GHOST issues

[Cary Shultz]

Howdy All!

I know that this is for WIN2000 so please pardon my
quesion on Ghost ( clearly not a MS product ).

Here is the problem put very quickly: We are using Ghost
7.0 and are now having a problem. On the Windows Server
we are not able to bring down an image to a workstation.
It gives us a compression error. We are able to create a
new image but it gives the 'Disk is full - span across
another volume' question. Disk space is NOT an issue
here ( some 56GB are avialable )!!!!!

If you like/need, read below for more details.....

My boss likes to use Ghost. I am not such a big fan but
it is really useful i nthis environment. Has been set up
for over three years without issue. Novell was part of
the network and has since been 'shut off'. Copied over
the images ( *.gho ) from the Novell server to the
WIN2000 server. Using a Windows network boot disk to
attach to the server, change directories and then execute
ghost.exe to bring down the image to the machine.

Not working on the Windows server. Getting the ghost
compression error ( sorry, do not remember the exact
error number ). Copied over the images again using the
appropriate switch to verify and all ran perfectly. Try
to bring down the image again. Same error. Replaced the
ghost.exe on the server. Same problem.

Okay. Let's create a new image. Not happening. Getting
the 'Disk is full - span across another volume?" question
with the accompanying warning. Click on YES and it
continues. However, I notice that there are now two
parts to the image. If I click on NO I get the
Application Error 10032 Disk is full, cannot continue....
message.

BTW - same situation if I try to do this on the Novell
Server ( we simply turn on the Novell Server - the
Client32 has been removed from all of the client WIN2000
Pro machines - with the exception of our 'Admin'
workstation ). Using the Novell network boot disk we are
indeed able to successfully bring down an existing image
but are not able to create a new image ( same error as on
the Windows side ).

We do not have any Disk Quota in place. On the Windows
Server we have three 36.2BG physical drives configured at
RAID5 and have some 55.8GB free. On the Novell Server we
have three 18.2GB physical drives configured in a RAID5
and have some 7.5BG free.

Thanks all!

Cary

 

[Uncle Stewie]

Cary,

Ghost is actually a very good product... the only real issue with version 7
of Ghost is that "ghost.exe" is a 16-bit application, and is therefore
subject to the flaws and limitations of DOS. Perhaps if you knew how Ghost
was functioning this would help... Ghost is simply a sector copier... It
captures disk images bit-by-bit sector by sector until the partition or disk
you intended to copy is transferred into a proprietary file format... The
file limitations of DOS are in play here ... maximum file size is 2 GB for
any one file... If your image exceeds 2GB then the image will be spanned
into subsequent files... i.e. if you save an image file as "myserver.gho"...
then the subsequent files would be numbered as "myser001.ghs" (note the GHS
extension)... and so forth... I have had server images that spanned more
than 6 GB and spanned 4 files or more... Ghost knows the sequence of these
files and it will prompt you for the next image file if it cannot find
one... I believe the problem you are having is network related and not Ghost
related... make sure when you are loading the DOS redirectors (network boot
disk), that you can actually create files over the network as that user... a
simple test without changing anything on the boot disk would be to use DOS
console and create a text file over the network...

1) Type "Copy Con myfile.txt" at a network drive command prompt ("R:\")...
2) Then at the prompt type "Test"...
3) Then "CTRL-Z" and "Enter" to exit and save the file...

If the file is created on the network drive then you should not have a
problem writing to the network drive (nor should ghost.exe).

Another issue may be that one of the files is corrupted... Ghost simply
creates disk image files... these files like any other can become
corrupted... This is rare, but on more than one occasion I have had this
happen as well... you should recreate the image if you can...

Finally...

You can recompile captured images in Ghost Console... By recompiling the
image ghost will adjust the size of each file... Default is 2048 mb (2GB)...
You can change this if you want to put the image on CD... (which is another
approach you can use)...

To recompile the image:

1) Open Ghost Console (Ghostexp.exe)...
2) Open the image file by opening "File\Open" and selecting your image (this
will be your first indication whether your image is good or not)...
3) Under "View\Options" set the "Span Split Point" to 690 Mb (so image can
go on CD)...
4) From the file menu select "File\Compile"... this will prompt you for a
new file name... make sure it is differnet and follows the 8.3 DOS format.
5) Copy your first file "NewImage.gho" to the first of your CD set... and
all subsequent files "NewIm001.GHS", "NewIm002.GHS", etc to subsequent CD's.
6) Instead of creating a DOS boot disk... create a Bootable DOS disk that
adds the drivers for your CD drive and run ghost off of the boot disk, with
image on CD...

