Ghosting or Restoring ?

[Davej]

I have a gamer pc running XP-SP3 that seems to work less well the
longer it is used. When I get disgusted enough I reformat and
reinstall everything -- about once or twice a year. Is there a
practical method to do this quickly? I have heard of "ghosting" but
have zero experience with it. Thanks.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

practical method to do this quickly? I have heard of "ghosting" but

have zero experience with it. Thanks.

Use a small (maybe 10G) partition to install WinXP, then ghost it to a
file in a NTFS partition using maybe linux's dd or Easesus Todo Backup.
Then extend the partition to bigger size.

The next time you wanna re-install WinXP, backup all data, delete the
WinXP partition, re-create that 10G partition again and restore from the
ghost file.

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[Davej]

Use a small (maybe 10G) partition to install WinXP, then ghost it to a
file in a NTFS partition using maybe linux's dd or Easesus Todo Backup.
Then extend the partition to bigger size.

The next time you wanna re-install WinXP, backup all data, delete the
WinXP partition, re-create that 10G partition again and restore from the
ghost file.

So "Ghosting" copies an entire partition byte-for-byte? An additional
reason for my wanting to do this is the disappearing support for XP.
Thanks.

 

[John Doe]

I have a gamer pc running XP-SP3 that seems to work less well
the longer it is used. When I get disgusted enough I reformat
and reinstall everything -- about once or twice a year. Is there
a practical method to do this quickly? I have heard of
"ghosting" but have zero experience with it. Thanks.

Search Google Groups. This group. My ID. Macrium Reflect.

Your situation is why I started copying the Windows partition
since about Windows 95. The benefits are astronomical, it's a
whole new world. Going without an incremental backup of the
Windows partition, especially during installation but also during
normal use, is like trying to produce a document without making
mistakes. You will feel the difference.

If anyone has the same setup that I do (a small main drive and a
large secondary drive) and needs help using Macrium Reflect, I can
give basic instruction on how to use it. I'm not an expert on that
program, partly because learning how to use it to backup up the
Windows drive took little time and no research, and after that
it's just repetition. One neat thing about that program is being
able to browse and copy files from your compressed backups. It
also copies perfectly even while you are using Windows. The
downside of the free version is that restoring the Windows
partition from the boot CD takes a long time. Then again, you
should do few restores.

One thing you will have to learn that might take some time... You
need to know where important files and data files are. That way,
whenever something serious goes wrong and you think about
restoring the Windows drive/partition, you immediately make a
fresh backup copy of those important data files. You should do
that anyway. And after the restore, you restore those more recent
versions of important files. It's a process you get used to doing.
It is effortless in comparison to the work saved by having a
backup copy of the Windows drive/partition.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Man-wai Chang]

So "Ghosting" copies an entire partition byte-for-byte? An additional

reason for my wanting to do this is the disappearing support for XP.
Thanks.

Yes. The good thing doing this is to backup activated software as well.
Unlike a fresh install, you no longer to re-activate anything.

--
@~@ You have the right to remain silent.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty!
/( _ )\ May the Force and farces be with you!
^ ^ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.3
ä¸å€Ÿè²¸! ä¸è©é¨™! ä¸æ´äº¤! ä¸æ‰“交! ä¸æ‰“劫! ä¸è‡ªæ®º! è«‹è€ƒæ…®ç¶œæ´ (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa

 

[John Doe]

One neat thing about that program is being able to browse and

copy files from your compressed backups.

I just did a restore and somehow did not properly copy the most
recent versions of important files. I think from now on, I will
just make a quick backup "delme" copy of the installation before
doing a restore, then just grab the most recent files from that
copy.

 

[Flasherly]

I have a gamer pc running XP-SP3 that seems to work less well the
longer it is used. When I get disgusted enough I reformat and
reinstall everything -- about once or twice a year. Is there a
practical method to do this quickly? I have heard of "ghosting" but
have zero experience with it. Thanks.

Yes, Ghosting is like an hidden operation the format/install, except
everything is organized. Since its a binary transfer the organization
calls for planning - namely, everything non-essential to the OS is
installed on another drive;-- the whole point to a ghost.

