ALL outdoor circuits and all 115v circuits in a bathroom, kitchen or garage should be protected by a GFIC. If you have any doubt, contact your local building inspector.
GFIC outlets are relatively inexpensive and can be wired into the first circuit of a string of outdoor outlets. The expense is reasonable and the protection is well worth the investment.
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The GFI outlet was there for a reason, such as a bathroom or other location around water where there is more risk of a shock being harmful or lethal. If it was a GFI, keep it a GFI. Also that outlet may be protecting other standard outlets being fed from the GFI. You can only after the house has passed inspection after the house was finished being built. It's a requirement that all new houses have to have a GFI wherever there's water, but it's perfectly legal once you buy the house to do this modification. However, it's highly not recommended unless there's more than one GFI outlet hooked up to the same circuit. If there's more than one, it's optional to take one off and replace it with a standard outlet because you really only need 1 GFI outlet to protect the rest of the outlets on the same circuit. But if it's already there, just leave it as is. Example: power box>GFI>normal>normal>GFI>normal; end; You can take off the second GFI and and every normal non-GFI outlet will function like GFI. If you take off the left one, only the last normal outlet will be GFI protected, the ons to the left wouldn't.
Yes, there are several ways to wire them. If you only want some plugs to be GFI (only the actual GFI plugs) protected then you wire them using just the "load" screws. if you want the whole circuit to be protected (or just two separate portions) the GFI plug must be first in the circuit and the protected plugs wired off of the "line" screws on the receptacle. Check the instructions, local codes, and with an electrician of course. Be safe, GFI circuits can be tricky.
GFI
Don't know what you mean by back wire, but most GFCI outlets have a circuit to attach additional outlets that will be protected by the GFCI. Keep total load in minds.