You can get fancy and create a DOS bootable CD in the same manner, but for
finding out what your issue is this is one approach to see if your problem
is network related...

Good Luck!





Here are some things to try...

1) You can use Ghost Console and place the images on CD... Then install the
images from CD instead of over a network connection...

Stew

 

[Cary Shultz]

-----Original Message-----
Cary,

Ghost is actually a very good product... the only real issue with version 7
of Ghost is that "ghost.exe" is a 16-bit application, and is therefore
subject to the flaws and limitations of DOS. Perhaps if you knew how Ghost
was functioning this would help... Ghost is simply a sector copier... It
captures disk images bit-by-bit sector by sector until the partition or disk
you intended to copy is transferred into a proprietary file format... The
file limitations of DOS are in play here ... maximum file size is 2 GB for
any one file... If your image exceeds 2GB then the image will be spanned
into subsequent files... i.e. if you save an image file as "myserver.gho"...
then the subsequent files would be numbered

as "myser001.ghs" (note the GHS

extension)... and so forth... I have had server images that spanned more
than 6 GB and spanned 4 files or more... Ghost knows the sequence of these
files and it will prompt you for the next image file if it cannot find
one... I believe the problem you are having is network related and not Ghost
related... make sure when you are loading the DOS redirectors (network boot
disk), that you can actually create files over the network as that user... a
simple test without changing anything on the boot disk would be to use DOS
console and create a text file over the network...

1) Type "Copy Con myfile.txt" at a network drive command prompt ("R:\")...
2) Then at the prompt type "Test"...
3) Then "CTRL-Z" and "Enter" to exit and save the file...

If the file is created on the network drive then you should not have a
problem writing to the network drive (nor should ghost.exe).

Another issue may be that one of the files is corrupted... Ghost simply
creates disk image files... these files like any other can become
corrupted... This is rare, but on more than one occasion I have had this
happen as well... you should recreate the image if you can...

Finally...

You can recompile captured images in Ghost Console... By recompiling the
image ghost will adjust the size of each file... Default is 2048 mb (2GB)...
You can change this if you want to put the image on CD... (which is another
approach you can use)...

To recompile the image:

1) Open Ghost Console (Ghostexp.exe)...
2) Open the image file by opening "File\Open" and selecting your image (this
will be your first indication whether your image is good or not)...
3) Under "View\Options" set the "Span Split Point" to 690 Mb (so image can
go on CD)...
4) From the file menu select "File\Compile"... this will prompt you for a
new file name... make sure it is differnet and follows the 8.3 DOS format.
5) Copy your first file "NewImage.gho" to the first of your CD set... and
all subsequent files "NewIm001.GHS", "NewIm002.GHS", etc to subsequent CD's.
6) Instead of creating a DOS boot disk... create a Bootable DOS disk that
adds the drivers for your CD drive and run ghost off of the boot disk, with
image on CD...

You can get fancy and create a DOS bootable CD in the same manner, but for
finding out what your issue is this is one approach to see if your problem
is network related...

Good Luck!





Here are some things to try...

1) You can use Ghost Console and place the images on CD... Then install the
images from CD instead of over a network connection...

Stew




.

Uncle Stewie!

Thank you for the explanation of how Ghost works. I
really did not know that Ghost 7.0 was 16-bit and had
this limitatiion. Might be worth the $50.00 or so to go
to the next version. I failed to mention that this is
happening ( the span volume message ) right when the
image hits the 2GB size. You were dead on with the file
extension.

Will try to create a file to see. Quick questin for you:
did you randomly suggest using "R:\" or is there some
meaning to it?

Thanks again,

Cary

 

[Uncle Stewie]

No meaning whatsoever... I normally use R:\... Don't know why... just habit
I guess...

let me know if you need any further assistance... you can email direct if
you wish... (e-mail address removed)

Good luck.

 

[Uncle Stewie]

Cary,

After reading your response I was thinking of something else...

All Ghost versions are curently 16 bit... Except of coures ghost 8.0 which
does have a 32-bit counterpart... ghost32.exe... but this is run from within
a Window PE environment... The best products for disk duplication are still
in the 16-bit DOS arena... Basically because the way that Windows locks out
the environment... NTFS and system level drivers cannot be copied without
the OS being aware...

HTH

 

[Cary Shultz]

Stewart,

Thank you for your time. If I have any problems then I
just might contact you. Hopefully I will be able to sort
this out myself.

Cary

 

[Cary Shultz]

It does help. Kinda what I was thinking but wanted to
ask anyway.

Thanks again,

Cary