The BIOS is the software that is embedded inside a chip in the Hardware of our computer and that serves so that it is possible to boot and identify the devices of the computer. Until a few years ago, the BIOS was in its infancy, however, it has grown, aged, and in a few years it will now be a thing of the past for computers, finally handing over the baton to its newest successor, UEFI.
What exactly is UEFI? UEFI or otherwise (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). This is a new technology that replaces that of the BIOS but that nevertheless solves many problems and limitations.
UEFI includes many new technologies such as the ability to remotely diagnose and repair computers, even without an operating system installed. It also works with a new partitioning system called GPT, which does not include the limitations of MBR. Specifically the MBR (a special boot sector type that retains information about how logical partitions containing filesystems are organized on this medium and includes executable code to act as the operating system bootloader).
In contrast, GPT does not suffer from MBR limits. GPT drives can be much larger, with size limits depending on the operating system and its file systems. GPT also allows for an almost unlimited number of partitions but again, the limit here is your operating system. Windows allows up to 128 partitions on a GPT without having to create an extended partition to work. All modern PC operating systems now support GPT. However, some operating systems, including macOS and Microsoft Windows on x86, only support booting from GPT partitions on systems with EFI firmware.
Also, some operating systems may not support MBR as a system drive such as MAC, but on the contrary certain versions of Windows may not work with GPT hard disk such as Windows 2000, XP, Windows 2003 32bit.
The difference between booting UEFI Boot and Legacy is the way each of them uses to find the boot target. The two methods are not compatible with each other. For example, you may have problems installing Windows if your hard drive was partitioned using MBR, and then you try to reinstall Windows by enabling UEFI.
Legacy boot is the boot process used by the BIOS firmware. In this case it maintains a list of installed storage devices that can boot (hard drives, optical drives, etc.) and lists them in a series of settings after loading the first sector of each storage target into memory and detecting it for a valid Master Boot Record (MBR).
If a valid MBR is detected, it passes the execution to the boot load code located in the MBR, which allows the user to select the partition from which to boot. If no one is found, it goes to the next device in the boot order.
UEFI boot is the boot process used by the newest Bios replacement. In this case it maintains a list of valid boot volumes called EFI service partitions. During the authentication process, UEFI scans all boot devices connected to the system for a valid GUID distribution board (GPT). Unlike an MBR, a GPT does not contain a boot loader while the firmware itself scans the GPTs to find a portion of the EFI service to boot.
The question that usually prevails is the following. Can we change the boot mode once we have installed windows and convert the disk from MBR to GPT? The answer is yes and there are many ways we can do it.
One of them can be achieved through windows disk management, but for the disk that we will choose to convert, we must know that we will lose all the data, since we must first follow a specific procedure, delete it and then create a new volume and disk. and finally convert it to GPT.
However there are many third party options that allow you to convert MBR to GPT without losing our data. One of them is EaseUS Partition Master Free. The latest version allows you to convert an MBR to GPT without deleting the partitions. This way, you can avoid the problem of data loss during the MBR to GPT conversion process. Also another way is through its free version MiniTool Partition Wizard
However, here we need to clarify an important detail regarding the free versions. You can not convert the disk that is currently running windows.
In this case we should use a professional tool of the kind. In the market you will find several programs (including the professional versions of the above applications) but also the Pro version of Aomei Partition Assistant, where the whole process is very simple, is achieved in a few steps and is completed in a few minutes. (we tried it on our computer).
In any case, whichever software you prefer, the conversion process is generally secure, however, you should not forget that in any case you should definitely get backup copies of your operating system before proceeding.
One of them can be achieved through windows disk management, but for the disk that we will choose to convert, we must know that we will lose all the data, since we must first follow a specific procedure, delete it and then create a new volume and disk. and finally convert it to GPT.
However there are many third party options that allow you to convert MBR to GPT without losing our data. One of them is EaseUS Partition Master Free. The latest version allows you to convert an MBR to GPT without deleting the partitions. This way, you can avoid the problem of data loss during the MBR to GPT conversion process. Also another way is through its free version MiniTool Partition Wizard
In this case we should use a professional tool of the kind. In the market you will find several programs (including the professional versions of the above applications) but also the Pro version of Aomei Partition Assistant, where the whole process is very simple, is achieved in a few steps and is completed in a few minutes. (we tried it on our computer).
In any case, whichever software you prefer, the conversion process is generally secure, however, you should not forget that in any case you should definitely get backup copies of your operating system before proceeding.
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