How to partition hard drive from MBR to GPT for Windows 8.1 UEFI install

I just bought a new HP notebook (ProBook 450 G0) and it came preinstalled with Suse 11 Enterprise. Now this is the first time I've owned a system with an (U)EFI and I don't know how things work on this, I was used with the legacy BIOS and MBR. I have the following partitions on my HDD right now:

Disk 1 (MBR)
  + C:             FAT32      200MB Active
  + D:HP_RECOVERY  NTFS       4GB
  + *:HOME         EXT3       646GB
  + *:ROOT         EXT3       38GB
  + *:             Other      7GB
  + E:HP_TOOLS     FAT32      2GB

My first instinct was to do a zero format and partition it using Paragon Partition Magic (at least that's what I did on legacy BIOS).

What I want to do is I want to do a full UEFI Windows 8.1 install (my university provided me with a copy) and I don't know how to partition the HDD using GPT and not lose the two HP partitions needed for recovery and systems diagnostics.

Can someone please help me? I want to do this properly. Thanks! :)

csergiu_ro

Posted 2014-08-13T09:13:30.060

Reputation:

if you don't need Linux then just delete all the partitions with the Windows installer. Windows will create the necessary partitions. Even on MBR disk you don't need any disk partitioner like Partition Magic unless you want to do a lossless resize or more advanced operations – phuclv – 2018-08-12T06:44:38.157

Possible duplicate of Convert MBR to GPT - Without any OS

– phuclv – 2018-09-15T04:12:41.427

Answers

I solved this by wiping the entire drive after I've learned that the HP Tools partition can be recovered with a utility from HP and the recovery partition is essentially just a recovery of the SUSE system and that recovery disks can be ordered online from HP.

The only solution to preserve the factory defaults was to image or clone the HDD but I had nowhere to save the clone/image so I had no choice but to wipe the HDD clean.

csergiu_ro

Posted 2014-08-13T09:13:30.060

Reputation:

There is the possibility to use "fdisk" for non destructive MBR to GPT conversion of disk style - see http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html

Also reinstallation of Windows would not be necessary as boot parameters (and boot programs) can be changed from BIOS(MBR) to UEFI(GPT) style (I have not done this in practice and cannot guarantee 100% that it works).

Steps would be as follows:

Change disk style using fdisk.
Create ESP (EFI System Partition) (diskpart.exe)
Create MS Reserved Partition (diskpart.exe)
Write new boot files using bcdboot.exe utility from Windows 8.1 (installation or recovery media)

snayob

Posted 2014-08-13T09:13:30.060

Reputation: 4 044