Norton Ghost and booting from the Recovery CD

[Guest]

Hello,
I reinstalled Windows about 3 weeks ago and added all my applications and so
on. For safety, I have moved My Documents, which includes My Pictures to my D
drive which is another internal drive, leaving applications and Windows on
the C Drive.
I have Norton Ghost 9 and find that I cannot boot from the Symantec
Recovery Disk, nor from the Recovery Disk which came with the computer to
reinstall Windows. This is the disk I used fror the recent reinstall which
all went fine.
I have the computer just as I want it and it all works fine except for this
problem which means that I cannot use Ghost 9 or reinstall Windows in the
event of a disaster.
It was a disaster which caused me to reinstall last time and I am anxious to
avoid going through it all again. The CPU expired. I had a new CPU and
motherboard professionally installed. Ghost worked OK with the previous
setup. I have spoken to Norton and the conclusion is that it is something to
do with my computer rather than Ghost.
Sorry for the length of this post but hoping that someone can help.
I have recently posted this in another Windows forum and although I received
some generous replies, they did not sadly resolve the problem.
Thanks,
John

 

[R. McCarty]

It could be something as simple as the BIOS boot sequence.
You neglected to say how the PC will not boot from the CD
(Ignores it, etc..) You need to enter BIOS setup and locate
the Boot category and check the device ordering. Most times
it is set to Floppy, Hard Drive. Just toggle the 1st device to
your CD/DVD drive.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, I should have mentioned that I have checked the
BIOS and the CD/DVD is at the top of the list.
When I try to boot from the Symantec CD or the Windows CD a message comes up
that in the first case, it is Starting Symantec Recovery Disk... and in the
Second - Windows Setup. Even leaving it for several minutes and for an hour
once, the process gets no further. Everything else works fine.
John

 

[Anna]

Hello,
I reinstalled Windows about 3 weeks ago and added all my applications and
so
on. For safety, I have moved My Documents, which includes My Pictures to
my D
drive which is another internal drive, leaving applications and Windows on
the C Drive.
I have Norton Ghost 9 and find that I cannot boot from the Symantec
Recovery Disk, nor from the Recovery Disk which came with the computer to
reinstall Windows. This is the disk I used fror the recent reinstall which
all went fine.
I have the computer just as I want it and it all works fine except for
this
problem which means that I cannot use Ghost 9 or reinstall Windows in the
event of a disaster.
It was a disaster which caused me to reinstall last time and I am anxious
to
avoid going through it all again. The CPU expired. I had a new CPU and
motherboard professionally installed. Ghost worked OK with the previous
setup. I have spoken to Norton and the conclusion is that it is something
to
do with my computer rather than Ghost.
Sorry for the length of this post but hoping that someone can help.
I have recently posted this in another Windows forum and although I
received
some generous replies, they did not sadly resolve the problem.
Thanks,
John

John:
Since you have the Ghost 9 program, I assume you also have the Ghost 2003
program which comes bundled with Ghost 9. I've been using the Ghost 2003
program for a number of years and I find it a near-flawless program in terms
of disk-to-disk cloning operations. In nearly every case I use the Ghost
bootable floppy disk (or bootable CD if the computer is not equipped with a
floppy drive) which is easily created by the Ghost 2003 program to perform
the disk-to-disk clone. It's simple to use, straightforward in operation,
reasonably quick, and effective in what it does.

Assuming you're working in a non-RAID environment and would be interested in
using the Ghost 2003 program as I've indicated above, please so indicate and
I'll be glad to provide you with further details re using that program to
achieve a near-failsafe backup system. In so doing, you would use your
second drive as the backup (cloned) drive with no need to separate your My
Documents folder (or any other folder) from your day-to-day working drive.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Dear Anna,
Thank you very much for your reply. Yes I do have the Ghost 2003 disk which
came with Ghost 9. I also have a floppy drive as my computer is getting on in
years a bit. I would be interested in you knid offer to help me to use the
2003 program as I must admit it looka a bit complicated. Would I still be
able to boot from it though in view of the problems I am having in booting
from any CD?
Thanks,
John

 

[Anna]

Dear Anna,
Thank you very much for your reply. Yes I do have the Ghost 2003 disk
which
came with Ghost 9. I also have a floppy drive as my computer is getting on
in
years a bit. I would be interested in you knid offer to help me to use the
2003 program as I must admit it looka a bit complicated. Would I still be
able to boot from it though in view of the problems I am having in booting
from any CD?
Thanks,
John

John:
Using the Ghost 2003 program via a Ghost bootable floppy disk or bootable CD
is relatively simple and straightforward. Here are the steps to create the
bootable floppy disk...
1. Install the Ghost 2003 on your computer.
2. Insert a blank floppy disk (it need not be formatted) and access your
Ghost program.
3. Click on Ghost Utilities.
4. Click on Norton Ghost Boot Wizard.
5. Select Standard Ghost Boot Disk. A dialog box will appear.
a. Select the USB 2.0 Support option (assuming you have that
capability).
b. Select the Assign DOS drive letters option and click Next.
6. Select the Use PC-DOS option.
7. Complete the process following the screen prompts.
8. Remove floppy and label accordingly.

