Full restore of boot drive MBR to GPT conversion
From the Acronis documentation, I get the impression that this scenario is possible (docs are vague at best), but a support rep has told me that it is not at all possible.
We are replacing the storage on our Windows Server 2012 r2 with a drive larger than 2TB, so we can not keep the BIOS mode MBR formatting.
We wish to switch the server to UEFI mode, and setup the new disk as GPT, then perform a full restore.
This doc says it can be done: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/AcronisBackup_11.7/index.html#12540.html
It is however not very clear on how it should be done or how one chooses how the restore is performed. Under Recovery > Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa > Recovering Volumes : It states:
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.
My question, I guess would be, how do I intialize the target disk as GPT format, and according to this doc, it should be able to make the Server 2012 instance work on the GPT drive. If I am able to initialize the disk as GPT, the machine is in UEFI boot mode, and the OS IS convertable (2012 r2), this should work, right?
My guess is that I initialize it somehow with the bootable media, but I'm not sure, and my support rep simply states that this is not a supported operation. Who is wrong here, the docs or my rep?
Thanks if anyone has any experience in this type of recovery. Much appreciated!
I wanted to update this for posterity, as I had to work at this solution for some time to get it right.
The operation of backing up a MBR formatted system, to restore on a GPT formatted system is possible, as stated by the documentation.
Using the bootable media on the system, after BIOS mode is changed to UEFI, a full restore of the entire disk was initiated.
Universal restore is the Acronis feature that performs the conversion of the MBR to GPT. It required a number of drivers for the system (chipset, network, storage drivers) to make the restored system bootable. I had to specify the storage drivers manually to get it to work.
I had to run it a few times, checking error messages and tracking down OEM drivers, and finally the system booted once but hung. On a second reboot it simply worked.
The trick seemed to be deciphering the error messages from Universal Restore to find the right drivers. The missing drivers were only referenced by device names like "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_8D62" which I was able to search for online, and found that is was referencing "Intel(R) C610 series/X99 chipset sSATA AHCI Controller - 8D62".
I'm pleased that this operation finally succeeded. The call center employees could have been more knowledgeable in this procedure, but eventually I figured it out. I wanted to document this as help for others who are searching for an answer of how to convert a MBR system to GPT without reinstalling from scratch. Universal Restore was the answer, and pinpointing necessary drivers and running it until it succeeded without error seemed to be the trick.