Anyone use GHOST as backup software?

[TonyChung]

Hi:

have a question regarding ghost backup?
Can we use ghost with command line to do
scheduly image backup under win2000 ?
If so, can u provide an example?

Also, what backup software would u recommend
to backup ur server? (with trial better)

Thanks in Advance!

tony

 

[paasch]

My friend you are in luck. check out Ghost version 7.0. It will do your laundry and take out the trash.

 

[woggie]

Well, Tony, I just finished using Norton Ghost 2001 to make an image of my C:\ drive in order to have an escape hatch if my install of Win2000 failed and I had to go back to WinME.

I used the interactive graphical interface but I know there is extensive command line capability. The documentation is pretty good.

For using it to do unattended scheduled backup, you could put the commands in a DOS-style batch file (I believe they still work in Win2000 - like autoexec.bat?) and have the scheduler run it (Scheduled Tasks in Control Panel).

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "(with trial better)".

Cheers, woggie

 

[TonyChung]

Tks Woggie !

2 question arised after i tried Norton 2001.

1. i didn't see the one u mentioned
"interactive graphical interface"
if you mean creating boodisk for ghost,
then i still have to boot under DOS to crate
image. @@

2. How can i create ghost image in commandline.
ie: (i want to image of Par(1)Disk(1) to
Part(2)Disk(1))

Regards,

tony

 

[woggie]

Hi Tony - When you have created the Norton Ghost 2001 boot disk and you boot from it, you launch...

c:\progra~1\symantec\norton~1\ghostpe.exe

... from the A:\ prompt and it will bring up a non-windows graphical interface. Follow the prompts to run what you need.

I cloned my 4.3 MB C:\ drive to a compressed image file on CD-R (this spanned 4 CD's)

You will find information on page 38 of the manual for cloning a partition to another partition. The manual is available as an Acrobat Reader PDF from the start menu after installing Ghost. I'd suggest reading the manual carefully. It's pretty easy to understand.

I'm just looking in the manual (as you should do before doing anything I tell you about) for the command line switches for doing what you need...

OK - there's an Appendix (A) which lists and explains all the switches (there're lots!). At the end of it there are some examples. Here's the one I think most closely matches what I understand you want to do:

To Copy the second partition of the local disk one to the first partition of local disk two.

ghostpe.exe -clone,mode=pcopy,src=1:2,dst=2:1

You might change it for your purposes to:

ghostpe.exe -clone,mode=pcopy,src=1:1,dst=1:2

Don't forget to include the path (in DOS' 8-character-limited format, of course) before the command.

But, before you do anything, take my suggestion and read that manual. I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT GOES WRONG! You should do a conventional backup of any data, registry, local settings, user setups, software configurations, etc. before starting this.

Good luck and only have the celebratory drink AFTER doing this!

Cheers, woggie

 

[TonyChung]

Thanks a lot to Woggie's ansering.

I have tried the command line and
succefully backup my computer.

However, it won't work under
win2000 schedule task. Whether
i use autoexec.bat or schedule task,
they all seem unable to execute.
And when i manually run the file,
the error says norton 2001 can
only run under DOS, plz restart
your machine. @@

Is there other ghost 2001 version
i missed? or is there some other
trick we can turn it work in win2000
enviroment?

Thanks again in advance!

tony

 

[woggie]

Sorry, Tony - Wasn't thinking it through. Of course, you can't run the commands in the Win2k scheduler. For the scheduler to run, Win2k has to be loaded and the ghostpe.exe commands only run under DOS. In other words, you have to have booted to DOS before running it.

If there is some way of getting the scheduler to do a system restart, and you make sure that the Ghost DOS boot diskette is in the drive when it happens, you could place the ghostpe command at the end of the autoexec.bat file on the diskette.

I've checked briefly in the Scheduler help but I haven't found a way to initiate a restart. It talks about a scheduler command set called the At Commands, but i haven't found an explanation of them so I don't know if there is one for restarting the system.

Perhaps someone else out there is familiar with the At commands? We're not talking about the Hayes modem AT command set, are we?

Cheers, woggie