MBR HDD Clone to GPT SSD

[LaCalia]

Hey again, quick question. I'm moving to SSD and when I initialized my current HDD back in the day, I didn't know any better and used MBR when it wasn't necessary. Now my SSD is GPT, and frankly, I'm not sure if cloning the MBR HDD over to it will keep it that way or change it to MBR...

Do I have anything to worry about? Thanks for reading!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Post screenshot from Disk Management.

If OS is located on your HDD and you want to clone it to SSD, then SSD must be in same partitioning format, or OS will not boot anymore.

If you're cloning secondary storage data from HDD to SSD, then it doesn't matter.

GPT partitioning is needed only, if you want to boot into UEFI mode or use full capacity of drive larger than 2TB.

 

[LaCalia]

Post screenshot from Disk Management.

If OS is located on your HDD and you want to clone it to SSD, then SSD must be in same partitioning format, or OS will not boot anymore.

If you're cloning secondary storage data from HDD to SSD, then it doesn't matter.

GPT partitioning is needed only, if you want to boot into UEFI mode or use full capacity of drive larger than 2TB.

http://imgur.com/a/pl1hL

The gentlemen ArtPog told me I should GPT my SSD in the third reply to the post below. Is it necessary?

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3361935/backup-partial-ssd-migration.html#19438819

 

[SkyNetRising]

ArtPog said, that GPT is needed for your 4TB drive, to access full capacity of it.
You don't need GPT for your 500GB SSD.

You will have to:
1. Delete all partitions from SSD drive;
2. Change partitioning format of SSD drive to MBR;
3. Clone "System reserved" partition and "C:" partition to SSD drive;
4. Set "System reserved"partition on SSD drive - to active;
5. Shutdown the pc;
6. Disconnect all the other drives leaving only 500GB drive;
7. Boot from windows installation media, go to command prompt and fix bootloader:

• bootrec /fixboot
  bootrec /fixmbr
  bootrec /rebuildbcd

8. Boot from 500GB drive;
9. After verifying, that PC boots successfully, you can reattach all the other drives.

 

[LaCalia]

ArtPog said, that GPT is needed for your 4TB drive, to access full capacity of it.
You don't need GPT for your 500GB SSD.

You will have to:
1. Delete all partitions from SSD drive;
2. Change partitioning format of SSD drive to MBR;
3. Clone "System reserved" partition and "C:" partition to SSD drive;
4. Set "System reserved"partition on SSD drive - to active;
5. Shutdown the pc;
6. Disconnect all the other drives leaving only 500GB drive;
7. Boot from windows installation media, go to command prompt and fix bootloader:

• bootrec /fixboot
  bootrec /fixmbr
  bootrec /rebuildbcd

8. Boot from 500GB drive;
9. After verifying, that PC boots successfully, you can reattach all the other drives.

In the very last line in his reply he did say to GPT the 512GB SSD, but it's ok. It's MBR now.

I'm just waiting for the backup to finish then I'll go ahead and follow your instructions.

 

[ArtPog]

Post screenshot from Disk Management.

If OS is located on your HDD and you want to clone it to SSD, then SSD must be in same partitioning format, or OS will not boot anymore.

If you're cloning secondary storage data from HDD to SSD, then it doesn't matter.

GPT partitioning is needed only, if you want to boot into UEFI mode or use full capacity of drive larger than 2TB.

This is simply not so.

There is no requirement that the recipient of a clone "must be in the same partitioning format, or OS will not boot...".

In the example you gave where the source disk is the boot HDD containing the OS, the partitioning scheme - be it MBR or GPT - on that disk will be cloned over to the destination drive. It's of no consequence what the partitioning scheme is on the destination drive (in your example, the SSD) prior to the disk-cloning operation. After a successful disk-cloning operation the SSD (in your example) will bear the same partitioning scheme of the source disk. And it will have no impact on the SSD's ability to boot (assuming, of course, a successful disk-cloning operation).

The above explains why we suggest to a PC user who is considering purchasing or who has just purchased a SSD that he/she intends to be their boot drive to consider partitioning the SSD with the GPT partitioning scheme at the time the user fresh-installs the OS onto the SSD. So even if the SSD's disk-space capacity is well under 2 TB, consideration should be given to GPT-partitioning the drive at the time of the OS install.

We find that in a large majority of cases the user has (or will have sometime in the future) a relatively large-capacity drive in their system > 2 TB performing as a secondary drive for backup/storage purposes. Naturally that drive will be GPT-partitioned.

