Norton Ghost

[MIke]

Hi, I'm interested in buying Norton Ghost, for WIN XP home, and I
wanted to know what great difference there might be between older
versions,ie, 2003, as opposed to the 2005. I;m on a minimum income
and if I knwo that Norton Ghost 2003 would serve me well, I'd buy it.

Thanks for any advice you may have!

Mike

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "MIke" <[email protected]>

| Hi, I'm interested in buying Norton Ghost, for WIN XP home, and I
| wanted to know what great difference there might be between older
| versions,ie, 2003, as opposed to the 2005. I;m on a minimum income
| and if I knwo that Norton Ghost 2003 would serve me well, I'd buy it.
|
| Thanks for any advice you may have!
|
| Mike

Is there a Ghost 2005 ?

Ghost v9.0 includes Ghost 2003.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

I used Ghost for several years very extensively. However my personal
preference now is Acronis TrueImage rather than Ghost. Please realize that I
have no bones to pick with Ghost. I just find Acronis a lot more friendly.

 

[Anna]

| Hi, I'm interested in buying Norton Ghost, for WIN XP home, and I
| wanted to know what great difference there might be between older
| versions,ie, 2003, as opposed to the 2005. I;m on a minimum income
| and if I knwo that Norton Ghost 2003 would serve me well, I'd buy it.
|
| Thanks for any advice you may have!
|
| Mike

Is there a Ghost 2005 ?

Ghost v9.0 includes Ghost 2003.

Mike:
As David infers, there is no Ghost 2005 and you probably mean Ghost 9 as
David surmises. And Ghost 9 *does* include Ghost 2003.

You may be referring to the fact that Ghost 2003 can be purchased from a
number of online sources at a fraction of the cost of Ghost 9. If your
exclusive interest in using this disk imaging program is to make
disk-to-disk clones of your hard drives, Ghost 2003 will serve you very
well. Using the 2003 version, the cloning process is simple,
straightforward, and effective.
Anna

 

[GO]

I'll back you on that too! Ghost is still my primary imaging tool
(although not v9 as I found it very unstable on my machine) but I have
dabbled with Acronis' lately and have been very impressed.

I used Ghost for several years very extensively. However my personal
preference now is Acronis TrueImage rather than Ghost. Please realize that I
have no bones to pick with Ghost. I just find Acronis a lot more friendly.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

Hi, I'm interested in buying Norton Ghost, for WIN XP home, and I
wanted to know what great difference there might be between older
versions,ie, 2003, as opposed to the 2005. I;m on a minimum income
and if I knwo that Norton Ghost 2003 would serve me well, I'd buy it.

Thanks for any advice you may have!

Mike

 

[MoiMeme]

Ghost 2003 does not allow cloning in Windows. I needs to reboot to DOS. But
you can start that from Windows.
Ghost 9 can clone from within Windows and do incremental clones. Bootable CD
available.

Acronis TrueImage can clone within Windows and allows incremental cloning.
I now use it, and have been impressed by it's ability to detect all my
drives ( internal, external USB) without any problem. A bootable CD can be
created.

For both programs you of course need to boot from CD ( Ghost 9 & TrueImage)
or virtual partition ( Ghost 2003) to restore the system partition.

 

[Bob Harris]

I have been using GHOST for years, up through version 2003. I retreated to
version 2002, because 2003 (1) required wo floppies instead of one, (2) was
unreliable about backing up to external USB and firewire drives (some yes,
some no), and (3) the option to clone from within windows failed to
recognize all my partitions, even all FAT32 partitions. GHOST 2002 has been
stable, but it must be run from a boot floppy, which is limited by DOS.
Thus, I only use it to backup one hard drive to another internal hard drive
(or ZIP, or internal CD burner). I do occassionally copy the GHOST images
to DVD, which I could reload to my secondary internal disk via KNOPPIX,
Bart's PE builder, or a temporary re-install of XP. I have not bothered to
try GHOST 9, which is really Drive Image in disguise.

I also have Acronis True Image, now version 8. True Image is much easier to
use than any GHOST through 2003. Further, TI8 writes directly and reliably
to external USB and firewire drives from within windows. TI8 dioes not use
any fake/hidden partition nonsense. TI8 can easily recover a partition or a
whole disk via the bootable CD that it makes for you. Or, ithin windows,
you can recover a single file or a directory tree. TI8 recognizes most
serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, and all plain ATA (or IDE) hard drives.
Finally, Acronis support actually supports their users. The last time I
contacted Symantec for GHOST support, they brushed me off, pointing to a
"knowledge base" article that said they did not support RAID and/or SATA,
although maybe GHOST would work, but do not bother them if it did not.