Are the installs on that other drive going to get screwed up --
nooo.... it's the entry points and hooks into the OS and registry that
get screwed over time by malicious program installs and online
contacts.

The cleaner that aspect of only essential installations and support at
the OS level is a direct reflection of how long and many loops you're
going to have to jump through to do a ghost.

Always turn your modem off before doing anything with Ghost. Only
Ghost from prior work with programs you've known long enough to trust
if not how to manage their quirks. Ghost from another boot partition
with OS arbitrator, such as Ranish. Three [C:drive] Ghost images
dated and named for backups to backups should be sufficient.

I use DOS 98 for my ghosting platform partition and it takes me two
minutes to restore XP partition. It's the old Ghost, before Peter
Norton got fat and the program was sold/ported into the Winderz scheme
of ghosting. On a disc free with a MB purchase and runs from DOS.

If there is an artform to covering your ass with the OS, Norton has
been it for me. It'll also take time to tweak everything in to that
point (of confidence before updating the Ghost images) -- I've been
running mine for years and years. See. . .sniff my hands, smell any
trace of an install on them?

 

[John Doe]

Yup yup. Just make a fresh "delme" copy of the current
installation before restoring a known good copy of Windows. No
need to mess with backing up files at all. You have access to a
read-only archive of everything you had on your Windows drive C.
Should've thought of that earlier.

 

[RayLopez99]

Yup yup. Just make a fresh "delme" copy of the current
installation before restoring a known good copy of Windows. No
need to mess with backing up files at all. You have access to a
read-only archive of everything you had on your Windows drive C.
Should've thought of that earlier.

What seems to be missing from this thread is that you need TWO
INDEPENDENT hard drives to ghost. You cannot ghost a drive onto
itself. So you either need two internal or an internal plus USB
external HD to ghost.

And Ghosting is painfully slow with USB 2.0, which is the only real
supported USB (version 3.0 sometimes works but sometimes not--I'm
lucky to have the drivers that make it work in one machine).

RL

 

[John Doe]

What seems to be missing from this thread is that you need TWO
INDEPENDENT hard drives to ghost. You cannot ghost a drive onto
itself.

I'm talking about Macrium Reflect. In fact, you can make a copy of
your Windows partition to another partition on the same drive. Of
course keeping a copy of Windows on the same physical hard drive
must work for restoring the Windows partition too, so you would do
a test run of that. You should keep backup copies of important
data to some removable media, too.

I use a small SSD for the Windows/programs drive, and a large
inexpensive HDD for everything else. Works great here. That made
my Raptor obsolete.
--

 

[Davej]

I'm talking about Macrium Reflect. In fact, you can make a copy of
your Windows partition to another partition on the same drive. Of
course keeping a copy of Windows on the same physical hard drive
must work for restoring the Windows partition too, so you would do
a test run of that. You should keep backup copies of important
data to some removable media, too.  

I use a small SSD for the Windows/programs drive, and a large
inexpensive HDD for everything else. Works great here. That made
my Raptor obsolete.

Seems like the most ideal situation would be an OS on bootable read-
only media and an external eSATA drive to store the image files.

 

[Flasherly]

So "Ghosting" copies an entire partition byte-for-byte? An additional
reason for my wanting to do this is the disappearing support for XP.

You disappointed. . .I was, too. With W98. It's basically as
complicated as you want it to be by Enterprise Ed. Byte for byte and
nibble for nibble. Sector for sector, it'll automatically resize
itself if the disk size has changed -- within limitations. Can't throw
a fat images at a NTFS drive, but then I don't use but one, nor have
I tried it with some of these new formatting tools for running fat32
drives out formated at near 1T. Larger than 2T and W7 compliant or
controller dependent I wouldn't jump into quick assumptions, either.

 

[John Doe]

Seems like the most ideal situation would be an OS on bootable
read- only media and an external eSATA drive to store the image
files.

I don't really see how it can be any better, practically speaking.

An SSD drive is best for reading, so you put the OS and programs
on it. A large internal secondary drive is good and cheap for
keeping all sorts of stuff including backups of the primary SSD
drive. You only need important data on removable media. If your
house burns down, you'll need a computer before you can reinstall
Windows.

But, to each his own...