Windows 8.1 installation in UEFI mode

Hi there -

Can one install Windows 8.1 64-bit version in UEFI mode to one disk and leave all the other disks in the system using the NTFS mode. Also, must the Acronis 2015 Disk backup be saved on a disk with a GPT partition or not.

Many thanks in advance for any help - reading all about it on the net has totally confused me!

Yes you can have a OS on UEIF/GPT and have BIOS/MBR Data disk. You can't have 2 OS on different formats.
Acronis should run from a USB Drive I would go with FAT32 but you'll have to check with their Support Forum as to whether their recovery program will run from A NTFS USB or DVD
Quick search gets these answers https://kb.acronis.com/search/site/Create%20recovery%20media I guess they are still using Lunix based recovery media.

UEFI and NTFS are two different animals. One does not depend on the other.

UEFI comes from the BIOS on the motherboard and NTFS is the hard drive format, independent of the motherboard.

It's important, to NOT get those two things mixed up.

Yes, you can have Windows installed to a GPT disk, and boot it via UEFI, while having any and all other disks formatted for MBR.


Now you should take care to try to always use UEFI mode, as it's the new standard, and MBR is tired and old.

That doesn't stop you from having another Windows installation legacy-booting from an MBR disk, right beside your UEFI installed Windows (different disks though).



You can also very easily convert between GPT and MBR without losing any data.

Almost as easily, you can convert Windows between UEFI and BIOS booting as well, without losing anything.

Clintlgm said:

Acronis should run from a USB Drive I would go with FAT32 but you'll have to check with their Support Forum as to whether their recovery program will run from A NTFS USB or DVD
Quick search gets these answers https://kb.acronis.com/search/site/Create%20recovery%20media I guess they are still using Lunix based recovery media.

Click to expand...

Lol. Linux is definately the best way to back up your disks/partitions. It doesn't impose silly restrictions on the user based on partition IDs, and exposes the raw partition in a much simpler way.



Recovert media is VERY easy to make for UEFI systems whether you use Linux, or Windows, or whatever.

All you need is a usb with a FAT32 filesystem, and the boot files can be dropped right onto it. No more needing to write a boot sector to the disk (which on Windows was a PITA for someone new to the concept...)

UEFI is a boot mode applying to GPT disk while NTFS is a file system invented by Microsoft. You can use NTFS file system on GPT disk or MBR disk. Acronis 2015 Disk backup can be saved on a disk with a GPT partition