[SOLVED] Incompatible SSD for Windows 10? Question about converting MBR to GPT.

[killemnoaw]

Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
samsung ssd 840 pro 128gb
Windows 7

Hi,

I am in the process of upgrading my 8 year old PC from windows 7 to windows 10. I built the PC, but my knowledge of BIOS and partitions is pretty lacking, so bear with me.

I have Win10 on a flash drive and when I started to install, i was unable to continue because my SSD & HDD was in format called "MBR" and needed to be converted to some other format called "GPT". I believe I did have the option to format the drive, but I did not want to do this.

So I download MiniTool Partition Wizard, read up on an article https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/convert-mbr-to-gpt-without-data-loss-windows-7.html

and follow the steps to convert my SSD/HDD from MBR to GPT without data loss. But then the article says this tip

"If you choose to use Professional Edition to convert your OS disk to GPT, please ensure your motherboard supports GPT. And MiniTool Partition Wizard will remind you to enable UEFI Boot Mode from BIOS after clicking "Apply" button so that your Windows 7 can boot from GPT disk successfully."

Okay, so I look up the manual to my motherboard and it appears that it does support GPT. So I begin the process, restart, enter bios, boot options and attempt to enable UEFI Boot Mode on my SSD, like seen in the picture below (Screenshotted from the motherboard manual, link below)

https://imgur.com/a/xAIZHI9

View: https://imgur.com/a/xAIZHI9


https://download1.gigabyte.com/Files/Manual/mb-manual_ga-z77x-d3h_v1.1_e.pdf

but unlike the screenshot, the drop down menu does NOT include UEFI.

At this point, I feel completely confused. Do I have the wrong kind of SSD since its 8+ years old? Can I still upgrade to windows 10 without getting a new SSD or losing my data?

Please help!

 

[rgd1101]

#1 always do backup

 

[USAFRet]

Multiple things...

The 840 Pro can run Win 10 no problem.

128GB, however...that is an issue. That is pretty small.
What other drives are in this system?

An 8 year old Win 7....I would seriously consider a fresh install of Win 10, rather than trying to do an inplace Upgrade from 7 to 10.


As always, have a known good backup of either the full drive, or at least your critical data. Just in case things go wrong.

 

[killemnoaw]

Multiple things...

The 840 Pro can run Win 10 no problem.

128GB, however...that is an issue. That is pretty small.
What other drives are in this system?

Hi thanks for the reply.

The other drive is a much larger 1TB HDD.

As for the fresh install of Windows, thank you I appreciate your insight on this. I didn't consider that the age of the older copy of Windows would matter.

 

[SkyNetRising]

BTW - in-place upgrade of windows 7 to windows 10 is being done by
running windows 10 setup from within windows 7 (not by booting from windows 10 installation media).
Then it doesn't matter, if windows is installed in legacy or UEFI mode. After upgrade - boot mode remains the same.

Note - upgrade is possible only from w7 32bit version to w10 32bit version and
from w7 64bit version to w10 64bit version.
If you want to upgrade from w7 32bit to w10 64bit, then you have to do clean install (not upgrade).

 

[USAFRet]

Hi thanks for the reply.

The other drive is a much larger 1TB HDD.

As for the fresh install of Windows, thank you I appreciate your insight on this. I didn't consider that the age of the older copy of Windows would matter.

Its not so much the "age", but also...how much junk has built up in this Win 7 install over the years.
An Inplace upgrade just moves a lot of that into a Win 10 install.