Windows 10: Installing Windows 10 on SSD, program asks for MBR and GPT

I am attempting to install Windows 10 on a Crucial SSD I bought. Everything seems ready for install. I have the media on a flash drive, but when the hard drive and SSD are connected it won't let me install the OS on the SSD. If I unhook the hard drive from the computer and then boot from USB, it starts the install on the SSD without issue. At this point the SSD is formatted in MBR, as the program says that is required. It runs for a bit and then says the computer has to restart, which all seems normal. Upon restart, it takes me to the same Windows install screen, albeit in a sharper resolution. I attempt to install Windows on the SSD again, but now it says it can't install unless the SSD is in GPT mode. I don't understand this at all. This is my first time doing something like this so I am just now learning about partitions and format types and the like.


If it helps:

Comp is an Inspiron 5680

I switched from RAID to AHCI in Bios

I have seen articles citing SATA Controller Arm, but I don't have that option in my Bios.

:)

 

GPT vs MBR for SSD OS Disk ? (win7 install)

So I cannot use all the new bios UI and fancy pre-boot evironiment if i don't use UEFI-boot ? With or without GPT?


I just want to use the UEFI without GPT: so can I UEFI-boot and install win7 with MBR?

Now I actually asked the correct question I wanted. Sorry it took time to figure out.

 

GPT vs MBR for SSD OS Disk ? (win7 install)

I do not understand.

GPT is designed almost exclusively to allow huge arrays. The genesis of windows useable GPT drives goes back to Windows XP x64.

UEFI does not require GPT to boot. UEFI is the BIOS, functionally. It runs before any disk is touched.

As far as booting, stick with MBR on your SSD. There is no 2TB+ SSD on the market, and you're unlikely to have a RAID 0 array that large. Windows 7 defaults to MBR, for so many good reasons it isn't funny.


I haven't the slightest idea about where you linked UEFI and GPT. If you've got a large array as your boot drive you might have to cross this bridge, but given the difficulty I'd stay as far away from it as possible. MBR isn't old, it's still the primary windows drive formatting for a darn good reason.

 

GPT vs MBR for SSD OS Disk ? (win7 install)

If I have UEFI BIOS, I'm going to use GPT. Only reason why I wouldn't is because the drive is shared between new and old computers (MBR has broader compatibility support). I wrote a guide how to install Windows on GPT here:
Installing Windows Vista/7 on a GUID Partition Table

No. Either you install on GPT via EFI boot or you intall MBR via BIOS boot. You can't install Windows and change it later.


Not only does GPT support booting to partitions larger than 2 TB, it also means the computer is booted using EFI which means it has a lot more memory to work with during startup. It should theoretically mean startup is quicker on EFI/GPT than BIOS/MBR.