Reformat/ghosting question(s)

L

lesman

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Dec 30, 2004
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Howdy folks. I know I have Norton Ghost on my computer, it has to be preinstalled or something, because when reinstalling windows (using the restore disc that came with the computer [emachines]) Norton Ghost comes up and it reinstalls windows....

Imp. info: I have Windows XP with SP1. Norton Antivirus 2005. all current updates for both as of now (well, except one major update-SP2...windows wont start after I load it from the SP2 disc I ordered)

first question: is there a way to actually run ghost from the OS? or is there a more efficient or different way? and how can I access norton ghost from windows? I'm wondering because I cant find anything about it on my OS. also, could I create a disc image using ghost?

next: how can I make a DVD (or DVDs) as a bootable image for the disc? so that way I dont have to use the crappy reinstall disc everytime....and so I dont have to find all the drivers, do stupid ass windows updates all over again.

thanks a lot in advance.....sorry in advance for any trouble I've caused you!! ;)
 
ghost is on the CD you insert into the drive, you don't have to have ghost installed on the PC to use it, it only has to be installed on a floppy.
 
just because ghost comes up when you reinstall doesnt mean you have it on your system
it just means the manufacturer used ghost to make the cd's
check your add/remove programs to be sure just incase

in any event you dont need to install ghost to the disk anyway
the ghost cd is bootable and can write to any medium you have available cd or dvd


now if i could remember the link to that ghost guide
perhaps some one still has it in there bookmarks, if i find it i'll edit it in


*edit* ha found it go to http://ghost.radified.com/ for all you could want to know about
norton ghost
 
The OEM uses ghost to install the image on their recovery disks. You do not own ghost, it probably isn't installed on the system at all.

 
Recently did a little testing with Ghost 2003 and 9.0. All comments are assuming you are trying to backup/restore the original boot partition.

Ghost 9.0
+ Lets you backup from within Windows, no need to boot from CD.
- Backup image made from within Windows was corrupt and not usable.
- To restore from a backup, you must boot from the Ghost CD. There is no option to make a bootable floppy.
- Likewise, you cannot make a bootable floppy to do the original backup. You must install Ghost, then you can backup the boot partition.

Ghost 2003
+ Once installed, you can make a boot floppy from which you can restore AND backup.
+ The backup images I made were good.
- Cannot backup boot partition while running. Must boot from floppy.
- Booting from Ghost CD does not allow backups, only restores. Of course, if I use the boot floppy, I can restore AND backup. Maybe I am missing something.

Bottom line
Ghost 9.0 did not work. Images corrupt and no ability to make a standalone boot floppy.
Ghost 2003 works great. Installed it, made my boot floppy, then uninstalled it. I just boot from floppy and backup/restore with my external HD.
 
Thanks so far guys, I'm still researching and looking into things...but any info will help. Thanks again.
 
There are lots of reasons for Ghost to fail (the new Ghost isnt Ghost - see lnk above) - thats why I use Acronis true image, corp workstation
Drive overlays installed when large HDD installed with factory CD.
Dynamic volumes must be cloned by partition to image, not disk to image and you cant clone dynamic to dynamic - dynamic to basic only.
NTFS only supported in latest versions, NTFS to FAT32 or reverse is another prob.

Wipe your HDD (zero fill) in the prebuilt, create a 4.7GB part for O/S and 1.5GB part for static Swapfile.
Install O/S to 4.7, make all settings perfect, burn to DVD every week or so.
 
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