Solved Can I clone from a W8.1 MBR Boot directly to W8.1 GPT Boot?

Mike Lynch

Member
Messages
52
Location
Clearwater, Florida
I have W8.1 on a 750G MBR Boot Drive.
I want to clone to a 4T GPT Boot Drive.
Is it possible?

Might there be another / easier way?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows-7 64-Bit Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Elite 8300 CMT
    CPU
    3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3770
    Motherboard
    Whatever HP uses
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    On mother board
    Sound Card
    On mother board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    WD Black 6TB
    PSU
    Whatever HP uses
    Case
    Whatever HP uses
    Cooling
    Whatever HP uses
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Spectrum, varies up to 100MB
    Browser
    IE-11 and MS Edge
    Antivirus
    MSE + WebRoot
    Other Info
    Nothing exotic, essentially just generic HP PC
So you may want to clone from Win 8.1 750G MBR boot HD to 4T GPT3 external drive and boot a PC with the 4TB boot drive? However, as these two hard drives are totally different types and may have different partitions, it's possible that after cloning, the data on the 4T GPT drive is incorrect and won't be able to boot any computer.
Here are another two ways I recommend based on my experience:
1. Back up and restore the Win 8.1 system on 4TB external drive. Firstly, format the 4TB GPT external drive to MBR and follow this link to back up and restore the system on the external drive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17127/windows-back-up-restore.
2. Clone the 750G MBR boot drive sector by sector. It means to clone all the sectors on a hard drive, even if the sector is blank or it is a logically bad sector. Thus, the cloned drive will keep exactly the same as the source drive. There are some utilities in the market which can help you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I must have confused you.

The 750MB Windows 8.1 MBR Boot drive is inside my Tower PC.
The 4.0TB Windows Drive is also inside my Tower PC.

I want to Clone from the 750 to the 4.0.

When I execute the Clone, the results are a 2TB MBR Boot Drive.
The remainder of the 4.0TB Drive are not usable or accessible.
The 2TB MBR Boot Drives works just as the 750MB Boot Drive but I lost 2TB's.

I understand the difference between MBR and GPT.
I realize MBR has a maximum limit of 2TB's per Drive.

What I don't understand is how to 'convert' the 2TB MBR Boot Drive into a 4TB GPT Boot Drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows-7 64-Bit Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Elite 8300 CMT
    CPU
    3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3770
    Motherboard
    Whatever HP uses
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    On mother board
    Sound Card
    On mother board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    WD Black 6TB
    PSU
    Whatever HP uses
    Case
    Whatever HP uses
    Cooling
    Whatever HP uses
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Spectrum, varies up to 100MB
    Browser
    IE-11 and MS Edge
    Antivirus
    MSE + WebRoot
    Other Info
    Nothing exotic, essentially just generic HP PC
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