Windows 10: Reset or clone UEFI install using MBR partition from external drive?

Hi folks,

I recently made the mistake of moving my boot partition (pro tip: don't do that) and ended up re-installing Win10 from scratch. Trouble is, my drivers are all wonky now, and I'm finding it to be a hassle to manually copy over my files & re-install software.

I do have a copy of my former C:\ partition - not an image, a byte for byte copy - on an external USB drive. I also have an image of the partition, made using EaseUS Todo Backup, but something seems to be wrong with it - in comparison with the other images I've made using the same tool, this one doesn't let me look inside and see the individual files.

What would be the best way to re-create my original install?

Caveat: the original was set up as a BIOS/MBR partition, and with the re-install, I had to switch to UEFI/GPT (Win10 install media refused to legacy boot). So I don't think I can just clone the partition back - I have already tried this and had to re-install again :/

Advice appreciated! Thanks in advance

:)

 

clone MBR HD to bootable GPT partition?

My HP Vista laptop took a swim and died. I pulled the 320MB HD, put it in an external enclosure and found it still good. Bought a new Dell Win 10 machine w/ 1TB HD. Plan was to:

• 
  Partition off a piece of the new 1TB w/ native Win10 Disk Management.
  
• 
  Clone the 320MB Vista drive into the new partition w/ Easeus Partition Manager.
  
• 
  Run Paragon-adaptive-restore on the Vista partition.
  
• 
  Set up as dual-boot Win10 / Vista.
  

Ran into problems right away. Apparently can't clone the MBR HD to a GPT partition and have it remain bootable. Don't see a way to do this without wiping the new Dell 1TB clean – which I'm hesitant to do, especially since I'm about 6000 miles from
home right now.

• 
  What's the solution to cloning the MBR drive to a bootable GPT partition?
  
• 
  Am I on the right track? I really want to preserve this Vista installation - I have 30+ years of data in legacy programs on it that would be very difficult to access in Win10.
  

TIA

 

clone MBR HD to bootable GPT partition?

Hi,

1. You cannot convert mbr to gpt without data loss. otherwise, you can follow directions here:

FROM WINDOWS RECOVERY CONSOLE:

To change a master boot record disk into a GUID partition table disk using a command line

• 
  Back up or move the data on the basic master boot record (MBR) disk you want to convert into a GUID partition table (GPT) disk.
  
• 
  Open an elevated command prompt (right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator) and type diskpart. If the disk does not contain any partitions or volumes, skip to step 6.
  
• 
  At the DISKPART prompt, type list disk. Make note of the disk number you want to convert.
  
• 
  At the DISKPART prompt, type select disk <disknumber>.
  
• 
  At the DISKPART prompt, type clean.
  

2. I'd suggest converting your vista drive to a virtual machine, load that up on your windows 10 system and use a program like virtualbox to run it.

 

Move Win7 64 image from a partition NTFS to a new drive

7 can be installed on a GPT with or without UEFI. You can also clone to one and it will boot if done correctly. The problem is cloning is not an exact science and there is many issues that can muck it up