 

[kevin agard]

The newest Version of Ghost (9) incorporates the tech from Drive Image 7
from the former PowerQuest Corp which Symantec bought out in December
'03. As I understand it, Ghost now uses Drive Image's backup technology
along with restore portions of previous versions of Ghost to make it
backwards compatible.

 

[Lem]

I just bought Ghost v.9 and tried (several times) to create a backup
image using my older H-L GMA-4020B DVD writer. Maybe it's just my DVD
drive, which writes at 1x (or for some media 2x) DVD-RAM/-R/-RW/CD-RW
drive, or maybe I bought a batch of bad blank DVDs (TDK), but with about
22 GB of info, it seemed to take forever to write (4 DVDs), and I had
one attempt fail with a CRC error and another complete writing but fail
to verify.

I haven't given up yet, but Ghosting to DVDs is something you should
only plan to do if you have most of the day available.

 

[Anna]

I have been using GHOST for years, up through version 2003. I retreated to
version 2002, because 2003 (1) required wo floppies instead of one, (2) was
unreliable about backing up to external USB and firewire drives (some yes,
some no), and (3) the option to clone from within windows failed to
recognize all my partitions, even all FAT32 partitions. GHOST 2002 has
been stable, but it must be run from a boot floppy, which is limited by
DOS. Thus, I only use it to backup one hard drive to another internal hard
drive (or ZIP, or internal CD burner). I do occassionally copy the GHOST
images to DVD, which I could reload to my secondary internal disk via
KNOPPIX, Bart's PE builder, or a temporary re-install of XP. I have not
bothered to try GHOST 9, which is really Drive Image in disguise.

I also have Acronis True Image, now version 8. True Image is much easier
to use than any GHOST through 2003. Further, TI8 writes directly and
reliably to external USB and firewire drives from within windows. TI8
dioes not use any fake/hidden partition nonsense. TI8 can easily recover
a partition or a whole disk via the bootable CD that it makes for you.
Or, ithin windows, you can recover a single file or a directory tree. TI8
recognizes most serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, and all plain ATA (or IDE)
hard drives. Finally, Acronis support actually supports their users. The
last time I contacted Symantec for GHOST support, they brushed me off,
pointing to a "knowledge base" article that said they did not support RAID
and/or SATA, although maybe GHOST would work, but do not bother them if it
did not.

Mike & Bob:
Let me respond to Bob's comments re Symantec's Norton Ghost program...

First of all, with respect to using the Ghost 2002 version... Under no
circumstances should you consider this. Ghost 2002 had major difficulties
dealing with NTFS partitions, let alone cloning to USB 2.0 external hard
drives. Using Ghost 2002 was fine with Win9x/Me, but not in an XP
environment.

Secondly, I'm at a loss to understand Bob's statement that Ghost "2003
required (t)wo floppies instead of one". You create a *single* Ghost
bootable floppy to perform the cloning operation in a DOS environment. It's
the preferred method for me when performing disk-to-disk clones. I find it
simple to use, straightforward in its operation, and effective in its
results. If you prefer, you can create a Ghost 2003 bootable CD which
performs similarly to the Ghost bootable floppy disk.

It is true that early on Ghost 2003 had some difficulties with respect to
cloning to a USB/Firewire external hard drive, however, Symantec soon
corrected that with a revision to the program somewhere around May, 2003. It
hasn't been a problem since. I've cloned the contents of various internal
drives to scores of different USB EHDs with no problems whatsoever.

A final word concerning the Ghost 2003 program...
I've used that program probably more than one thousand times over the past
few years to clone a multitude of internal & external hard drives. I find
the program a joy to use in terms of its simplicity of operation and its
effectiveness. Aside from the transient anomalies noted previously, I've
found the program virtually flawless in its operation. Whenever I've come
across problems with the program it's been inevitably due to one or more of
the following:
1. Defective source or destination disk(s).
2. Disks incorrectly connected/configured.
3. System files corruption on source disk. (If you clone garbage, garbage is
what you get!)
4. User error, e.g., confusing the source/destination disks.

So have no fear in using Ghost 2003 if your prime interest is to clone the
contents of one hard drive to another hard drive, including SATA drives that
are not in a RAID environment.

I have been experimenting with the Acronis True Image program for a short
time now and it seems to do a fine job in disk-to-disk cloning. What I
particularly like about that program is its cloning speed -- it's
considerably faster than Ghost 2003 both in cloning to internal as well as
external drives. Unfortunately, unlike Ghost, ATI does not allow one to
create a single bootable floppy disk to perform the cloning operation;
however, you can create a bootable CD to do so. And that's the way I've been
working with that program. Another negative to the program (at least for me)
is that while it can perform direct disk-to-disk cloning, you cannot
*directly* clone individual partitions from one disk to another, as one can
easily do using Ghost 2003.
Anna

 

[Lil' Dave]

While there are few older imaging programs that claim to image XP OS
partitions ncluding XP's NTFS type partitions, the recovery is just as
important. You may find that Ghost 2003 may not be able to access some
external devices in the boot environment. So, as a result, you cannot
recover.

