11 March 2023

UEFI Vs BIOS | Difference | Comparison

Two types of motherboard firmware, known as UEFI and BIOS, are used to initialize the hardware and load the operating system during start-up. Additionally, they control the device's boot priority and give users the option to alter hardware and software settings. Both types of firmware accomplish the same thing, but UEFI is more recent and provides more features and options for customization.

What is UEFI?

The term Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is an acronym for the UEFI system. UEFI is a firmware interface for computers that serves as a middleman to link the firmware and operating system of a device. When the computer starts up, it is used to launch the operating system stored on the hard drive and initialize the hardware components. Future plans call for UEFI to completely replace the traditional BIOS because it offers a number of advantages and new features that cannot be obtained through the current BIOS.

What is BIOS?

The term Basic Input Output  System(BIOS) is an acronym for BIOS system. It first appeared in 1980. Although it has changed and improved over time the vast majority of computers available today use UEFI rather than BIOS, making it obsolete. The BIOS uses 1 MB of memory and must operate in 16-bit processor mode. Additionally, initializing multiple hardware devices at once is a challenge. These facts will unavoidably slow down the boot process, which will hardly satisfy the rapidly expanding society that demands a huge amount of storage and quick processing.

UEFI Vs BIOS | Difference between UEFI and BIOS

  • UEFI is released in 2002, while BIOS was released in 1975.
  • Drive sizes up to 9 zettabytes are supported by UEFI, compared to just 2.2 terabytes by BIOS.
  • UEFI partition support up to 128 physical partitions. Whereas BIOS supports up to four physical partitions.
  • Faster boot times are offered by UEFI.
  • While BIOS has drive support stored in its ROM, UEFI has discrete driver support. As a result updating BIOS firmware can be challenging.
  • UEFI operates in 32-bit or 64-bit mode. In contrast to BIOS, which only allows keyboard navigation, UEFI is able to offer a GUI. While BIOS operates in 16-bit mode.
  • UEFI is a secure boot feature, and BIOS is secure for password protection.
  • UEFI is a faster boot time and better performance compared to BIOS, On the other hand,  BIOS performs best on older 16-bit systems.
  • System initialization information is stored in a .efi file on the hard drive in the UEFI system. But System initialization information is stored in a dedicated chip on the motherboard in BIOS.
  • Compared to legacy BIOS, UEFI has much richer setup menus and a simpler graphical user interface.
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