Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

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Bob Coleman
Posts: 785
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:58 pm

Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by Bob Coleman »

This admittedly doesn't really have anything to do with BIBM, but might be of interest.

After I converted my disk from GPT to EMBR, I noticed that it seemed to take longer to boot Windows, but couldn't tell for sure.

As part of my exercise to test the conversion process, I timed booting five times when the disk was GPT and five times after it had been converted to EMBR.

When the disk was GPT, the average time of what I timed was 55 seconds.

When the disk was EMBR, the average time of the same part of the process was 94.4 seconds.

Arguably, a difference of 39.4 seconds is not much. On the other hand it's a 71% increase and is actually noticeable.

This leaves me wondering if this is just a booting issue or if the system is 71% slower in general. I think probably not.
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1643
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Were you timing the complete time from pushing the button to when the Windows login or desktop comes up? This would include the BIOS times, which could be different. Some have fast boot-up options that may only apply in certain configurations.

The time increase seems excessive to me. On systems I've worked with it's usually very close. However, some systems can be slow about getting out of the BIOS. For example, it may take 35 seconds for the BIOS to finish and then 10 seconds for Windows to get to the desktop. Other systems may be up in 5-10 seconds from a cold start. Different disks (e.g. SSD vs. standard drive, new standard drive vs. old standard drive, etc.) can also see a large difference.

The disk partitioning type (MBR, EMBR, GPT) wouldn't affect the actual speed of the system.
Bob Coleman
Posts: 785
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:58 pm

Re: Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by Bob Coleman »

This system initially displays an HP logo and spinning circle of dots. I started my timer when that display appeared. I guess that would be when it "gets out of the BIOS". I probably timed more than what you are thinking. One of my startup items briefly displays a console window. I stopped the timer what that window closed. This is the point at which I normally think the system is up and ready to use. Thinking about this, it seems that what takes longer may actually be in getting startup items initialized and running though I don't know why that would be. I just subjectively felt that the system took longer to get to the point identified which is what motivated me to do the timing. It would be interesting to understand this, but it's certainly not something that you need to solve and the only way for me to pursue it further involves backing up and restoring the HDD multiple times which I'm probably not going to do.

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> Were you timing the complete time from pushing the button to when the
> Windows login or desktop comes up? This would include the BIOS times, which
> could be different. Some have fast boot-up options that may only apply in
> certain configurations.
>
> The time increase seems excessive to me. On systems I've worked with it's
> usually very close. However, some systems can be slow about getting out of
> the BIOS. For example, it may take 35 seconds for the BIOS to finish and
> then 10 seconds for Windows to get to the desktop. Other systems may be up
> in 5-10 seconds from a cold start. Different disks (e.g. SSD vs. standard
> drive, new standard drive vs. old standard drive, etc.) can also see a
> large difference.
>
> The disk partitioning type (MBR, EMBR, GPT) wouldn't affect the actual
> speed of the system.
mjnelson99
Posts: 785
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:24 am

Re: Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by mjnelson99 »

I also get a porcupine staring out at me the last thing before Windows
actually starts. He is interesting.
Mary

On 5/15/2017 7:21 PM, Bob Coleman wrote:
> This system initially displays an HP logo and spinning circle of dots. I started my timer when that display appeared. I guess that would be when it "gets out of the BIOS". I probably timed more than what you are thinking. One of my startup items briefly displays a console window. I stopped the timer what that window closed. This is the point at which I normally think the system is up and ready to use. Thinking about this, it seems that what takes longer may actually be in getting startup items initialized and running though I don't know why that would be. I just subjectively felt that the system took longer to get to the point identified which is what motivated me to do the timing. It would be interesting to understand this, but it's certainly not something that you need to solve and the only way for me to pursue it further involves backing up and restoring the HDD multiple times which I'm probably not going to do.
>
> TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
>> Were you timing the complete time from pushing the button to when the
>> Windows login or desktop comes up? This would include the BIOS times, which
>> could be different. Some have fast boot-up options that may only apply in
>> certain configurations.
>>
>> The time increase seems excessive to me. On systems I've worked with it's
>> usually very close. However, some systems can be slow about getting out of
>> the BIOS. For example, it may take 35 seconds for the BIOS to finish and
>> then 10 seconds for Windows to get to the desktop. Other systems may be up
>> in 5-10 seconds from a cold start. Different disks (e.g. SSD vs. standard
>> drive, new standard drive vs. old standard drive, etc.) can also see a
>> large difference.
>>
>> The disk partitioning type (MBR, EMBR, GPT) wouldn't affect the actual
>> speed of the system.
>
>
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3596
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by TeraByte Support »

It's possible new boots will take a bit longer the first few until the
system has been running in windows a while while as it may need to
acknowledge the changes and do whatever it needs to do.


"Bob Coleman" wrote in message news:13787@public.bootitbm...

This admittedly doesn't really have anything to do with BIBM, but might be
of interest.

After I converted my disk from GPT to EMBR, I noticed that it seemed to take
longer to boot Windows, but couldn't tell for sure.

As part of my exercise to test the conversion process, I timed booting five
times when the disk was GPT and five times after it had been converted to
EMBR.

When the disk was GPT, the average time of what I timed was 55 seconds.

When the disk was EMBR, the average time of the same part of the process was
94.4 seconds.

Arguably, a difference of 39.4 seconds is not much. On the other hand it's
a 71% increase and is actually noticeable.

This leaves me wondering if this is just a booting issue or if the system is
71% slower in general. I think probably not.

Focusicr
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:54 am

Re: Performance difference between GPT and EMBR disks

Post by Focusicr »

This is another very interesting point.
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