That's it. Now you have a Ghost bootable floppy disk which you can use to
undertake your cloning operations. Now when you want to clone the contents
of one HD to another HD you simply insert the Ghost bootable floppy disk in
your floppy drive and boot up with both drives connected. Here's how to
perform the cloning operation...

1. After booting up with the Ghost bootable floppy, you'll get an initial
screen that displays "License agreement warning". Right-arrow (or tab) over
to the "Continue with marking drives" button and press Enter.
2. The "About Norton Ghost" screen appears. Click OK.
3. Right-arrow twice over to the "To Disk" button and press Enter.
4. The next screen will list both your drives - the Drive 1 (source disk)
and Drive 2 (destination disk). MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN Drive 1 IS INDEED
YOUR SOURCE DISK, I.E., THE DISK YOU'RE CLONING *FROM*!
Drive 1 will be highlighted. Press Enter.
5. The next screen will have Drive 2 (destination disk) highlighted. AGAIN,
ENSURE THAT Drive 2 IS YOUR DESTINATION DISK, I.E., THE DISK YOU'RE CLONING
*TO*! Press Enter.
6. The next screen is the "Destination Drive Details" window, and reflects
your ultimate destination disk, i.e., your current Drive 2. Press your Tab
key to highlight the OK button and press Enter.
7. The "Proceed with disk clone?" dialog box will open. Left-arrow over to
the Yes button and press Enter.
8. The cloning process will begin. If you want, step out for a quick cup of
coffee.
9. After you get the "Clone Completed Successfully" message, left-arrow over
to the Continue button and press Enter.
10. Down-arrow to Quit and press Enter.
11. Click Yes at the "Are you sure you want to quit?" message.
12. Remove the Ghost floppy and shut down the computer.
13. If you want to check that your newly-cloned disk is bootable, disconnect
your source disk and boot up with the cloned drive. Presumably it should
boot up without a problem and in about 40 to 50 seconds after arriving at
your Desktop, XP's "System Settings Change" window will appear, informing
you that new hardware has been found and asks "Do you want to restart your
computer now?" Click Yes.
14. BTW, the reboot of the newly-cloned drive usually takes a longer time
than usual, so be patient. On rare occasions it will fail to reboot - the
system will hang before reaching the Windows XP Welcome screen. It's a rare
occurrence, but I have experienced it from time-to-time. If that does
occur, simply use the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys to reboot.

Assuming you've cloned the contents of your working drive to your second
internal drive, that second drive will be bootable (after disconnecting your
primary one, of course) as indicated above. You also have the option of
cloning your working drive to a USB external hard drive. In that case the
USB EHD is *not* bootable, but you could clone the contents back to your
internal drive for restoration purposes should the need arise.

Good luck.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Dear Anna,
Thank you very much indeed for sending the comprehensive instructions. I
really do appreciate the trouble you have taken. I will print them off and
have a go. I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks again,
John

 

[Anna]

Dear Anna,
Thank you very much indeed for sending the comprehensive instructions. I
really do appreciate the trouble you have taken. I will print them off and
have a go. I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks again,
John

John:
Good. Just one more thing...
I'm sure you're aware of this, but just to ensure that there's no
misunderstanding...
When you clone your HD to another HD using Ghost or any other disk imaging
program, *all* the data that *was* on the destination disk (the disk you're
cloning *to*) will be gone. The cloned disk will be (for all practical
purposes) a bit-for-bit copy of your source disk. I mention this because you
previously indicated you have your My Documents folder & files on your
second HD. So if you cloned your primary HD to that second HD at this point,
you could kiss your My Documents folder & files goodbye! So...
Before you undertake your first cloning operation, make sure that you've
made a backup of any folders/files that you need which are residing on the
drive that will receive the clone.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Thanks Anna,
I hadn't realized that. To lose My Documents and in particular all my
photographs would be a king sized disaster. Perhaps I should clone to an
external hard drive which I have.
Best wishes,
John

 

[Lil' Dave]

I would attempt to see if either or both of these boot CD media work in
another PC that is CD bootable and set to boot from CD before continuing.
I would suspect either the media are dirty, or the CD reader is dirty
internally. Cleaning CD or DVD media is easy. They make CD/DVD cleaning
media that will clean the laser lense.

 

[Anna]

Thanks Anna,
I hadn't realized that. To lose My Documents and in particular all my
photographs would be a king sized disaster. Perhaps I should clone to an
external hard drive which I have.
Best wishes,
John

John:
Yes, using the Ghost 2003 program, you can clone your working HD to a USB
external HD. However, the USB EHD will *not* be bootable but should the need
arise to restore your working HD, you could clone the contents of the USB
EHD back to that hard drive. Since the EHD is usually
physically/electrically disconnected from the computer, it's another level
of backup security.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Anna. I think that may fit the bill. I'll give it a go.
John

 

[Guest]

Dear Anna,
I am sorry that I have taken so long to get back to you again but I have
bought a new computer and have been setting it all up. It seems to work with
Ghost 9 at the moment so I am using that. I have kept and filed away your
very helpful instructions and will use them if I get stuck again with 9.
Thank you very much indeed for all your very kind help.
Regards,
John