Switching from BIOS boot to UEFI, after the fact...

Radium_Angel · January 4, 2019

I have a system, a Dell Precision T5610. Boots from a Samsung (forget the model currently) SATA SSD into Windows 8.1. Uses BIOS mode.

So far, so good.

The BIOS also supports booting from UEFI mode, but I am uncertain if there would be any advantage to switching over to said mode.

In addition, I have no desire to re-install everything, if an advantage exists to go from BIOS to UEFI for booting, can the SSD install be modified to accept this, or do I have to start fresh?

Electronics Wizardy · January 4, 2019

UEFI is better, but its not worth the effort to switch. I wouldn't bother. It won't make it any faster.

homeap5 · January 4, 2019

You can convert your installation from legacy to uefi using some methods, but don't expect anything more than few seconds faster boot.

And if you have no access to second computer, it may be even more complicated. This process requires shrinking partition, convert from mbr to gpt and create uefi partitions for system. IMO is not worth your time.

Radium_Angel · January 4, 2019

24 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

You can convert your installation from legacy to uefi using some methods, but don't expect anything more than few seconds faster boot.

And if you have no access to second computer, it may be even more complicated. This process requires shrinking partition, convert from mbr to gpt and create uefi partitions for system. IMO is not worth your time.

I have 15 systems (I'm not addicted, I swear! Most of those are linux boxes but nevermind) but as I've discovered, and you guys have mentioned, the ~second or two I shave off the 5 second boot time isn't worth the hassle, so thank you for that