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Difference between UEFI and Legacy Bios Mode?

AstroBenny
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What's the difference?

I don't like 2D games...I just couldn't get into them.. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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I'm kindda wondering too. Been too lazy/forgot to Google it myself. I tried UEFI only mode and the computer wouldn't boot, it had these weird messages.

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I'm kindda wondering too. Been too lazy/forgot to Google it myself. I tried UEFI only mode and the computer wouldn't boot, it had these weird messages.

That's the thing. I thought UEFI was just the Bios where you manage boot options/oc etc

I don't like 2D games...I just couldn't get into them.. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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That's the thing. I thought UEFI was just the Bios where you manage boot options/oc etc

Same, I think we're still correct in that assessment?  My guess has always been that the boot part is the giveaway... it's probably something about how devices in the computer boot up, using some old BIOS protocol vs new UEFI one. Here's a quote from some guy on the internet:

 

 

The difference between UEFI Boot and Legacy boot is the process that the firmware uses to find the boot target.

Legacy Boot is the boot process used by BIOS firmware. The firmware maintains a list of installed storage devices that may be bootable (Floppy Disk Drives, Hard Disk Drives, Optical Disk Drives, Tape Drives, etc...) and enumerates them in a configurable order of priority. One the POST procedure has completed, the firmware loads the first sector of each of the storage targets into memory and scans it for a valid Master Boot Record (MBR). If a valid MBR is found, the firmware passes execution to the boot loader code found in the MBR which allows the user to select a partition to boot from. If one is not found, it proceeds to the next device in the boot order. If no MBR is found at all, the user is presented with the famous "Please insert system disk yadda yadda yadda"

UEFI boot is the boot process used by UEFI firmware. The firmware maintains a list of valid boot volumes called EFI Service Partitions. During the POST procedure the UEFI firmware scans all of the bootable storage devices that are connected to the system for a valid GUID Partition Table (GPT). Unlike a MBR, a GPT does not contain a boot loader. The firmware itself scans the GPTs to find an EFI Service Partition to boot from. If no EFI bootable partition is found, the firmware can fall back on the Legacy Boot method. If both UEFI boot and Legacy boot fail, the famous "Please insert system disk yadda yadda yadda" will be presented.

In general, UEFI boot is more desirable.

The guy goes on to say UEFI boot mode should be slightly faster booting. I did not fact check his post.

In Placebo We Trust - Resident Obnoxious Objective Fangirl (R.O.O.F) - Your Eyes Cannot Hear
Haswell Overclocking Guide | Skylake Overclocking Guide | Can my amp power my headphones?

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I'm going to probably give a shitload of wrong information but:

 

you can pretty much get away with legacy all of the time.  the only exception being if you need an NVMe SSD which can only work using UEFI.  You can't convert a legacy windows install to UEFI, you have to reinstall in UEFI mode to do it.

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If you're running Win8 or above, use UEFI. (including W8.1 and W10)

If you're running Win7 or below, use Legacy.

 

Exception being if you're having problem accessing USB in BIOS, for example, trying to boot from USB.

Switching to Legacy first may help.

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UEFI mode boots much quicker but in order to take advantage of UEFI mode, you have to have an installation media that is formated as UEFI, install Windows or another OS in UEFI mode, and have UEFI enabled in the bios. This is a great guide on how to create a UEFI usb drive: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

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http://superuser.com/questions/496026/what-is-the-difference-in-boot-with-bios-and-boot-with-uefi

 

As a traditional BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) successor, UEFI has predecessors do not have many features, such as graphical user interface, a wide range of operation, allow the implant hardware drivers, and so on. These features allow UEFI BIOS easier to use than traditional, more versatile and more convenient. The beginning of the release of Windows 8 announced full support for UEFI, which also contributed to a number of motherboard manufacturers have switched to UEFI, and one of the standards board configurations herein.
 
 
UEFI is a BIOS upgrade alternative. Compare BIOS and UEFI,  regarding principle of system start aspects, UEFI is powerful than BIOS, because UEFI itself has been the equivalent of a mini-operating system, which brings convenience is that:
 
First, UEFI has been with the support of the file system that can read FAT partition files directly. What is a file system? Simply say, the file system is a method of organization and management of the operating system files, make the data on the hard disk in the form of documents presented to the user. Fat32, NTFS file system type are common.
 
Second, you can develop applications that run directly under UEFI, this type of program files usually end with efi. Since UEFI can directly recognize FAT partition files, but also can be used directly in which to run applications. It can be made efi type Windows Installer application, and then put it in any fat partition can be run directly, this way to install Windows operating system this past looks a little complicated things suddenly becomes very simple.
 
Finally, we know something the BIOS can not do. Because on the BIOS, before starting the operating system, you must specify the system from the hard disk sector read startup code (included in the master boot record), and then boot the operating system from the active partition. The operation of the sector is more difficult than the partition in the file operation, so boot the Windows operating system under BIOS, we had to use a number of tools to configure the device to meet launch requirements. And in UEFI, these all are not required, the master boot record is no longer needed, no longer need the active partition, without any tools, just copy the installation files to a FAT32 (primary) partition / U disk, and then boot  from the partition / U disk, install Windows is that simple.
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I just have to add this example that I read, made by @GoodBytes:

Legacy:

BIOS> OK! We are booting up. Are RAM present? Good. Drives? Good. Do we have PCI stuff? Oh, a GPU. Good....

...After while...

BIOS> Everyone is ready! Lets go!

UEFI:

BIOS> Is everybody here? Good! Lets go!

^^^^ That's my post ^^^^
<-- This is me --- That's your scrollbar -->
vvvv Who's there? vvvv

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I just have to add this example that I read, made by @GoodBytes:

Legacy:

BIOS> OK! We are booting up. Are RAM present? Good. Drives? Good. Do we have PCI stuff? Oh, a GPU. Good....

...After while...

BIOS> Everyone is ready! Lets go!

UEFI:

BIOS> Is everybody here? Good! Lets go!

HA! Glad you liked my simplistic explanation :)

 

Just a minor correction: GPU is first, and for the Legacy, Windows needs to redetect everything all over again, while UEFI transfer all it detected to Windows (well any compatible OS), so the OS just needs to load the needs to load itself and drivers saving a nice junk of the boot process of the OS

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HA! Glad you liked my simplistic explanation :)

 

Just a minor correction: GPU is first, and for the Legacy, Windows needs to redetect everything all over again, while UEFI transfer all it detected to Windows (well any compatible OS), so the OS just needs to load the needs to load itself and drivers saving a nice junk of the boot process of the OS

Couldn't remember and I started bookmarking funny quotes until later.

^^^^ That's my post ^^^^
<-- This is me --- That's your scrollbar -->
vvvv Who's there? vvvv

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