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another norton ghost question. (1 Viewer)

Ted Lee

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hi all -

i recently got an external usb hd, which i'm using for nightly backups, etc. part of the software bundle was ghost 2003.

it states that i'll need to create a boot *floppy* as part of the restore setup. i guess i need that floppy to boot the pc in case of a pc restore attempt.

the problem is two of my pc's are compaq evo's -- which do NOT have a floppy drive. so, does that mean my restore functionality won't work on these particular pc's?

thx!
 

Mike_J_Potter

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I would make the boot floppy either with another pc or temporarly put a disk drive in each pc. Then make a bootable cdrom using the floppy. Most 3rd party cd burning software have a option to do this.
 

Ted Lee

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thx mike. that might work.

my primary pc does have a floppy, so i can create the floppy there. plus, i have easy cd creator 7.0, so i'll check to see if i can create a bootable cdrom from it.
 

Mike_J_Potter

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It should work I know EZ CD 6.0 has it. If 7 doesn't do it, download a copy of nero and use that, I know that has support for it. I use it all the time.
 

Jonny_L

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I've been using ghost for a few years now. Indispensible product. Anyhow, don't worry about making a floppy. Ghost has an option to make a cd boot disc, use that. If your computer is messed to the point where you think you have to use a floppy, it probably wouldnt help anyways. Essientially, if you use a ghost boot cd, can make it into safe mode, dos or anything else that can access ghost directly, thats all you need. About 30 mins later you'll be back to how it was like magic.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Jonny,

I just started using Norton Ghost 9

I make weekly backups to my Maxtor One Touch external
Hard Drive.

I have not made an emergency boot disc.

Now please verify if my presumptions are correct
about using GHOST restore.....

If my computer goes haywire, I can simply format
the computer, install Windows XP and then GHOST.
At that point all I need to do is hit RESTORE to
return my hard drive to its former state?

Is that correct? If not, what should I be doing?


Also, a concern about Norton 9 and the way it works....

Norton makes an IMAGE of your hard drive. Can it
do this if you have programs running? I ask this
because normally you cannot copy any program to a hard
drive if that program is running. This is my primary
concern about Norton 9 running under windows vs. the
older Norton that works out of DOS.


Would appreciate your thoughts on these topics.
 

Mike Fassler

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uhh yer windows install would be part of yer ghost image, you just boot to your Ghost image and go for it. ;)
 

Ted Lee

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okay, i'm not too thrilled with 2003.

1. it wouldn't recognize my usb1.1 inputs on my evo's. when i try to do the advanced settings to include the usb drivers, it wouldn't let me choose them?

2. when i tried it on my main pc, it allowed me to install the usb drivers (i'm copying to an iomega usb external hd), but when ghost restarted the pc, it just sat there at the first pc-dos screen trying to load the usb drivers.

sheesh. anybody know if 9.0 is any better?
 

Mike_J_Potter

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The only difference between Ghost 2003 and 9.0 is that 9.0 is a corporate version that supports things like being able to image a pc through a server and manage them. It is most likely the Dos USB drivers. I too have had issues with trying to use a DOS boot disk with a USB drive. You might want to try out these drivers and config files and see if it helps. http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm
If you want the files they talk about and can't easily find them shoot me a e-mail and I'll send them to you when I am done with work. They are freeware but I believe the site charges for the files.

Also so far I have not had any luck getting USB 2.0 to work it just freezes like you were talking about. If anyone has had success with this especially on Dell PCs let me know.
 

Ted Lee

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thx mike. i'll try to play around with it some more this weekend when i have time. nice to know it's not just me having issues. if 9 is pretty much the same as 2003, then i'm definitely not going to upgrade until i get it working.
 

Joey_R

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Ronald:

you said:

If my computer goes haywire, I can simply format the computer, install Windows XP and then GHOST. At that point all I need to do is hit RESTORE to return my hard drive to its former state?

Is that correct? If not, what should I be doing?

I'm a Ghost 2003 user. I believe your understanding of the Ghost program is fundamentally incorrect. I'll attempt to explain using a very broad brush, as Ghost has tons of nuances that are beyond me. Ghost "images" a partition or hard drive as a whole. Let's assume you want to backup your "C:" hard drive. If you backup from Windows, Ghost just creates a modified PCDOS boot batch file that executes the backup routine you specify. It then prompts you to reboot the computer. When the computer reboots, it boots using the newly created PCDOS boot routine. The computer is not using your "C:" drive or Windows at that point. Ghost then prompts you for what drive/partition to image (backup) and where to put the resulting file. Once you give it all the correct information, it proceeds with imaging (backup). Windows is never booted up during this process. When finished, you essentially reboot and start back into Windows.

