Question windows 10 legacy to UEFI

[tomcatTMC]

so i just heard about gpt partitions and uefi.
my disk is in mbr and i cant install many linux distros.
i saw a way to convert mbr to gpt but it requires maximum 3 primary partitions and no logical partitions.
I have like 5 logical partitions . Is it worth it for all the hassle to convert the disk to gpt ?

 

[Colif]

How big is the disk?

GPT offers 2 main advantages over MBR.
1. Drive sizes
MBR max drive size is 2,2b, it can't see any space above that. With hdd getting to be up to 8tb in size, that is a lot of wasted space.
GPT max drive size is 18 8 million TB, only server farms would have drive sizes that big now and only in raid.

2. Number of partitions per drive.
MBR only allows max of 4 partitions per drive (there are tricks)
GPT allows max number of 256 partitions per drive

There are other differences but those are main 2.

• GPT is meant to be harder to get a corrupt Boot table, as it keeps copies in other locations and is meant to be easier to recover. I am not 100% sure that is true.
• The boot partition on GPT drives can be anywhere, it doesn't have to be first partition, it doesn't even have to be in the PC. Unlike MBR which boots from 1st partition and if there isn't anything there, won't boot.

So if your drive not over 2tb, and you don't need any more partitions, just stay on MBR until you need to clean install at some stage, as then if motherboard supports UEFI/GPT then WIn 10 will want you to use it.

MBR fine for smaller drives still.
And the mbr2gpt function can cause more trouble than its worth. Easier to just do it the normal way.

 

[tomcatTMC]

mine is

How big is the disk?

GPT offers 2 main advantages over MBR.
1. Drive sizes
MBR max drive size is 2,2b, it can't see any space above that. With hdd getting to be up to 8tb in size, that is a lot of wasted space.
GPT max drive size is 18 8 million TB, only server farms would have drive sizes that big now and only in raid.

2. Number of partitions per drive.
MBR only allows max of 4 partitions per drive (there are tricks)
GPT allows max number of 256 partitions per drive

There are other differences but those are main 2.

• GPT is meant to be harder to get a corrupt Boot table, as it keeps copies in other locations and is meant to be easier to recover. I am not 100% sure that is true.
• The boot partition on GPT drives can be anywhere, it doesn't have to be first partition, it doesn't even have to be in the PC. Unlike MBR which boots from 1st partition and if there isn't anything there, won't boot.

So if your drive not over 2tb, and you don't need any more partitions, just stay on MBR until you need to clean install at some stage, as then if motherboard supports UEFI/GPT then WIn 10 will want you to use it.

MBR fine for smaller drives still.
And the mbr2gpt function can cause more trouble than its worth. Easier to just do it the normal way.

mine is 2tb hdd.
i'll just use mbr then..
I thought gpt is better because most new linux distros need gpt to install

 

[Colif]

GPT made to fix all the problems MBR had, as I mentioned above. But its not worth replacing an install just to get it.

I guess at some stage Motherboard makers might stop supporting legacy, UEFI was introduced 10 years ago now, I don't know how long they will support it. So Linux needing GPT might be them foreseeing the future and being ready for it. Many motherboards don't have support for win 7 now so linux has to move to GPT so it can be installed on PC without legacy/CSM support.