Ghost 9.0, a revamped version of Powerquest's Drive Image 7.0, works well.
It backs up XP while the user is using an XP environment. Its driver
database on the boot CD can access most external devices for recovery of an
image.

You'll need a separate hard drive, DVD, or other separate device to back the
image file to. Bear in mind, talking GBs of data, so a Zip drive or floppy
drive is out of the question. A CD writer may do a minimal XP image, but I
wouldn't do it.

Having a minimal income is more reason to be sure what you're buying will
work. Irregardless the price. Sometines, armed with incomplete
information, one may purchase something that doesn't work. Or may require
an outside procedure and/or equipment you don't have or not familiar with.

Remember, backing up means nothing without an ability to recover. Ask
questions on the recovery end, you may draw blank stares from many
respondents. Betting many never attempted a recovery.

Don't be swayed by copying HDs, you need an imaging program for backup, not
an actual GB-eating cloned copy. This alllows for more backups at various
times you feel the need to do so.

 

[Anna]

While there are few older imaging programs that claim to image XP OS
partitions ncluding XP's NTFS type partitions, the recovery is just as
important. You may find that Ghost 2003 may not be able to access some
external devices in the boot environment. So, as a result, you cannot
recover.

Ghost 9.0, a revamped version of Powerquest's Drive Image 7.0, works well.
It backs up XP while the user is using an XP environment. Its driver
database on the boot CD can access most external devices for recovery of
an
image.

You'll need a separate hard drive, DVD, or other separate device to back
the
image file to. Bear in mind, talking GBs of data, so a Zip drive or
floppy
drive is out of the question. A CD writer may do a minimal XP image, but
I
wouldn't do it.

Having a minimal income is more reason to be sure what you're buying will
work. Irregardless the price. Sometines, armed with incomplete
information, one may purchase something that doesn't work. Or may require
an outside procedure and/or equipment you don't have or not familiar
with.

Remember, backing up means nothing without an ability to recover. Ask
questions on the recovery end, you may draw blank stares from many
respondents. Betting many never attempted a recovery.

Don't be swayed by copying HDs, you need an imaging program for backup,
not
an actual GB-eating cloned copy. This alllows for more backups at various
times you feel the need to do so.

As I stated in my previous postings on this subject, I have found Ghost 2003
to be virtually flawless in cloning the contents of an internal hard drive
to a USB/Firewire external hard drive. Based on my experience with scores of
different HDs and USB external devices I find Dave's statement that "You may
find that Ghost 2003 may not be able to access some external devices in the
boot environment. So, as a result, you cannot recover" incomprehensible.
This has not been my experience nor has it been the experience of my former
colleagues and associates who routinely use the Ghost 2003 program for this
purpose.

Using Ghost (as well as other disk imaging programs) we have performed the
disk-to-disk cloning process thousands of times in a wide variety of systems
and devices. We are convinced it is an ideal way to maintain a near-failsafe
backup system for most home and small-business users.
Anna

 

[Shooter]

Greetings Anna,

You seem to be Ghost Knowledgeable so you might me able to help me
with a problem I am having.....

Got Ghost 2003 to do image backups of two computers, desktop with
DVD-+R and laptop with CDR. I made a floppy boot disk to run ghost
from the system level and have no problems making an image, burning
to DVD and confirming the validity of the burned image of my desktop's
HD.

But..... doing the same on my laptop fails during the conformation
run. It makes the image and burns the image to 8 CD's just fine. But
when I run a validity check on the CD's, I get one or the other
failing and it isn't always the same CD. Actually it isn't saying
that the CD is failing but that the image file is corrupted.

I have tried diff brands including premium level CD's with no success.
Same old corrupted image file error every time.

Got any ideas.

Regards,

 

[Anna]

Greetings Anna,

You seem to be Ghost Knowledgeable so you might me able to help me
with a problem I am having.....

Got Ghost 2003 to do image backups of two computers, desktop with
DVD-+R and laptop with CDR. I made a floppy boot disk to run ghost
from the system level and have no problems making an image, burning
to DVD and confirming the validity of the burned image of my desktop's
HD.

But..... doing the same on my laptop fails during the conformation
run. It makes the image and burns the image to 8 CD's just fine. But
when I run a validity check on the CD's, I get one or the other
failing and it isn't always the same CD. Actually it isn't saying
that the CD is failing but that the image file is corrupted.

