How to run Norton Ghost on XP operating system? (1 Viewer)

[Thane]

I just purchased Norton Ghost and installed it on my XP computer. I seem to be unable to see how to launch the program, and the read.me file says that it can't be run on a non-DOS system. Yet the packaging clearly states that it's made for XP, and has the XP logo. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The Ghost.exe file can't run in an NT environment. It can run under 95/98 but isn't recommended. You need to create a DOS boot disk and run it from DOS.

The section of Ghost which installs into XP is the 'Ghost Explorer' app which allows you to examine and restore from image files. There is also a boot floppy creation app in there which should be able to create you a DOS floppy.

 

[Max Leung]

RTFM
(Read the fine manual)
What Rob said...

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Note that although you have to boot a floppy in DOS mode, the ghostpe program on the floppy is capable of ghosting FAT32 and NTFS partitions.

 

[Thane]

OK...this has got to be among the most frustrating programs I have ever tried! Thanks for the info...I created the floppy boot disc. What I want to do is to create an image of the computer's hard drive onto an external USB hard drive. When I restart the computer with the floppy in the A drive, it starts the Ghost program, but it doesn't seem to recognize that there's an external drive. (My floppy has the USB support). I've read the manual several times & haven't found it to be especially helpful (I'm not a computer guy, I just want to go through specified steps & achieve my goal!) Any more helpful suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

When you boot into DOS from floppy, does the USB drive have a drive letter assigned?

 

[Thane]

Thanks Rob...where would I see that?

 

[Rob Gillespie]

You see it from DOS, but the letter will depend on how many other partitions or drives are on the system that DOS can see.

Boot off your floppy and type

C:
then DIR

You should see the directory contents of whatever is on C:

Then do the same for D:, E: and so on until you get an error about the drive not existing. If the USB drive is being seen by DOS you should recognise the directory contents.

 

[Thane]

Man...this is all very foreign to me! I started up the computer with the floppy in the drive but it starts up the Ghost program. Can't find where to type C: dir
I did notice that when it starts to boot up, it says "Could not find a USB Controller", and then in the next paragraph it says "OHCI USB Controller initialized".

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Before we try to progress any further, how is the USB hard drive formatted? NTFS or FAT32?

 

[Bruce N]

The Radified Guide to Norton Ghost is a really cool guide to using Norton Ghost. Very helpful.
Bruce

 

[Danny R]

FYI: The USB support built into Norton Ghost is for transfers via USB connection cable (a special type of USB cable) to another computer. It does NOT automatically support USB drives.

In order to do that, you need to get a dos driver for your usb drive, and have it loaded in the config.sys and autoexec.bat files of the ghost boot disk. Then when you boot, you'll get a drive letter, and ghost will be able to see it.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Then when you boot, you'll get a drive letter, and ghost will be able to see it.

Unless the answer to my above question is 'NTFS'.

 

[Thane]

I checked under properties and it's FAT32. It's beginning to sound like I wasted $70 :frowning:

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Thane, you need to get DOS to see the USB drive. It's FAT32 so like Danny said, it really should just be a case of getting the DOS drivers incorporated into the boot floppy.

 

[Thane]

Is it possible to reformat it to NTFS? I don't have much stored on the drive yet and it would be easy to remove it. If it's formatted to NTFS, would the computer still recognize it, and are there advantages/disadvantages to doing so (if it's even possible)?

 

[Thane]

OK...how do I go about getting the driver onto the floppy boot disc?

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The manual for the USB drive should give information on how to use the drive in DOS, I would have thought.