But a problem arises for the user when he/she plans to utilize the secondary drive (possibly a designated partition of that drive) as the recipient of the cloned contents of their boot drive, i.e., the SSD, for comprehensive backups of their system. If the SSD was MBR-partitioned that partitioning scheme will, in effect, also be cloned over to the secondary HDD and, of course, negatively impact the disk-space capacity of the drive because of the 2 TB limitation we're familiar with.

I pointed out to the OP (in the other thread) that if his new 512 GB SSD intended to be his boot drive was MBR-partitioned and for comprehensive backup purposes he cloned the contents of that drive over to a HDD, the HDD would then contain the MBR-partitioning scheme (regardless that the HDD might have been GPT-partitioned prior to the disk-cloning operation.

So if he was fresh-installing the OS onto the SSD it would be a good idea to GPT-partition that drive. Obviously if the SSD was already MBR-partitioned (possibly as a result of being the recipient of a clone), the situation is moot.

In summary, the point I was attempting to make is simply that the partitioning scheme of the source drive (the drive being cloned) is carried over to the destination disk (the recipient of the clone). And while there is nothing in that scenario that I'm aware of that will adversely affect the ability of the destination drive to boot to the OS, it could have a negative impact on the disk-space capacity of the destination drive (as recognized by the OS) as I have described above.

 

[SkyNetRising]

the point I was attempting to make is simply that the partitioning scheme of the source drive (the drive being cloned) is carried over to the destination disk (the recipient of the clone).

Well ... not really.
There are possible multiple cloning modes.
If you clone disk to disk - then yes, partitioning scheme carries over to target disk.
But you can clone partition to partition also. In this case source partition can be on mbr disk and target on gpt disk.
And if you do this with bootloader partition, resulting clone will not boot.
On legacy/csm system (MBR disk) you can boot only from primary active partition.
On UEFI system (GPT disk) you can boot only from EFI system partition.
You can't make primary active partition on GPT disk and you can't make EFI system partition on MBR disk.
That's why it doesn't work.

 

[LaCalia]

Thank you both for taking the time to write these incredibly informative responses. I do have one query now however. My current HDD boot drive is already MBR partitioned. I am not clean installing as you know so my question is, is there any way at all that I can backup the new MBR SSD drive to my 4TB drive without losing it's GPT partition and so the drive capacity? Would it be viable to just use a system backup utility instead of cloning the drive? Thanks again!!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Use Macrium Reflect.
It can backup partition to a file.

 

[ArtPog]

So LaCalia...just to bring us up-to-date...

What were the results when you used the Macrium Reflect program to clone the contents of your MBR-partitioned 500 GB HDD (or SSD) to your GPT-partitioned 4 TB HDD?

The resultant clone utilized the total disk-space capacity of the 4 TB HDD - (3726 GB)?

And the cloned 4 TB GPT-partitioned drive boots & functions without any problems?

Or were there different results?

 

[LaCalia]

So LaCalia...just to bring us up-to-date...

What were the results when you used the Macrium Reflect program to clone the contents of your MBR-partitioned 500 GB HDD (or SSD) to your GPT-partitioned 4 TB HDD?

The resultant clone utilized the total disk-space capacity of the 4 TB HDD - (3726 GB)?

And the cloned 4 TB GPT-partitioned drive boots & functions without any problems?

Or were there different results?

I never ended up cloning the SSD to the 4TB drive.

I'm still in need of an efficient way to back up the system periodically and automatically.

I'm aware that Reflect is capable of this but I have yet to make the investment in the full version with this capability.

 

[ArtPog]

I can't recall if during this thread you ever indicated what OS you were using, but assuming it's Win 10 you now have the means to GPT-partition your 4 TB secondary HDD with the new MBR2GPT conversion tool that was installed in the OS by the Windows 10 Creators Update that was recently released.

It's a great tool that's basically designed to convert a SYSTEM (boot) disk from MBR to GPT and it will similarly do the same for a secondary drive; BUT with a caveat as I will explain.

The conversion "tool" is simple to use and based upon our experience converting a number of MBR boot drives to GPT it has proven to be 100% reliable.

But strangely enough the same has not been true when the conversion process is attempted with a secondary drive, e.g., your 4 TB HDD. We've found that if the secondary drive does not contain an OS the conversion will fail. The only way we've been able to overcome this is by either installing or cloning an OS onto the secondary drive (setting aside a small partition just for this purpose) and then employing the MBR2GPT conversion tool. Then the tool goes ahead with the conversion process without a problem. We then have to delete the OS from the drive of course. It's a bit awkward but workable on a one-shot basis.

We're trying to find a way (should there be one) to avoid this awkward "workaround" but so far no luck.

BTW, the MBR2GPT conversion tool is located in the Windows\System32 folder.

Anyway thought I'd mention all this to you in the event it's currently of any interest.