I have tried diff brands including premium level CD's with no success.
Same old corrupted image file error every time.

Got any ideas.

Regards,

Shooter:
I wish I could help you with your problem but whatever expertise I have
concerning the use of Ghost pertains to making hard disk-to-hard disk
clones, i.e., cloning the contents of one hard drive to another hard drive,
both internal or external drives. I rarely use Ghost to create disk images
on media such as CD/DVDs. Like you, I ordinarily use the Ghost bootable
floppy disk (or Ghost bootable CD) to perform the cloning operation. Rarely
do I access the program through the Windows interface. I'll just add that
our desktop computers (and those of our clients) are usually equipped with
two removable hard drives and that's the way we generally work with the
Ghost program. Because of its simplicity and effectiveness we've found that
over the years this arrangement is just about the best for home users and
small-to-medium business operators to establish & maintain a systematic
backup program.

So I'm loathe to offer you any advice re your problem. Hopefully, someone
who's more knowledgeable than I in the area with which you're experiencing
problems will respond to your query.
Anna

 

[Shooter]

I wish I could help you with your problem but whatever expertise I have
concerning the use of Ghost pertains to making hard disk-to-hard disk
clones

Thank you for replying Anna....

Regards,

 

[Shooter]

*http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi*

Gave it a quick look and this looks like the forum I have been looking
for as far as Ghost stuff goes... Thanx

-split=650 -auto

Right now it is default splitting the image into 701MB files, one each
on each CD.

Thanks for the forum though... I think that will be the Ghost place to
be.....

Regards,

 

[Plato]

Hi, I'm interested in buying Norton Ghost, for WIN XP home, and I
wanted to know what great difference there might be between older
versions,ie, 2003, as opposed to the 2005. I;m on a minimum income

Use the latest version for best results.

 

[Anna]

(Responding to a query re the OP considering using the Ghost 2003 program to
clone his/her HD)...

Today, to the best of my knowledge, the cheapest route to Norton Ghost
2003 still remains with purchasing the Norton SystemWorks 2003
Professional OEM CD suite (available in the US from RowCal.com for
*$7.00 USD with free delivery!*)- check at URL below:
'
*http://www.rowcal.com/product_info..../610?osCsid=f7849ceddf3d8cf3303c76163daf5b3b*'
(http://tinyurl.com/4ejax)

*-El Pescador-*

I am both fascinated and delighted by the -"siphon-out"- procedure
above; I was vaguely aware that such could be done, but I had no useful
particulars until now.

I would be doubly delighted to see you map out your steps for creating
a Ghost 2003 bootable floppy. Although I am able to turn one out
myself, I am vaguely uneasy that you will do so in a far more elegant
manner ... *LOL !!!*

*-El Pescador-*

I really don't think the following is a "more elegant manner" to create a
Ghost 2003 bootable floppy disk. The process is pretty straightforward and
I'm reasonably certain this is how you & others who use Ghost create the
floppy. But for the benefit of those who have not worked with the Ghost 2003
program and may be interested in using that program (as I do) with a
bootable floppy to perform disk-to-disk cloning, here are the steps...

Creating a Ghost 2003 bootable floppy:
1. Insert a blank floppy. It need not be formatted.
2. 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.
5. Select the Use PC-DOS option.
6. Complete the process following the screen prompts.
7. Remove floppy and label accordingly.

That's it. 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.

Since we're at it, here's how to perform the cloning operation...
1. On the initial screen that displays "License agreement warning",
right-arrow (or tab) over to the "Continue without 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. Disconnect your source disk and boot up with the newly-cloned disk.

14. 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.

15. 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.



Anna

 

[MoiMeme]

Regrading the PC-DOS option : I have allways had problems when using the
PC-DOS files for rebooting from a virtual partition, and have kept my old
Win98SE MS-DOS boot floppy, so I use MS-DOS files instead, and have no
problems at all.

 

[Anna]

(e-mail address removed)...

Regrading the PC-DOS option : I have allways had problems when using the
PC-DOS files for rebooting from a virtual partition, and have kept my old
Win98SE MS-DOS boot floppy, so I use MS-DOS files instead, and have no
problems at all.

MoiMeme:
Sorry to hear about the problems you have had. All I can tell you that I, my
colleagues, associates, clients, friends and acquaintances have been using
the Ghost 2003 bootable floppy disk created the way I described above, and
between us all we've probably cloned HUNDREDS of different hard drives
THOUSANDS of time without any problem whatsoever that could be traced to
using the PC-DOS option (which, incidentally is the default option)
mentioned above. Naturally, you'll use what works for you, right?
Anna