UEFI / Legacy Windows 8.1 install

[peterpepo]

Hello,
as I have already ordered parts for my build, I also started reading "what, where, how, why" has changed since my last computer installation / build.

What is new for me is UEFI. The board that I ordered - Msi Z97 Gaming 7 has UEFI bios, and it also supports UEFI or Legacy mode of booting / installation of operating system.

 

Now, what is this all about ?

What are basic pros / cons of UEFI comparing to old BIOS ?

 

From what I've red untill now:

+uefi supports 2TB+ hard drives as bootdrives

+boot times should be slightly better

-imaging software such as Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost doesn't support GPT partition systems

 

->so if I understood correctly: MBR is not supported on Uefi windows installation

->GPT is supported, but Imaging Software can't read that correctly (actually I don't really care about imaging software, I rather do clean install)

->UEFI boot and UEFI bios are different things

++->uefi BIOS does support mouse, advanced graphics, more features

++->uefi INSTALL fully unleashes potential of uefi bios, and man must run uefi bios in order to make uefi installation

 

So are there, and if, what are real advantages / disadvantages of UEFI bios and then UEFI installation ? What is this secure boot, which uefi bioses support. Also what is this fuss about graphics cards supporting / not supporting secure boot etc.. ? Sorry for noob questions -> I tried searching web -> tons and tons of questions and speculative answers, but not real experience. I will be using Windows 8.1. Would you go for uefi / legacy install

 

As for my storage (if this information were needed)

=>256 GB SSD Primary Drive for OS

=>2TB HDD storage for music, movies, data, I will never boot from it

 

[jurian123]

Always install shit in UEFI, Legacy is for DMI and RDPK. (giving the motherboard a serie number and a model number,) Never use legacy. 

[Lord Gaben]

UEFI is the Successor to BIOS basically

 

Some Advantages would be

• Being able to use a GPT Disk as a boot drive meaning you can support more than 4 primary partitions and the drive can be bigger than 2.2TB
• You can run multiple bootloaders without chainloading (The act of have a bootloader load another bootloader)
• UEFI has a shell so you can configure in depth through a shell

The difference between UEFI and BIOS boot is how a BIOS boot option works is it has an entry for every storage device plugged into the machine and when you boot that device it boots what ever is in the boot sector, where as a UEFI boot option works in the way that its a the boot option is a path to an EFI executable, so its smart in that you will only have a boot option for a device if there is a bootloader in the format as an EFI executable.

 

UEFI does support more advanced graphics and has mouse support due to it being a much newer and more advanced platform.

 

And yes install Windows in UEFI mode has benefits such as allowing more than four primary partitions on the boot disk, having boot disks over the the size of 2.2TB

 

Secure Boot is simply a Mechanism to keep malware out, the idea is that if you have Secure Boot enabled when you install Windows, the Windows Bootloader will sign its self with secure boot, this meaning that if malware tries to write over the Windows bootloader, Secure Boot will not allow the malware to boot as its not signed. The whole Graphics Cards not supporting secure boot is to do with the kernel mode drivers being compatible with secure boot signing, but trust me any new graphics card between late 2012 and now. Should support Secure Boot.

 

As for Windows, when you install you can only install Windows in either

 

You can only use a MBR boot disk if you install in BIOS mode and you can only use a GPT boot disk if you want to install in UEFI mode. (although Linux does support MBR-UEFI and GPT-BIOS configurations.)

[peterpepo]

UEFI is the Successor to BIOS basically

 

Some Advantages would be

• Being able to use a GPT Disk as a boot drive meaning you can support more than 4 primary partitions and the drive can be bigger than 2.2TB
• You can run multiple bootloaders without chainloading (The act of have a bootloader load another bootloader)
• UEFI has a shell so you can configure in depth through a shell

The difference between UEFI and BIOS boot is how a BIOS boot option works is it has an entry for every storage device plugged into the machine and when you boot that device it boots what ever is in the boot sector, where as a UEFI boot option works in the way that its a the boot option is a path to an EFI executable, so its smart in that you will only have a boot option for a device if there is a bootloader in the format as an EFI executable.

 

UEFI does support more advanced graphics and has mouse support due to it being a much newer and more advanced platform.

 

And yes install Windows in UEFI mode has benefits such as allowing more than four primary partitions on the boot disk, having boot disks over the the size of 2.2TB

 

Secure Boot is simply a Mechanism to keep malware out, the idea is that if you have Secure Boot enabled when you install Windows, the Windows Bootloader will sign its self with secure boot, this meaning that if malware tries to write over the Windows bootloader, Secure Boot will not allow the malware to boot as its not signed. The whole Graphics Cards not supporting secure boot is to do with the kernel mode drivers being compatible with secure boot signing, but trust me any new graphics card between late 2012 and now. Should support Secure Boot.

 

As for Windows, when you install you can only install Windows in either

 

You can only use a MBR boot disk if you install in BIOS mode and you can only use a GPT boot disk if you want to install in UEFI mode. (although Linux does support MBR-UEFI and GPT-BIOS configurations.)

Thanks man,

finally something nicely and understandably explained.

And what about data drive ? As my data partition - HDD - will not be used for boot, just for data. Can I make it MBR partition system ?

My reason to do this: whenever my system is messed up and fails to boot, i boot up any random linux distro (Ubuntu LiveCD for example) and can read contents of my data drive.

^

Another words: what do you recommend for DATA harddrive (it's separate from OS) - MBR or UEFI - I will never boot from it. Will be there some advantages running data drive as GPT / disadvantages running it as MBR partition system ?

As I understood correctly, there is no reason to go for GPT unless I plan to UEFI boot from it. UEFI makes able to boot 2TB+ hard drives, but I need to set GPT on them, right ?

[Lord Gaben]

GPT and MBR are partition table types.

BIOS and UEFI are firmware types.

 

Yes you can use a MBR Partition table on a disk that is not a boot drive. Linux supports GPT, just use gdisk, gparted or parted (parted and gdisk are console based) (You must mean GPT not UEFI), I recommend GPT for a disk for storage, there is no point for using MBR (The only reason to use MBR is if its a boot disk for a BIOS system), because MBR disk (all disks, not just boot disks) can not be higher than 2.2TB and can only have a max of 4 primary partitions.

 

Yes you will have to write a new GPT partition table, if its a new disk you are going to have to write a new partition table anyway. WARNING if this disk is already in use and you are just converting from MBR to GPT, you will lose all data on the disk

 

Disk Management Way (Recommended)

 

• open disk management
• right click on the disk and click convert to GPT

diskpart way

 

• open cmd
• type diskpart
• type select disk (disk number here)
• type convert gpt

If when you try to use the command convert gpt and it spits out an error saying something like Access Denied or you do not have the permissions to do this, Open CMD as admin

[peterpepo]

And yes install Windows in UEFI mode has benefits such as allowing more than four primary partitions on the boot disk, having boot disks over the the size of 2.2TB

Thanks, but one more question:

Can I make windows to install in UEFI mode using installation DVD ?

I have read some articles regarding creating UEFI bootable usb - but as far as I understand, it's only to make uefi able to boot from this usb stick.

Then I should be able to install Windows 8.1 from DVD as long as the optical drive supports UEFI booting, right ? Because when i Switch bios to uefi mode (disable legacy), I will only be able to boot from uefi compatible devices, right ?

 

To clear things up: I have windows 8.1 installation *.ISO downloaded from msdn using my student license. What do I have to do in order to install windows in pure uefi / gpt mode ?

Thanks

[Lord Gaben]

you should be able to install Windows in UEFI mode through the CD, just disable CSM in your UEFI if enabled