Ghost 14.0 backup password lost...

[RJK]

Is there any way to crack a password for a Norton Ghost 14.0 backup.

Rather stupidly, after doing quite a bit of work on my brothers XP Home
based PC on the 16th October, and whilst he was wandering around his home
later that day recovering from a general anaesthetic, I did a final Ghost
backup to his internal hd drive D:\ ...I, (stupidly I suppose), suggested
entering a Ghost 14.0 "encryption password," which he suggested, (and which
he and I failed to write down), and now neither of us can remember it.

He 'phoned me yesterday, to say that he'd tried to "upgrade" AVG 8.5 to
version 9.0 and ended up with his PC failing to boot up ! (...he's now
blaming it on me with the excuse that he knew that I'd recently done a Ghost
backup), ...and that's why he didn't do a Ghost backup himself prior to
upgrading to AVG 9.0

So he's had to restore using a Ghost BU, from external hard-disk that's over
a month old !

Is there any hope - using a password cracker - "brute force dictionary
attack" etc. .... and is so can anyone recommend one ?

TIA

regards, Richard

 

[Mike]

Is there any way to crack a password for a Norton Ghost 14.0 backup.

Rather stupidly, after doing quite a bit of work on my brothers XP Home
based PC on the 16th October, and whilst he was wandering around his home
later that day recovering from a general anaesthetic, I did a final Ghost
backup to his internal hd drive D:\ ...I, (stupidly I suppose), suggested
entering a Ghost 14.0 "encryption password," which he suggested, (and
which he and I failed to write down), and now neither of us can remember
it.

He 'phoned me yesterday, to say that he'd tried to "upgrade" AVG 8.5 to
version 9.0 and ended up with his PC failing to boot up ! (...he's now
blaming it on me with the excuse that he knew that I'd recently done a
Ghost backup), ...and that's why he didn't do a Ghost backup himself
prior to upgrading to AVG 9.0

So he's had to restore using a Ghost BU, from external hard-disk that's
over a month old !

Is there any hope - using a password cracker - "brute force dictionary
attack" etc. .... and is so can anyone recommend one ?

TIA

regards, Richard

It is unbelieveable that you've set a password & not made a note of it.

 

[RJK]

It is unbelieveable that you've set a password & not made a note of it.

... that was helpful !

"Unbelieveable" ...mmm NO! ...because that's what happened !
"Careless" | "Stupid" | "Unwise" | "Unnecessary" ...mmm "YES,"

.....value of help in your reply ...mmm "NIL" !!

regards, Richard

 

[M.I.5¾]

It is unbelieveable that you've set a password & not made a note of it.

From the way the OP was written, I believe that he may have realised that
for himself.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Is there any way to crack a password for a Norton Ghost 14.0 backup.

Rather stupidly, after doing quite a bit of work on my brothers XP Home
based PC on the 16th October, and whilst he was wandering around his home
later that day recovering from a general anaesthetic, I did a final Ghost
backup to his internal hd drive D:\ ...I, (stupidly I suppose), suggested
entering a Ghost 14.0 "encryption password," which he suggested, (and
which he and I failed to write down), and now neither of us can remember
it.

He 'phoned me yesterday, to say that he'd tried to "upgrade" AVG 8.5 to
version 9.0 and ended up with his PC failing to boot up ! (...he's now
blaming it on me with the excuse that he knew that I'd recently done a
Ghost backup), ...and that's why he didn't do a Ghost backup himself
prior to upgrading to AVG 9.0

So he's had to restore using a Ghost BU, from external hard-disk that's
over a month old !

Is there any hope - using a password cracker - "brute force dictionary
attack" etc. .... and is so can anyone recommend one ?

TIA

regards, Richard

I recommend checking the Ghost FAQs and/or sending an EMail note to the
Ghost helpdesk. You might also change your policy and refrain from using
passwords for image files.

 

[RJK]

I recommend checking the Ghost FAQs and/or sending an EMail note to the
Ghost helpdesk. You might also change your policy and refrain from using
passwords for image files.

