User guide

115 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2011
 Source and target disk partition style: MBR or GPT. System and boot volumes of BIOS platforms
use MBR disks. System and boot volumes of UEFI platforms use GPT disks.
When selecting not initialized target disk for recovery, this disk will be automatically initialized
either to GPT or to MBR depending on the original disk partitioning style, the current boot mode
(UEFI or BIOS) and the type of operating systems (convertible or non-convertible) that are
located on this volume.
If the initialization may result in bootability loss, the software takes the partitioning style from
the source volume ignoring the target disk size. In such cases the software can select the MBR
partitioning style for disks whose size is more than 2 TB; however, a user cannot use the space
beyond 2 TB.
If required, you can initialize the target disk manually by using the Disk management (p. 172)
functionality.
The following table summarizes whether it is possible to retain the system bootability when
recovering boot and system volumes of a BIOS-based system to UEFI-based and back.
 The plus (+) sign on a green background means that the system will be bootable. No user action
is required.
 The plus (+) sign on a yellow background means you need to perform additional steps to make
the system bootable.
 The minus (-) sign on a red background means the system will not be able to boot due to BIOS
and UEFI platform limitations.
Original
system
Target hardware
BIOS
Disk: MBR
BIOS
Disk: GPT
UEFI
Disk: MBR
UEFI
Disk: GPT
BIOS
OS:
convertible
+
-
Solution
Recover the operating
system to an MBR disk.
+
Additional steps
1. Before recovery,
turn off the UEFI
mode in BIOS
2. Perform the
recovery under the
bootable media.
or
After recovery, turn off
the UEFI mode in BIOS.
Otherwise, the
operating system
cannot be booted.
+
The convertible OS
will be automatically
converted to support
UEFI booting.
BIOS
OS: non-
convertible
-
Solution
Recover the
operating system to
an MBR disk.
UEFI
OS:
convertible
+
The convertible OS
will be automatically
converted to support
BIOS booting.
+
Additional steps
1. Before recovery,
turn on the UEFI
mode in BIOS.
-
+