Switching HDDs while switching from MBR to GPT (GPT booting issue)

[hunted22]

Hi everyone..

I'm upgrading my MBR hard drives for larger ones,and I thought it's a chance to convert to GPT. so I initialized a drive with GPT, and then cloned my operating system partition (Win 7) to the new HDD using Acronis disk director (which i use all the time cloning system partitions). and the cloning went normal.. but when I booted to the new drive, I got a message saying that there is no proper boot device detected.

I'm not sure how a GPT partition should look in disk management, but mine just says "primary partition" beside (healthy) nothing more.

It's my first encounter with GPT ever, apart from info I read online. Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks all

 

[exban224]

Hi everyone..

I'm upgrading my MBR hard drives for larger ones,and I thought it's a chance to convert to GPT. so I initialized a drive with GPT, and then cloned my operating system partition (Win 7) to the new HDD using Acronis disk director (which i use all the time cloning system partitions). and the cloning went normal.. but when I booted to the new drive, I got a message saying that there is no proper boot device detected.

I'm not sure how a GPT partition should look in disk management, but mine just says "primary partition" beside (healthy) nothing more.

It's my first encounter with GPT ever, apart from info I read online. Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks all

You have UEFI or BIOS?

 

[Hawkeye22]

You need a 64 bit OS and a EUFI motherboard to boot from a GPT partition.

Q. Can Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 read, write, and boot from GPT disks?

A. Yes, all versions can use GPT partitioned disks for data. Booting is only supported for 64-bit editions on UEFI-based systems.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx

 

[hunted22]

That sucks..

I have UEFI, but my system is 32bit..

I guess I have to upgrade my windows edition before recloning the partition.

No work around this guys?

 

[Hawkeye22]

None that I know of, sorry.

 

[hunted22]

Best answer selected by hunted22.