Restoring MBR Windows 8.1 backup image on a GPT partition?

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svinec

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Nov 30, 2014
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Hi everyone,

I have the following scenario:

1. Installed Windows 8.1 on an MBR hard disk using Legacy boot from USB;
2. I now have two partitions:
"C: - system reserved" and
"D: - windows 8.1 (primary)";
3. Backuped both partitions using Acronis True Image 2015;
4. Completely formated/cleaned hard disk (using bootable Paragon Hard Disk Manager);
5. Converted hard disk from MBR to GPT (using bootable Paragon Hard Disk Manager);
6. Installed a FRESH copy of Windows 8.1 using UEFI boot from USB;
7. I now have four partitions:
"E: - recovery",
"F: - system",
"G: - MSR (reserved)" and
"H: - windows 8.1 (primary)";
8. Using Acronis True Image 2015 again I restored ONLY the "D: - windows 8.1 (primary)" partition onto "H: - windows 8.1 (primary)";
9. The system boots up successfully under UEFI boot setting and in Windows Disk Management it recognizes the hard disk as a GPT disk;

I would like to ask if someone knows whether there would be any differences whatsoever between (a) the scenario above and (b) a completely fresh install on GPT disk using UEFI boot? (differences regarding system performance, system features, capabilities, etc.)

I was able to spot these differences (btw I'm using a laptop - Acer Aspire E5 572G):
- the system boots faster with fresh GPT install (system boots slower in scenario above);
- Sleep and Hibernate work normally with fresh GPT install (system can't Sleep/Hibernate in scenario above - it does a hard shut down after a while)


Important note! If you connect a MBR disk to a machine with GPT Windows 8 - even through an external USB3.0 docking station! - f*cking Windows 8 will transform that disk to GPT without any warning (and if there are operating systems on that disk they become non-bootable - this is how my MBR Windows 8 became non-bootable when I used Paragon Hard Disk Manager to convert the disk to GPT).


Thank you!
 
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windows 8.1 has a new feature called fast startup and it interconnects with the hibernation file. turning this feature on or off might resolve issues with restarting, sleep, hibernation and shutdown.

1 to to turn fast start up off go to > change what the power buttons do and then below uncheck fast startup.
2 refreshing hibernation file with this command; powercfg -h off then powercfg -h on might resolve the issue.

I've turned fast startup off as this resolves issues with SDDs not being able to shut power off cleanly every time a restart or shutdown is required. Smart data confirms turning off this feature works.

considering scenario A this might actually work. because you used legacy before and not UEFI.

in short; shutting down...
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patrickIT

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Nov 30, 2014
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GPT SUPPORTS redundancy;

GPT stores multiple copies of data across the disk, so it’s much more robust and can recover if the data is corrupted. GPT also stores cyclic redundancy check (CRC) values to check that its data is intact if the data is corrupted, GPT can notice the problem and attempt to recover the damaged data from another location on the disk.

more info;

GPT is modern and more robust it's the new standard you will want to use it, you need it if UEFI.
MBR is limited to 2tb drives, whereas GPT can support much larger sizes.
Windows will allow up to 128 partitions on GPT.
Linux has built-in support for GPT, just so you know.

UEFI gives you the nice GUI, but the real reason for it's design was the rise of rootkits, which would typically load itself before OS (unauthorized bootloader) the danger of this is that the AV protection would be rendered useless. UEFI protects against this.


hope this answers the question for you. ;)


 
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svinec

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Nov 30, 2014
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Thanks patrickIT, but I believe you answered a question like "What's the advantage of GPT over MBR?". Whereas both my examples (a) and (b) are GPT based. It's just that in example (a) the operating system was restored from a MBR install instance. And I already spotted two issues with this case (which I mentioned above). Thanks though.
 
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patrickIT

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Nov 30, 2014
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windows 8.1 has a new feature called fast startup and it interconnects with the hibernation file. turning this feature on or off might resolve issues with restarting, sleep, hibernation and shutdown.

1 to to turn fast start up off go to > change what the power buttons do and then below uncheck fast startup.
2 refreshing hibernation file with this command; powercfg -h off then powercfg -h on might resolve the issue.

I've turned fast startup off as this resolves issues with SDDs not being able to shut power off cleanly every time a restart or shutdown is required. Smart data confirms turning off this feature works.

considering scenario A this might actually work. because you used legacy before and not UEFI.

in short; shutting down your computer in windows 8.1 is not the same procedure as it was in Windows 7. This is why W8.1 boots so much faster then W7

because you actually used a backup with old hiberfil.sys file this might cause issues.

note# fast startup functionality only really works if also a similar option in the bios is turned on

Hope this helps for the two issues mentioned above, I'm new to posting on forums just so you know :)



 
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