Installation with UEFI good or not?

[Terrorizer]

… hi @all;

i have a new pc and when i installed dr460nized-gaming yesterday i do it with standard bios settings (also with UEFI “on”); when i come to the partitioning part in calamares i see that there is a area on the hard drive reserved for UEFI.

I never used UEFI in the past, also i go to the bios settings and changed all to Legacy settings and this brings me to the partioning like ever (full hard drive Garuda).

Now my question: is the installation better with UEFI on or not ???

[dbarron]

It’s more 21st century, and it doesn’t tend to break like Grub can/has. Though it has some slight problems with partition getting full (if not big enough and as kernel size increases).
Whether it’s better or not, well how much better does booting get?

[Duke187]

My understandings for Bios and Uefi are its how you want use your HDD or SSD =)here a Forum or Wiki Article i had safed last year somehow for Coding stuff and PC tests.

1. Architecture:

• BIOS: Traditional firmware interface that has been around for decades. It is built to support 16-bit processing and initializes hardware during the boot process. It uses the MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioning scheme.

• UEFI: A modern replacement for BIOS, UEFI supports 32-bit and 64-bit processors and has a graphical user interface, allowing for mouse and touchscreen interaction. UEFI uses the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning scheme.

2. Boot Process:

• BIOS: Executes the Power-On Self-Test (POST) and looks for bootable devices in a predefined order. It relies on the MBR to locate the bootloader.
• UEFI: Also performs POST but can directly load the operating system from a GPT disk, allowing for faster boot times and more sophisticated pre-boot applications.

3. Security Features:

• BIOS: Generally lacks advanced security features.
• UEFI: Supports secure boot, which helps prevent unauthorized or malicious software from loading during the boot process.

UEFI On vs. UEFI Off Install

• UEFI On Install:
  • When UEFI is enabled, the installation process can utilize GPT for disk partitioning. This allows the creation of many more partitions (over 128) compared to MBR, as well as support for larger disk sizes (over 2 TB).
  • The OS must be installed on a FAT32-formatted system partition to enable UEFI boot functionality. UEFI installations typically require a special EFI System Partition (ESP) to hold the bootloader.
• UEFI Off Install (Legacy/CSM mode):
  • When UEFI is turned off, the system falls back to BIOS/Legacy mode.
  • In this mode, the MBR is used for partitioning, limiting the number of partitions and disk sizes. Typically, only four primary partitions are allowed unless using extended partitions.
  • The OS can be installed without needing special boot configurations, and compatibility with older operating systems is often better.

Partition Usage

1. MBR (Master Boot Record):

• Used by BIOS and Legacy installations.
• Supports up to 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions plus 1 extended partition.
• Maximum disk size supported is 2 TB.

2. GPT (GUID Partition Table):

• Used by UEFI installations.
• Supports a much larger number of partitions (over 128) and larger disk sizes (over 9.4 ZB).
• Stores multiple copies of partition data across the disk for redundancy.

[Terrorizer]

… when i read this complete, it says installation with UEFI “on” is in every situation better, right ?

[Duke187]

yes its better with on so you can swap hdd to other pcs too

[Terrorizer]

… many thanxxx, great !!!

[Duke187]

no problem youre Welcome

i had some pc they dont want boot so i did it on with another Computer installed it and swapped in to the not working one and worked but carefull you need same setup means both have to be an intel or amd cpu and second the gpu same as amd or nvidia for running

[Terrorizer]

… is there something to take care of (installation with UEFI), or is the automated partioning of calamares i.O. ?

[Duke187]

I used all Time the Calamares and never did it wrong in my stuff so yeah just if you have more HDD`s look whicjh one you choose or like me i turn off the Computer disconnect the power or on my main pc tur the switch off =)