Here is where I think you misunderstand the program. When you RESTORE an image, it is done by the same process. I usually use a Ghost boot floppy. Assuming the "C:" drive is to be restored, you would boot using the Ghost floppy. You then tell Ghost you want to restore "C:" from a "*.GHO" image, then direct Ghost to the image (in your case, on the USB drive - although make sure Ghost has all the appropriate DOS drivers to see the USB drive ahead of time). Best practice says you should format "C:" first, but this is not required. Ghost then writes the whole image to "C:". When its finished, "C:" will behave identically to the time it was "backed up". Assuming you have not changed the computer's BIOS in the interim, if "C:" was the boot drive before, it will boot up just like the day you imaged it. Windows will still be there in same condition you had it on imaging day. Any changes, and I do mean ANY, that occurred on "C:" after imaging day will be gone.

That's the magic of Ghost. You can literally restore the whole hard drive in 15 or 20 minutes...TOTAL. No need to re-install Windows, updates, patches, service packs, programs, DSL providers, etc. If it was on "C:" on imaging day, it will be there after restore. That's why Ghost users create an image at certain thresholds: 1)Fresh Windows install with service packs, but before any programs; 2) A preferred configuration of OS, drivers and software that is NOT buggy and just runs good; 3) Before you update your ATI video drivers :frowning: , etc.

My personal practice is to partition every hard drive into 3 or 4 partitons. Assuming you have only one hard drive installed, you can restore partitions from the same hard disk. Let's say "C:" is the boot/OS partition and "D:" is another blank partition on the SAME hard disk. You can restore the "C:" partition from the "D:" partition on the SAME hard disk. This is helpful in scenarios like number 3 above. If the video driver update goes wrong, I can restore quickly without having to endure a sometimes lengthy and arduous uninstall/install routine that may or may not work. If my hard drive craps out, then I'm SOL, because both "C:" and "D:" are on the same drive. However, I keep an image on DVD for those occasions. I view this practice as a "working backup" as opposed to a catostraphic disk failure type backup.

I know this is too long, but hopefully assists someone seeking to understand Ghost better.
 

Ted Lee

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nice post joey. that was very helpful.

now just help me figure out why my ghost won't recognize my flippin' usb drive!

:D
 

Jonny_L

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Good question. I don't think so. I'm using Ghost 2003 and I could be wrong but I think that's a limitation of windows rather then Norton. It'll go into PC DOS like you were restoring only instead of overwriting, it makes the image. Thankfully to make an image it usually only takes 10 minutes or so depending on what you backup. Same to restore. It literally is computer magic.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Jonny,

Thanks for the help. These are the answers I needed.

I don't have the boot CD for Norton 9. Doesn't
seem to be available as a download from Norton's site.

Is this CD something that can easily be made up on
my own?

Thanks again.
 

Jonny_L

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Yup, there is a tool inside the Ghost program itself which is usually found under Ghost Utilities. On my particular version it's called Norton Ghost Boot Wizard.

Hope that helps! :D
 

Ted Lee

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ron, how do you have your maxtor connected externally? is it via usb? if so, have you had any issues when using ghost? it sounds like it's working fine for you.

but i can't seem to get around this usb driver issue.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Jonny,

Unless I am missing something here, there is no
such ulility wizard in Ghost 9. I really
need to find a way to create a boot disc as it will
make me feel so much more secure about being able to
restore files.


Ted,

Had no problem hooking up my Maxtor external HD
(OneTouch II) to the USB port on my computer. It
worked flawlessly from box to hookup.
 

Ted Lee

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hmm...count your blessings ron! :angry: :)

mike, i sent you a pm. would you mind sending me those usb drivers?
 

Joey_R

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Ghost 2003 Flash tutorial for making boot disks is here .

Ron, make sure you check the "USB Support" option when creating the boot disk. Just because Windows works and plays well with your external hard drive doesn't mean Ghost will. After you make the disk, try to start your computer with it and test to see if the Ghost boot disk can access your external hard drive.
 

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