Can I install a UEFI hard drive as the main (boot) drive in a legacy(BIOS) Windows 7 system?

I understand that you can get Windows to show the drive if it's connected via external enclosure, but is there a workaround to have the larger UEFI as the main boot drive or must I stick with a lower capacity drive as the boot drive?

Sam wrote

I understand that you can get Windows to show the drive
if it's connected via external enclosure, but is there a
workaround to have the larger UEFI as the main boot drive
or must I stick with a lower capacity drive as the boot drive?

There is another workaround that some manufacturers
provide that allows it to boot Win7 from the UEFI drive.

Well, I contacted Asus about my mobo and I received no response. It's the ASUS P6X58D-E. Any insight would be helpful.

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 1:52:01 AM UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:

There is another workaround that some manufacturers
provide that allows it to boot Win7 from the UEFI drive.

Asus had no response to my enquiry. My mobo is ASUS P6X58D-E. It doesn't support the new type of bios. Any insight or guidance would be appreciated.

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

There is another workaround that some manufacturers
provide that allows it to boot Win7 from the UEFI drive.

Asus had no response to my enquiry. My mobo is ASUS P6X58D-E.
It doesn't support the new type of bios.

Yeah, it's a pretty elderly motherboard.

Any insight or guidance would be appreciated.

Looks like you are out of luck.

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 2:58:54 PM UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:

Yeah, it's a pretty elderly motherboard.

Any insight or guidance would be appreciated.

Looks like you are out of luck.
I guess there is no workaround then like booting from USB and somehow tricking the legacy bios into recognizing the drive immediately after? I know that if you use a swappable UEFI HD it will show up AFTER the OS is loaded.

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Yeah, it's a pretty elderly motherboard.

Any insight or guidance would be appreciated.

Looks like you are out of luck.

I guess there is no workaround then like booting from USB and somehow
tricking the legacy bios into recognizing the drive immediately after?

Yes. And you may be able to run Win10 and get it to see the UEFI drive fine,
no tricking the legacy bios required at all, it isnt involved once Win is
booted.

I know that if you use a swappable UEFI HD it will show up AFTER the OS is
loaded.

Yes, so any way you boot Win should get the result you want.

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 8:39:42 PM UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:

Yes, so any way you boot Win should get the result you want.

What search parameters would I use to find an app to install on a USB dongle that will allow one to boot into Windows where the Windows is installed on the UEFI drive?

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Yes, so any way you boot Win should get the result you want.

What search parameters would I use to find an app to install
on a USB dongle that will allow one to boot into Windows
where the Windows is installed on the UEFI drive?

I wasn't suggesting the last, boot into Win on different drive.

On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 11:17:22 AM UTC-7, Rod Speed wrote:
I wasn't suggesting the last, boot into Win on different drive.
I appreciate the clarification.

One FINAL question: Since I need to use another drive to boot into Windows. Can I use an SSD drive (for improved performance) or should I stick with a 1 GB regular drive? The mobo has SATA 6 connectors and currently my Windows drives uses it. I should replace it before it fails on me as it is old too.