MBR to GPT revisited
After reading your reply
to Kirk Holmes in the
November issue (MPC 196)
about converting from MBR
to GPT to support Windows
11, I opened my free copy
of Partition Wizard 8 and
got some blurb about a
new version 12 available. I
uninstalled my version 8 and
installed version 12. When
I select Convert MBR Disk
to GPT Disk, I’m taken to an
online page that requires me
to pay for one of MiniTool’s
pro subscriptions to use the
conversion tool.
I don’t want to pay for
a tool that I probably will
never use again. If I take the
MBR 2 GPT approach, what
happens to my programs and
data? Will Windows have to
be reinstalled? Alternatively,
if I create a disk image using
my free version of Macrium
Reflect, then convert the
SSD from MBR to GPT, will
Macrium be able to restore
the disk image to the new
GPT partition with no issues?
Can you suggest a better way
to get Secure Boot properly
enabled? I sent this question
to Macrium support, but the
only response I got is that
they don’t provide support for
the free versions of Reflect.
- Steve Vanetti
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
Apologies to you and anyone
else who discovered that
MiniTool (along with other
partition managers) have
conveniently removed the
non-destructive MBR-to-
GPT conversion tool for
system disks from their
free versions. Thankfully,
Microsoft has thought to
provide a non-destructive
path via its recovery tools.
To answer your question
about Macrium, you can use
it to image the drive, convert
it to GPT using a destructive
method and then restore
the image to the new GPT
partition—why Macrium’s
engineers didn’t direct you
to their own knowledgebase
escapes the Doc. Now version
8 has been released for free
users, head over to https://
knowledgebase.macrium.
com/display/KNOW80/ and
navigate to ‘Restoring and
Browsing > Restoring an
MBR System image to UEFI/
GPT’ in the left-hand pane for
full instructions.
If you’d prefer to follow
Microsoft’s non-destructive
procedure, the Doc advises
that you take a drive image
backup (just in case) and
make sure you have Macrium
rescue media handy too. Once
done, open Settings to Update
& Security > Recovery and
click ‘Restart now’ under
‘Advanced startup’. When
the menu appears, select
Troubleshoot followed by
Advanced options and finally
Command Prompt. Next, type
the following command:mbr 2 gpt /validate
Assuming no errors are
found, type the following:
mbr 2 gpt /convert/disk: 0
This will convert the first
drive in your system (if you
have a non-standard drive
setup, use the ‘diskpart’
command followed by ‘list
disk’ to obtain your system
disk’s number using its size
to identify it) to GPT. Once
complete, reboot your system
and enter your PC’s BIOS
setup to switch its boot mode
from legacy to UEFI.
Once done and saved, you
should find you’re able to
boot back into Windows. At
some point in the process,
you’re likely to get a warning
about MBR2GPT failing to
update ReAgent.xml – you’ll
need to manually disable
and re-enable the WinRE
environment. To do this,right-click Start and choose
Command Prompt (Admin),
then type the following:
reagentc /disable
reagentc /enable
This should fix the WinRE
error, enabling you to enable
Secure Boot and upgrade to
Windows 11.HDR? Meh!
I made my first foray
into HDR with a Gigabyte
G32QC-A 144 0p HDR monitor.
I had to go with 14 40p again
since I’m stuck rocking a GTX
108 0Ti. I’m running it on a
Ryzen 590 0X/X570 & 64 GB
PC3600 DDR4 Windows 11
full release system, so HDR
should be fine.
I hooked up the G32QC-A
via DisplayPort 1.2, installedOSD Sidekick, made sure I
had the latest NVIDIA drivers
and monitor firmware,
followed every online tutorial
I could find. Then I jumped
into Cyberpunk 2077 in
full-screen mode and hit
Win+Alt+B. But instead
of blow-my-socks-off
color, the screen dimmed
slightly with muted, if more
accurate-looking, colors and
everything looked like I was
viewing it through a thin fog.
I have spent hours going
through every setting and
tried tweaking everything,
but SDR has way more pop
and is clearer than HDR. I
also can’t get it to offer any
refresh rate higher than
120 hz (1 65 hz monitor), even
though the monitor supports
NVIDIA cards through
adaptive sync, and I have
‘G-SYNC compatible’ enabledin the NVIDIA Control Panel
and overdrive enabled on the
monitor.
Did I get a bum monitor,
or is this an aspect of HDR
nobody talks about, except all
the other end users reporting
the same thing with various
HDR monitors? Your thoughts
are appreciated. – BJ KohoTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS: This
appears to be a limitation
of the monitor itself. It’s
certified as DisplayHDR 4 00,
described as a “first genuine
entry point for HDR” (https://
displayhdr.org/#tab-400).
The main issue is that, unlike
higher-end HDR displays,
the G32QC-A only supports
8-bit color. The blurb states it
“responds to HDR10 content,putting its generous color
gamut to use and allowing a
10-bit color signal to be used
for enhanced precision”.
What this means in reality, is
that the G32QC-A is unable
to display all colors from
the 10 -bit range on an 8 -bit
display. It chooses a close
match but will lack the
vibrancy of a true 10 -bit HDR
monitor because it relies on
GPU dithering to display more
accurate colors.
Finally, regarding your
problems getting the monitor
to work at 16 5Hz, you might
want to check which display
resolution you’ve set via the
NVIDIA Control Panel—make
sure you select 19 20x10 80
under the PC section rather
than the default ‘Ultra HD,
HD, SD’ section, and you
should see the 165 Hz option
is available to select.8 - bit HDR colors, pictured on the right, are more accurate but look less vibrant on a monitor.