Thanks, yours is good advice. ...and I usually do not ever enter an
encryption password when Ghost backing up. Quite why "we" entered one
eludes me - I suspect it was lack of sleep causing poor judgement ! , (had
slept over at my bros' house (50 miles away) on living room floor on the
15th - in order to get him to hospital (20 miles away) next morning at
7a.m. on the 16th ...where he had a growth removed from just below his right
side-rib cage, ..then picked him up at 5p.m. same day - he was obviously
still "bombed out" from General Anaesthetic + I was not completely with it
from lack of sleep i.e. there is nothing like ones own bed !! So for some
strange reason, "we" entered a Ghost 14.0 encryption password after knocking
his PC back into shape, after dropping his system back to a Ghost backup
prior to a virus !!

To summarise a long boring story - his XP platform collapsed due a virus
going off like a bomb ! ...when I started routine maintenance on the 16th.
So, I dropped his system back to a month old Ghost backup (prior to drive-by
infection), did all Windows updates, upgraded his Nvidia graphics drivers,
updated hosts file from mvps.org, and LOTS of other work and tweaks.

He then used his PC until yesterday 30th Oct. when he then chose the darned
"Easily upgrade to AVG 9.0" option that AVG slapped on to its' AVG 8.5
program interface, and he ended up with a non-booting PC. He claimed that
he didn't Ghost back up prior to upgrading AVG 9.0 because he knew that I'd
recently done one !! I think this is a flimsy excuse because he's now
annoyed that he's lost several emails between the 16th or 17th, and the 30th
!! ...none of which would have been lost if he'd Ghost backed up before
attempting to upgrade to AVG 9.0 !

Those lost emails aside, by not backing up - he lost all the work that I'd
done on the 16th !

....you just can't please some people !!

regards, Richard

ps I will explore Ghost FAQ's

 

[VanguardLH]

Is there any way to crack a password for a Norton Ghost 14.0 backup.

Contact Symantec to ask if they have a backdoor password. Probably not;
else, it wouldn't be secure.

 

[Motort]

Thanks, yours is good advice. ...and I usually do not ever enter an
encryption password when Ghost backing up. Quite why "we" entered one
eludes me - I suspect it was lack of sleep causing poor judgement ! , (had
slept over at my bros' house (50 miles away) on living room floor on the
15th - in order to get him to hospital (20 miles away) next morning at
7a.m. on the 16th ...where he had a growth removed from just below his right
side-rib cage, ..then picked him up at 5p.m. same day - he was obviously
still "bombed out" from General Anaesthetic + I was not completely with it
from lack of sleep i.e. there is nothing like ones own bed !! So for some
strange reason, "we" entered a Ghost 14.0 encryption password after knocking
his PC back into shape, after dropping his system back to a Ghost backup
prior to a virus !!

To summarise a long boring story - his XP platform collapsed due a virus
going off like a bomb ! ...when I started routine maintenance on the 16th.
So, I dropped his system back to a month old Ghost backup (prior to drive-by
infection), did all Windows updates, upgraded his Nvidia graphics drivers,
updated hosts file from mvps.org, and LOTS of other work and tweaks.

He then used his PC until yesterday 30th Oct. when he then chose the darned
"Easily upgrade to AVG 9.0" option that AVG slapped on to its' AVG 8.5
program interface, and he ended up with a non-booting PC. He claimed that
he didn't Ghost back up prior to upgrading AVG 9.0 because he knew that I'd
recently done one !! I think this is a flimsy excuse because he's now
annoyed that he's lost several emails between the 16th or 17th, and the 30th
!! ...none of which would have been lost if he'd Ghost backed up before
attempting to upgrade to AVG 9.0 !

Those lost emails aside, by not backing up - he lost all the work that I'd
done on the 16th !

...you just can't please some people !!

regards, Richard

ps I will explore Ghost FAQ's

Go to a hypnotist.... maybe he/she can jog you, or your brothers, memory.

 

[RJK]

annoyed that he's lost several emails between the 16th or 17th, and the

Go to a hypnotist.... maybe he/she can jog you, or your brothers, memory.

Believe it or not, when he 'phoned me to admit that he mucked up his PC, and
that when he tried to restore the (17th) Ghost backup, and discovered it was
password protected - he jokingly suggested, ".....we/you'll have to get
regressive hypnotherapy, " ...or something like that !!

It seems that he's dragged it back up to date, windows updates etc. though
one of the faults that was restored to his XP Home based PC, (by restoring
an at least one month old backup), was a font problem in IE8 - in that some
parts of a web page had really tiny fonts. I cleared that one up by
updating Nvidia graphics drivers to v192.? , and that Nvidia *.exe
driver is on his 2nd hd. I expect he will have reinstalled graphics drivers
by now.

regards, Richard