How do I get UEFI?

[Alexandre Gagne]

Hello, so I recently bought a 4TB hard drive. What a disappointment it was when I learnt that I can only use 2TB out of the 4 because my computer is not UEFI based. So how do I get UEFI? Do I need to buy a new motherboard? I really have no idea and google won't help me.

 

[James Mason]

new motherboard, new cpu, new ram.
You need a modern new computer.

 

[Barty1884]

There's quite a bit of info here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2581408/windows-support-for-hard-disks-that-are-larger-than-2-tb

Which OS are you using?

I would assume the drive is formatted as MBR. Converting/reformatting to GPT should allow you the 4TB capacity with a legacy BIOS on all OS's since XP......at least as a storage drive.

If you want to boot from it, your OS would need to be installed in UEFI mode.



What OS are you running, and what are you full system specs?

 

[Alexandre Gagne]

My full system specs are as follow.

OS : Windows 10
Processor : intel i7-2600k
Video card : AMD HD 6670 (Ordered a GTX 1080, should arrive in the coming days)
RAM : DDR3 12 GB
Motherboard : Dell 0y2mrg
HARD DRIVE : Seagate 4tb something..

Also yeah, I need this drive to be my boot drive for now as the only other HDD I have is quite old.

 

[Barty1884]

Looks like BIOS release A07 was supposed to enable UEFI support for the XPS 8300 (where than motherboard came from)..... but it never made it onto official Dell drivers page(s).

Without a UEFI capable BIOS, your options are:
1. Use 2x 2TB partitions in MBR
2. Buy a new motherboard

I'm assuming the 0Y2MRG is incapable of overclocking? Given that, a new motherboard may be a good idea to OC the 2600K..... it may well be needed to 'keep up' with a 1080.

 

[Alexandre Gagne]

Ok, thank you very much. Do you think the MSI B250M GAMING PRO motherboard would be a good option?

 

[Barty1884]

It's a solid board, but it's in no way compatible with your current CPU or RAM.

For a SandyBridge CPU, you need socket 1155. To overclock it, you need a Z68 chipset.
Most of the Z68 boards (if not all) should all support UEFI.

At this point though, a Z68 board may be difficult to find.
Most (if not all) are coming from China
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=Z68+1155&_sop=15

 

[Alexandre Gagne]

Thank you my friend.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

P67, Z68 and Z77 all support the 2600K and overclocking. P67 is unlikely to have UEFI though.

 

[Barty1884]

P67, Z68 and Z77 all support the 2600K and overclocking. P67 is unlikely to have UEFI though.

I forgot all about the P67 boards

Z77 is a good call though, might be able to find one of those OP.
Ultimately, provided you find one in good condition (ideally with some kind of return policy/warranty), whichever you can find cheaper between Z68 or Z77.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I forgot all about the P67 boards

I had one for 5 years so....

UEFI started around the time Z68 took over from P67. Z68 also introduced PCI-E 3.0 while P67 had 2.0. Not really a big deal even today but Z68 had more features all around. P67 was really only around the first few months after Sandy launched.