MBR to GPT revisited

After reading your reply to Kirk Holmes in a recent issue 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 MBR2GPT 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

TechLife 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 us. 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, TechLife

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:

mbr2gpt /validate

Assuming no errors are found, type the following:

mbr2gpt /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, rightclick 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 1,440p HDR monitor. I had to go with 1,440p again since I’m stuck rocking a GTX 1080Ti. I’m running it on a Ryzen 5900X/X570 & 64GB PC3600 DDR4 Windows 11 full release system, so HDR should be fine.

I hooked up the G32QC-A via DisplayPort 1.2, installed OSD 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 colour, the screen dimmed slightly with muted, if more accurate-looking, colours 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 120Hz (165Hz monitor), even though the monitor supports Nvidia cards through adaptive sync, and I have ‘G-sync compatible’ enabled in 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 Koho

TechLife responds: This appears to be a limitation of the monitor itself. It’s certified as DisplayHDR 400, described as a “first genuine entry point for HDR” ( https://displayhdr.org/#tab-400).

The main issue is that, unlike higherend HDR displays, the G32QC-A only supports 8-bit colour. The blurb states it “responds to HDR10 content, putting its generous colour gamut to use and allowing a 10-bit colour signal to be used for enhanced precision”. What this means in reality, is that the G32QC-A is unable to display all colours 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 colours.

Finally, regarding your problems getting the monitor to work at 165Hz, you might want to check which display resolution you’ve set via the Nvidia Control Panel – make sure you select 1920x1080 under the PC section rather than the default ‘Ultra HD, HD, SD’ section, and you should see the 165Hz option is available to select.