    That maybe over the top for me.
    This AOMEI Partition Assistant seems to have the ability to do this, if I can figure out the steps. I believe if I create an current image using this program instead of 'True Image', it would help with the conversion, it's just it's another of these 'it does everything' programs that winds up being more confusing..
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  4. Posts : 16,395
    7 X64
       #4

    I dont think aomei partition assistant is for creating images. It is a partition manager. It can be used to intialize a disk to gpt

    Aomei backupper can create images. Apparently it can restore system image from mbr disk image to gpt disk.

    Restoring MBR System Image to GPT/UEFI (Safe Boot)
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  5. Posts : 3,868
    win 8 32 bit
       #5

    AOMEI Partition can convert drives from mbr to gpt etc
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  6. Posts : 135
    Win7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    It can "Clone" partitions, but apparently can't image them like True Image can.
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  7. Posts : 7,389
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #7

    The computer has UEFI BIOS - GA-970A-D3P (rev. 1.0) Overview | Motherboard - GIGABYTE U.S.A.
    You can convert the 2T Legacy- MBR drive to UEFI-GPT booting a Win 10 installation drive and on a CMD windows run mbr2gpt.exe . Then clone the 2T UEFI-GPT drive to the 4T drive

    Why don't you install a small SSD (MBR or GPT) just for Win 7 and programs and use the 4T HDD (GPT) for data only?
    You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.
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  8. Posts : 135
    Win7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    My SSD drive has W7 with all my programs on the 2nd partition which is my main O/S
    The backup drive is on this 2TD HDD that I'm replacing with a 4TB, that will have 3 partitions also, still w/ W7.
    W10 is way too bloated even after slimming it down. 10x the number of service hosts running for starters. And forget W11.
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  9. Posts : 7,389
    Windows 7 HP 64
       #9

    videobruce said:
    My SSD drive has W7 with all my programs on the 2nd partition which is my main O/S
    The backup drive is on this 2TD HDD that I'm replacing with a 4TB, that will have 3 partitions also, still w/ W7.
    W10 is way too bloated even after slimming it down. 10x the number of service hosts running for starters. And forget W11.
    I think you didn't understand what I proposed. I never said to install Win 10.
    What I said is to use a Win 10 installation drive to convert the 2T Legacy - MBR into a UEFI - GPT drive.

    You can convert all legacy - mbr boot able drives to UEFI-GPT using mbr2gpt.exe

    You can have ALL your drives (boot able or not) as GPT

    This is my Disk manager image. All my drives are GPT
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  10. Posts : 135
    Win7 x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    I'll have to wait until I get the new 4TB HDD. I will experiment with setting it up as a GPT bootable.

    I partly bypass the process that creates those extra partitions that waste space. I use the 'hack' that fools that install process and loads the files into only one partition instead of three. I've never had a problem with doing it that way as I have had good images of the O/S; initial with no programs and current.
    Last edited by videobruce; 09 Jun 2024 at 13:32. Reason: added text
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