Convert from MBR to GPT keeping installations ?

Hello !
I have windows 8.1 on a standard MBR partition.
Is possible to convert to GPT without loosing the installations I made ?
( Of course the Bios support UEFI ).
Thank you !

Yes and No.. Need to see present partition layout..

from command prompt(admin)
type> diskpart
type> list volume
type> select disk 0
type> list partition

post a pic

Hello !
The results from your commands are as below :
Partition..............Type.......................Size......................Offset
Partition1...............Primary........................268GB.........................31 KB
Partition2...............Extended.....................197GB.........................268GB
Partition3.................Logical........................197GB........................268GB

Nope..

although not all the info I was hoping for..

Why not ?

Also , I have read this :
You are being redirected...
But I'm afraid to do .
Can this work ?
Thank you !

KYHI was looking for a screen capture of the diskpart commands, something like this:

Hello !
I can't get a screenshot , but the full information are these :

list disk
Disk............. status................Free....................DYN..................GPT
Disk 0..............Online..................1024KB

Select Disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk

list partition
Partition..............Type.......................Size......................Offset
Partition1...............Primary........................268GB.........................31 KB
Partition2...............Extended.....................197GB.........................268GB
Partition3.................Logical........................197GB........................268GB

Check Partition Wizard Bootable CD.

Here are instructions:

It is very easy to convert MBR disk to GPT disk without data loss.

I have seen that link , but when I have tried this method , at the end the windows didn't boot at all , and I have revert back to MBR. It's seems that this method only works when converting data partition , not System boot partition.

When I was looking into converting my MBR partitioned drive to GPT, I was concerned with registry entries becoming invalid once the files they referred to were located on a drive with different partition structure. Still don't know for sure what the truth is about that.

As it happened, I ended up haveing to re-instal Windows a few weeks ago, did so in UEFI/GPT configuration, installed my hardware drivers, let windows install all the updates it needed and then re-installed all the programs I needed. It wasn't exactly a quick or easy process.

I was thinking if it's possible for example to make an image of windows partition (MBR) , and after to delete all my partitions , create the gpt structure , and after to restore the image on the gpt partititon.
Is there any chance to do this ?

Here is the issue with converting MBR to GPT..

With MBR you can share the System and Windows partition (1 partition in NTFS Format)

GPT requires a FAT32 System partition and a NTFS Windows partition - 2 partitions and you cant share them..

Converting from MBR to GPT means you no longer have a valid boot partition or boot files..

You could make an > Backup Image < of your current C drive and restore it later to the new GPT disk..

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I had a whole page written - and decided it would be to hard to explain..
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Enable UEFI and clean install windows 8.1

Restore your > Backup Image to C:

Macrium Reflect Free

Hi there

Like all things on the Internet you often don't get the WHOLE truth.

If you CHANGE the boot disk to GPT then you will LOSE the "C" partition as you will need to install the UEFI version of W8.

What *Might* (I'm not sure as I haven't actually tried this yet) be possible is to take an image of your existing (MBR) C partition, then restore it on to the GPT partition and when the boot fails try and do "Repair system" from the Windows recovery / install media.

If you haven't got the install media I believe there's info in the tutorial section on how to create one.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there

Like all things on the Internet you often don't get the WHOLE truth.

If you CHANGE the boot disk to GPT then you will LOSE the "C" partition as you will need to install the UEFI version of W8.

What *Might* (I'm not sure as I haven't actually tried this yet) be possible is to take an image of your existing (MBR) C partition, then restore it on to the GPT partition and when the boot fails try and do "Repair system" from the Windows recovery / install media.

If you haven't got the install media I believe there's info in the tutorial section on how to create one.

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

I ask a question to several image software companies , but neither support restoring a MBR image to a GPT partition. do you know a software that can do this ?