[SOLVED] Legacy Mainboard change and Uefi/MBR

[wth139]

Hi,
I´m planning to upgrade my mainboard and CPU but I´m not quite sure what would be the best approach regarding UEFI and MBR settings.
Tried googling but I couldn´t find an answer for my specific case so here I am.

The situation is as follows:

-currently using a rather old Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 (apparently it has some kind of quirky Hybrid Bios) and an FX8350

-Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro and Ryzen 5 5600x to be installed


-1 OS SSD with a 2nd partition, in MBR mode
-2 HDDS again in MBR mode
-1 SSD already in GPT mode

Running on latest version of Win 10 pro.

The goal is to install the new MB and have all disks run in GPT mode with UEFI Bios enabled, without any loss of data ofc.😉
What would be the best strategy? I´m planning to simply plug in the new MB and reconnect the disks, is there anything I have to take care of first?
Would it be better to try and convert the disks to GPT beforehand? As I understand it, the GA-970A-UD3 is using some kind of Hybrid Bios so I´m not sure if that makes any problems down the road.
Any further advice to not end up with wiped/unusable disks?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Colif]

Install win 10 on ssd with it being only drive in system.
Win 10 will use GPT
once pc boots off ssd, then put other drives in.

Now why do you want the remainder as gpt? there is no real benefit to having storage drives as gpt unless they are over 2.2tb in size now. Or want more than 4 partitions on it.
I would just leave them mbr until you replace them or format them.

 

[USAFRet]

The only "issue" is that you will have to do a full wipe and reinstall on the drive of your choice.

Going from a GA-970 to a new Ryzen....fresh install is almost certainly required.
You can't just plug in the OS drive and expect it to siply boot up with zero problems.

 

[wth139]

Install win 10 on ssd with it being only drive in system.
Win 10 will use GPT
once pc boots off ssd, then put other drives in.

Now why do you want the remainder as gpt? there is no real benefit to having storage drives as gpt unless they are over 2.2tb in size now. Or want more than 4 partitions on it.
I would just leave them mbr until you replace them or format them.

If its possible that the drives remain as they are (except OS SSD ofc) and I can simply replug them after OS installation and not lose data than thats fine by me.

The only "issue" is that you will have to do a full wipe and reinstall on the drive of your choice.

Going from a GA-970 to a new Ryzen....fresh install is almost certainly required.
You can't just plug in the OS drive and expect it to siply boot up with zero problems.

I was hoping to avoid that but I already skimped out on a clean install when I switched to W10, so mb its time now.


So the procedure would be:
-install new mb and only connect the OS SSD
-hope that it boots correctly, if it does do a clean install of W10. It automatically installs itself in GPT right?
-if it doesnt boot correctly, try with the DVDs/USBs repair function to do a clean install
-if everything works replug the rest of the drives

Correct?

 

[USAFRet]

So the procedure would be:
-install new mb and only connect the OS SSD
-hope that it boots correctly, if it does do a clean install of W10. It automatically installs itself in GPT right?
-if it doesnt boot correctly, try with the DVDs/USBs repair function to do a clean install
-if everything works replug the rest of the drives

Correct?

No.

Prepare a Win 10 USB to install from
Build the new system.
Put the single drive in
Boot from the USB, and do a full fresh install

You can "hope" it will boot up. But there will almost certainly be lingering issues, even if it eventually boots up.
Fresh install is needed here.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Colif]

If its possible that the drives remain as they are (except OS SSD ofc) and I can simply replug them after OS installation and not lose data than thats fine by me.

Yes, you should be able to put them in as is.

-hope that it boots correctly, if it does do a clean install of W10. It automatically installs itself in GPT right?
-if it doesnt boot correctly, try with the DVDs/USBs repair function to do a clean install

no
don't bother trying to boot off SSD as it won't boot most likely as modern bios set as UEFI boot method and your boot drive currently MBR. Just boot off USB and clean install from it.
follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

 

[wth139]

Alright, thank you very much to both of you. I will report back tomorow and let you know how it went out.

 

[Colif]

have a look at this before you swap = https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...e-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665

 

[wth139]

Just a quick update, everything went well. I had to fiddle around with diskpart a little bit but it´s working as intended now. Thanks again!