Ghost copy or image copy of my drive question

[Aslaner]

I have Sytem works with Ghost on it and also I believe that XP can make an
image copy of my drive as well?



What I want to do like everyone should do, is to make an image copy of my
drive on another harddrive so that if anything happens I can always go back
to that weekly point where I made it.

What is the easiest to maintain ?

Do I need a drive as big the one that I have right now or a certain ration
like 4 :1 is good?

 

[Guest]

Backup Using Ghost

If one has Norton Ghost, from within Windows XP, one can set up Ghost to
crate an ‘image’ of a drive or partition to another drive or partition. Newer
versions of Ghost support Firewire and USB external drives as well.

This is in fact a single LARGE file that is stored onto the drive. It can
then be copied to multiple CDs or DVDs if required for further safety and
security.

This image is made under DOS mode [Ghost uses Caldera DOS] and has support
for all Windows files structures [FAT32, NTFS].

Should one ever have a disaster from which recovery using System restore is
not possible, then one can use Ghost to reinstate the Hard Drive using the
Image file.

The process will take about ½ hr to run, which is a whole lot quicker than
just the installation of XP and then saves all the time for Personalisation,
Internet Access Setup, email and the time for installation of all Application
software [such as Office, Acrobat etc].

Ghost uses file compression so one can manage Ghost files on a partition or
drive with ½ the capacity of the source drive [say C Drive is 20 Gb then
backup drive or partition can be about 10Gb].

If one Ghosts back to the original drive the system will boot up straight
away: if one Ghosts to a new drive of different make / model / capacity then
a Repair Installation will be necessary before booting up XP.

One can Perform a Repair Install by following the step by step below.

Boot up from the Windows XP installation CD, when you see the "Welcome To
Setup" screen, you will see the options below:

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.

Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows
installations.

Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to
start the repair.
Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not
press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue
as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will
remain intact.

Blaster worm warning: Do not immediately activate over the internet when
asked, enable the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. You can
activate after the firewall is enabled. Control Panel - Network Connections.
Right click the connection you use, Properties, and there is a check box on
the advanced page.

Reapply updates or service packs applied since initial Windows XP
installation.

 

[Greg R]

Sorry about the caps. Some ghost and command switches may be case
sensitive.

I had trouble using Ghost for awhile. I use Ghost 2003 from a 98se
boot disk-custom made. Since I have four partitions.

I use partition four as a backup. All Fat32.
I created a partition backup cd for my win xp partition.

To do a partition backup I use this command line.
A:\GHOST\GHOST -FDSP -NTIL -SPAN -CRCIGNORE -FRO -Z9

Using a different ghost boot disk.

To restore I make a text file called xpsp2.txt
note the last number 2 is partition 2 is my xp partition.

-clone,mode=pload,src=f:\backup\xpsp2\Cdr00001.gho:1,dst=1:2
-FDSP
-NTIL
-SPAN
-CRCIGNORE
-FRO
-Batch
-FX


I made autoexec.bat with the following
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
lh MSCDEX.EXE /D:GEMCD001 /L:R
MOUSE.COM
CD GHOST
Ghost @xpsp2.txt

It restore xp automatically.

Backup Using Ghost

If one has Norton Ghost, from within Windows XP, one can set up Ghost to
crate an 'image' of a drive or partition to another drive or partition.
Newer
versions of Ghost support Firewire and USB external drives as well.

This is in fact a single LARGE file that is stored onto the drive. It can
then be copied to multiple CDs or DVDs if required for further safety and
security.

This image is made under DOS mode [Ghost uses Caldera DOS] and has support
for all Windows files structures [FAT32, NTFS].

Should one ever have a disaster from which recovery using System restore
is
not possible, then one can use Ghost to reinstate the Hard Drive using the
Image file.

The process will take about ½ hr to run, which is a whole lot quicker than
just the installation of XP and then saves all the time for
Personalisation,
Internet Access Setup, email and the time for installation of all
Application
software [such as Office, Acrobat etc].

Ghost uses file compression so one can manage Ghost files on a partition
or
drive with ½ the capacity of the source drive [say C Drive is 20 Gb then
backup drive or partition can be about 10Gb].

If one Ghosts back to the original drive the system will boot up straight
away: if one Ghosts to a new drive of different make / model / capacity
then
a Repair Installation will be necessary before booting up XP.

One can Perform a Repair Install by following the step by step below.

Boot up from the Windows XP installation CD, when you see the "Welcome To
Setup" screen, you will see the options below:

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.

Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows
installations.

Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to
start the repair.
Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not
press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will
continue
as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings
will
remain intact.

Blaster worm warning: Do not immediately activate over the internet when
asked, enable the XP firewall before connecting to the internet. You can
activate after the firewall is enabled. Control Panel - Network
Connections.
Right click the connection you use, Properties, and there is a check box
on
the advanced page.

Reapply updates or service packs applied since initial Windows XP
installation.

I have Sytem works with Ghost on it and also I believe that XP can make
an
image copy of my drive as well?



What I want to do like everyone should do, is to make an image copy of my
drive on another harddrive so that if anything happens I can always go
back
to that weekly point where I made it.

What is the easiest to maintain ?

Do I need a drive as big the one that I have right now or a certain
ration
like 4 :1 is good?

Bar has provide an excellent response. However, two points.

1. The size of the image {compressed or not} is a function of the data on
the source drive {used space} not the size of the source drive. If your
source drive is 20 Gb but the data uses only 10 Gb, then the image will be
10 Gb or less. The image file may or may not be broken into several files
of 2 Gb or 4Gb size. The image file break down is a function of your image
application and your file system. For example, FAT32 has a maximum file size
of 4 Gb. Some BIOS cannot support 4 Gb so, Drive Image 2002 breaks the
image files into 2 Gb increments for compatibility reason. Drive Image 7 and
Ghost 9 creating an image on a NTFS drive will not break the image file into
increments. Most image applications allow the user control of the image
file increment size.

2. Replacing a hard drive and then restoring an image to that new hard drive
should not require a repair installation of Windows. As I have not tried all
possible combinations, I cannot say never. In the one case where Sony
replaced my hard drive, I just restored my prior image without a repair
required.

3. When you restore an image containing Windows XP that already has been
activated, Windows XP in the restored image will remain activated.

As you your question about easy. While I do not use it {my preference},
Ghost 9 offers the option of incremental images {of changed files} once you
have done a full image.

Don

 

[Jed Sheckler]

I'd suggest, just from very positive personal experience mind you, that you
try Acronis True Image rather than Ghost. I've used this program with great
results for both image backups and restoring, as well as cloning a small
drive to a new larger one. It's one of the few programs that actually works
exactly the way it is advertised to with almost no learning curve. It is
fully functional from within windows, in fact you can continue to work in
windows while it is creating the image. It is compatible with usb and
firewire external drives, as well as drives or computers available over the
network. You can schedule backups as well. Of course it also includes the
option of compression. Without compression you'll need a drive as big as
the "used" space on your current drive. With compression, you'll be able to
get away with something smaller, although how much compression you get is
completely variable. Good luck.