I have a 500GB C drive and a 3TB backup drive. I want to clone the C drive before upgrading from 8.1 to 10. Using Acronis. I need to initialize the 3TB drive. Since it is large I need to use GPT but the C drive is MBR. I cannot get support on the phone si I'm sitting here.
Will I have trouble if I clone an MBR drive to a GPT drive? I could initialize the 3TB drive as MBR, upgrade to W10 and then reformat it once I'm sure everything is OK. I really don't expect a problem but I still need to know if I can use a GPT drive to backup MBR drives. The computer is a Studiocat maybe a year old, probably a little less.
Anyway, I have no idea but I DO know I don't want to cause problems for myself.
Thanks for any help...
 
Julien

Bump, just sitting here waiting.

The byte sectors on all the disks are 512 and all the drives are Toshiba. I do have a W-8.1 disk in case everything goes south. Perhaps I should clone to the 3TB disk and backup to an internal disk. I know I wont be able to not from a USB drive but if I restore everything from the clone to the original drive shouldn't everything be right again.... I mean that's the whole idea right?
I expect less problems from the upgrade that from the cloning and possible restore.
I need to clone my laptop too.
As long as I'm asking, can I just backup the C drive and the laptop drive to the 3TB drive to different folders? I do not plan to partition it unless I need to. I have no idea if I need to or not. I guess once I do either MRB or GPT I will have to ability to create folders.
Someone throw me a line...
J

I always use backup image (instead of clone), and whether it's backing up an MBR (system drive) or GPT (storage drive), the end-result is a compressed file, so it doesn't care where I put it (Which typically is a GPT storage drive, but again, it doesn't matter).
 
I used to clone partitions when I first started doing backups, but since I discovered backup images a decade or so ago, I've used them exclusively.  Backup images take up much less space, and I've found them just as reliable.
 
I know this doesn't address your cloning question, but you might consider doing a backup image instead.  You won't have to worry about any MBR/GPT differences/issues.

What is the difference between a backup image and a clone? Can I do it with Acronis?
Thanks Jon,
 
Julien

A clone (which is iffy - works for some and not others) copies every block, whether good or bad and same way with data all data both good and bad and makes an exact copy on the "cloned" drive. 
 
A disc image (backup) (all partitions on the "C" drive) only copies the (good) data to a file.  You can use the disc image to create a new drive, or rebuild the current drive. 
 
I too only use disc images. 

First be sure your computer is UEFI not just BIOS. Windows is likely to require some major adjustment (high level manual kludge) to boot a system from a GPT drive using BIOS, since the bootloaders on the two systems are not compatible. In most cases you should assume that there is no way that your system will ever boot windows from a GPT drive without UEFI.
 
Assuming you have UEFI, the safest way to do this is probably to partition your blank 3TB drive so that you have a 500 GB MBR partition created, and leave the rest unallocated. Then you can image your current C drive, and restore that image to your new MBR partition resulting in an MBR bootable image. After confirming that you have a bootable MBR system, you can then run your upgrade, and when you have finished, you can use Windows 10 to convert your drive to GPT. After that you can extend your existing partition into the unallocated space to get access to the full 3TB.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/convert-mbr-to-gpt-disk
 
Some cloning applications may do this automatically, but I am unable to find a statement from Acronis that any version will do that. 
http://www.backup-utility.com/clone/clone-mbr-to-gpt-disk-4348.html
 
 
 
 

I created three equal partitions but I can surely go back and try to figure out how to make one 500GB partition. I have no idea how to find out if I have UEFI but I am pretty sure since it's a Roseberry build and less than a year old, it is up to date but I'll check. I hate this sort of thing, I know squat about computers, other than using programs that just work.
Thanks... I'm going to eat dinner than check back.
 
Julien

OK, I don't understand all this so since I really don't expect to need this backup after I upgrade to W10 I think I'm going to take Jim's advice and use Acronis to clone. I don't think there is anything wrong with the drive. It is all DAW, no email, no antivirus, only online for downloading samples, instruments, or Cakewalk updates etc. I expect I'll have to reauthorize ADD-2 but like I said, I don't expect to need this clone of 8.1. I do have an 8.1 disk if I need it. I'll run a backup and try the clone, I may see if I can change the partition to 500GB but I don't want a bunch of 500GB partitions and I'm not sure I can change it once done. I'm really not comfortable with three 1TB (or just under) partitions either. I'm not even sure if it will make three partitions. I just set the maximum to 1/3 of the size listed. Minimum is 8mb, I think.
I'll go to the DAW and check some more. I'm doing this on my laptop. This laptop will likely have BIOS since it was originally a W-7 64 computer.
My main concern is about WRM or GPT and if I will be able to load the clone onto a new disk in case of a crash (which I do not expect to need to do) remember this is in advance of upgrading from 8.1 to 10. I know I wont be able to boot from a USB dock, which is where the 3TB drive is, but I could install it in the case.
Thanks.
Julien

Julien, I am in the process of upgrading myself.  I bought Acronis and made a disk image (not a clone).  It took about 2 hours for 180 GBs or so.  I am doing the upgrade to Win 10 (from Win 7) as I type.