BIOS vs UEFI

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BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) are two firmware interfaces that operate at the boot stage of the boot process on a computer. Both BIOS and UEFI are used to boot a computer and load the operating system.

There are a few key differences between BIOS and UEFI:

1. Age: BIOS is an older firmware interface that has been around for decades, while UEFI is a newer interface that was designed as a replacement for BIOS.
2. Boot process: BIOS uses a boot process that is based on the Master Boot Record (MBR) of a hard drive, while UEFI uses a boot process that is based on the GUID Partition Table (GPT).
3. Supported features: UEFI supports more advanced features than BIOS, such as support for hard drives larger than 2 TB, support for booting from USB drives, and the ability to boot multiple operating systems from a single hard drive.
4. Security: UEFI includes additional security features, such as the ability to secure boot, which helps to prevent malicious software from running during the boot process.

Overall, UEFI is a more modern and feature-rich firmware interface than BIOS, and it is gradually replacing BIOS as the default firmware interface on new computers.