Norton Ghost problem

[Guest]

I hope no one minds if I repost a problem I summarised a few days ago. I now
have from my son in the USA (who knows nothing about computers and
newsgroups) a full statement of the problem he has and which he has emailed
to Norton, without receiving any reply. He told them as follows:

'I just bought a new Dell and Ghost 10 came with it. I installed it
properly, but every time I try to back up my computer, the program runs for
about 8 minutes, backing up about 35%, then I get an eror message reading:
"Cannot create recovery points for job: Complete System Backup." When I click
on "Show Details", it reads: "Error EC8F17B7. Cannot create recovery points
for job: Complete System Backup. Errors exist. - Target Disk full. - Target
Disk full." What does this mean and is there a way to successfuly run the
program on my computer?'

I personally do not use this program and so cannot advise my son. I should
be most obliged if anyone who has an idea as to what the problem may be could
advise us..

 

[Malke]

I hope no one minds if I repost a problem I summarised a few days ago.
I now have from my son in the USA (who knows nothing about computers
and newsgroups) a full statement of the problem he has and which he
has emailed to Norton, without receiving any reply. He told them as
follows:

'I just bought a new Dell and Ghost 10 came with it. I installed it
properly, but every time I try to back up my computer, the program
runs for about 8 minutes, backing up about 35%, then I get an eror
message reading: "Cannot create recovery points for job: Complete
System Backup." When I click on "Show Details", it reads: "Error
EC8F17B7. Cannot create recovery points for job: Complete System
Backup. Errors exist. - Target Disk full. - Target
Disk full." What does this mean and is there a way to successfuly run
the program on my computer?'

I personally do not use this program and so cannot advise my son. I
should be most obliged if anyone who has an idea as to what the
problem may be could advise us..

Your son should call Dell tech support. The Ghost that came with it is a
new way Dell is handling their system recovery process. If you choose
the Ghost way (and I'm assuming this is a desktop), you get two hard
drives in a mirrored RAID with Ghost running and backing stuff up.

I personally never order Dell systems with this setup (I really dislike
Symantec) and I only have one client with the same thing so far. This
is really not a Windows or regular Ghost program issue. Since this is a
specialized setup just for the Dell recovery deal, have your son call
them.

I can tell you is that something is wrong because nothing like your
son's problem happens on my client's computer. It sounds like your son
may have changed some the options (if you even can) and is now pointing
the backup to somewhere it can't write or is too small, etc. Rather
than try and figure it out trans-Atlantically and in a newsgroup, the
practical answer is for your son to call Dell.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thank you Malke. I agree with what you say. In fact, after having googled the
error number and finding a number of cases where others have had the same
problem (without too many sensible replies) I did in fact email my boy a
short time ago to suggest he call Dell.

I do appreciate your interest in this problem.

 

[Richard Urban]

One possibility is that your son may be trying to save the image file to the
same partition that he is backing up. That may result in an ever increasing
amount of used space until the disk is full.

Another possibility is that he is trying to save the image file to a fat32
partition and he does not have the option specified to split the backup file
into smaller file sections. Fat32 can only save a 4 gig file. If the backup
image is larger you may get this error message.

Why don't you have your son post here so we can get the information directly
from the "horses" mouth?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Plato]

Contact the Norton Ghost Author for Norton Ghost problems. This is NOT
an XP problem.

 

[Guest]

The extent of my son's knowledge was fully expressed in the statement he sent
to Norton. But I have forwarded your message and we will be looking into al
of this. I am grateful to you for your contribution.

 

[Guest]

Having found the Norton Ghost newsgroup after originally posting here, I have
had no response.

 

[Bill Drake]

The message is self-explanatory. Ghost is trying to produce an
image file on a Hard Disk partition which is too small to contain
the image file *along* with whatever other data is already present.

Ghost is running out of disk space as the disk image is being
built-and-expanded while the backup process is underway.

The above is a perfectly normal response to trying to fit a backup
onto media which is too small to contain the entire backup. The
backup stalls when the target media fills - and it's been that way
all the way back to the days of DOS - no matter what backup
product is used.


There are three solutions:

1. Remove some existing older Ghost backups from the target
Drive/Folder - thereby creating enough space to allow the
latest Ghost Backup to succeed.

2. Increase Disk Size.

3. Consider adding an External Hard Disk to hold your Ghost
Backups. I do this here - so that even if the Internal Hard
Disk in the machine fails - I still have viable backups of that
entire machine's OS and Data on the external disk. I can
then replace the trashed hard disk in the machine, restore
the OS and Data, and I'm back in business with a minimum
of fuss.


While the third method is the most expensive, it is also by far
the most reliable and bulletproof solution.


Note to Malke and other Symantec-bashers in this newsgroup:

1. I find your attitude to Symantec both laughable and an insult
to my intelligence. This is simply a statement - it is not
discussable. My contribution to this thread ends with this
post.

2. Your inability to properly understand and use the Symantec
Products does NOT create credibility as to your technical
skills. Blindly trashing the Symantec product line - simply
because people use the products outside of their required
envelope (insufficient memory, limited CPU, installed on a
system that is already highly compromised without solving
that problem first, etc.) is tacit admission of a lack of the
problem-solving-skillset required in order to dispense
credible advice.

3. Instead of complaining just to hear the sound of your own
voice - please state instead that the Symantec products
*require* technical expertise to properly install and configure.
And that if that expertise is not available - and the recommended
product specifications are not followed *before* installation - then
problems can be expected.



Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill

 

[Guest]

I just bought Ghost 10, Symantec does not have good customer service but you
can try by calling 800-441-7234 good luck.

 

[Poprivet]

I just bought Ghost 10, Symantec does not have good customer service
but you can try by calling 800-441-7234 good luck.

I'm not sure I understand the problem: It's saying there is not room on the
disk for the backup files. If that's the case, there is nothing you can do
but find a way to have the room. As in an external drive, another internal
drive, whatever. You cannot create disk space that isn't there.
If you have to backup ten Gig of data, then ten Gig and a little more has
to be available! If not, it's going to fail. Compression can help a little
sometimes, but ... often not enough. You need a bigger drive according to
the message at least.

Pop`


Pop`

 

[Dave Cohen]

I just bought Ghost 10, Symantec does not have good customer service but you
can try by calling 800-441-7234 good luck.

Target disk full sounds like, well, the target disk is full.
Check what the target disk is and if it has enough space. I don't use
ghost, but imaging programs need to back up to a separate partition or
drive or media. Backing up to a partition is fine if the intent is to
then write that to dvd (cd is no longer practical for today's bloated
systems). Just backing up to a partition is risky if the hd fails.
Dave Cohen
Dave Cohen