easily storing Norton Ghost image

[TomZC]

I've been successfully using Norton Ghost 9.0 and am loving it thus far. My computer is highly customized. Every time it anything has gotten out of whack or unsbable, I've had to spend a ton of time either troubleshooting it or reinstalling everything. The latter literally took weeks because of how extensively I customize numerous apps.

I did a complete system restore and installed and customized all the important apps I use, then made a Ghost image to DVDs. When I needed to restore the image, I booted to the Norton floppy boot disks I made, then ran Ghost/DOS to restore everything. The results were great -- saved me a lot of time. However, it was a little tedious having to keep removing DVDs and putting in the next one. My original plan of putting the Ghost image on my external hard drive didn't work out. I couldn't get Ghost/DOS to see that drive.

I'm considering a couple possibilities:
1. Using Partition Magic create a logical drive just for holding my Ghost images and then restore from there.
2. Puchase and install a second physical drive for holding the Ghost images.
3. Troubleshoot the problem with Ghost seeing the external hard drive.

With these options, can I just copy over the Ghost image I have on the 8 DVDs and then restore just like before except not having to swap out DVDs? Or would I need to create another Ghost image?

Also, someone told me with a second hard drive it should be the same size as my current hard drive, 250 gig, if I want to keep the Ghost image on it. However, the Ghost image that I have now and works only takes up 8 DVDs, which is less than 40 gig. Is he right or wrong.

Which of these three options is the best solution from the standpoint of ease of use. Number 2 is the only one that will cost me any money, but I don't care about that. I can afford it and am only concerned about choosing the best option, the one in which it is easiest for me to just set Norton/DOS to re-imaging my hard drive and then leave it alone until it's done.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

 

[Rick998]

Tom,

1. Using Partition Magic create a logical drive just for holding my Ghost images and then restore from there.

If the Ghost backup you have on DVD's is a 'disk' image (as opposed to a 'partition' image) then copying them to a new partition won't work. This is because you would, in effect be trying to restore the PC's hard disk to a single partition.

Instead, you would have to save a new 'partition' image of C: to D:. This is an easy thing to do but has a huge disadvantage... if the hard disk fails then you lose both your custom setup AND its backup.

If you're using XP/2K, etc. then note also that DOS (which Ghost runs in) cannot 'see' NTFS so you would need to partition the new partition as Fat32 so a DOS boot floppy/CD can see the partition.

2. Purchase and install a second physical drive for holding the Ghost images.

Again, this is an easy thing to do. The secondary hard disk does not HAVE to be the same size as the first, only large enough to hold a 'disk' image of C:. The secondary hard disk does not have to be installed but, instead, can be 'piggybacked' temporarily using the IDE and power cables from any CDROM drive.

The disadvantage of this method (and method 1 above) is that the 'disk' image is a snapshot in time. If the primary hard disk fails then you not only have to restore the 'disk' image from D: to C: but you also have to carry out all the changes since the last time the 'disk' image was created.

As a result, there IS a very good reason to buy a secondary hard disk that is identical to the primary hard disk. It will let you create a disk to disk image from C: to D: then use synchronising software to keep D: up to date, i.e. by just copying new and changed files from C: to D:.

If you're using XP/2K, etc. then this synchronisation can be carried out as part of a shutdown script. If the primary hard disk fails then the secondary one can be put into operation within minutes and be bang up to date.

3. Troubleshoot the problem with Ghost seeing the external hard drive.

Check you are loading the DOS device driver(s) for the external hard drive. DOS support for USB devices can be a little tricky at times, especially if they are USB2.0. (We're having a fair amount of success using Iomega drivers with Freecom USB2 hard disks.)

One disadvantage is that if you can only get USB1.1 support working then 'Ghosting' is going to be excruciating slow (e.g. 2 and a half hours for a 40Gb hard disk). Also, like above, the 'disk' image is going to be a snapshot in time.

However, one huge advantage is that your backup can be stored elsewhere, e.g. in case of theft of your PC.

Taking all the above into account, I would recommend option 2 above (i.e. using an identical secondary hard disk with synchronisation). It may take a little more effort but, once set up the first time, will give you the ease of use you are looking for.

At home I've just used set this type of system up on a PC I've just built for my father (although at work I use option 1 because no data is stored locally). Like your PC, my father's PC was also very specialist. I just couldn't face having to re-do 2 full days of customisatiom/optimisation if the hard disk failed. I'm currently testing Microsoft's free Robocopy (from the Win 2003 resource kit) as the synching method.

The only disadvantage would be theft of the PC although the risk is minimal. I'm planning on setting up automated overnight backups of data to a dual-layer DVD-RW (he's a photographer and his TIF files are enormous) using, if possible, the same shutdown script that currently does the Robocopying. The idea is that he stores the DVD-RW with a neighbour the following morning.

Apologies for the length of this but I've just gone through the exact same issues with my father's PC so it's fresh in my mind. Hope it helps...

Rick

 

[Fnurky]

Hi.

I've just purchased a Liteon USB Dvd burner (model sohw-1653sx) and I want to be able to use it to re-initialise my hard drive from a Norton Ghost image. Trouble is, when I boot uo into DOS, I can't see the DVD burner. Can anyone let me know where I can find some DOS drivers that will let me "see" the burner? Thanks

 

[Fnurky]

Hi.

I've just purchased a Liteon USB Dvd burner (model sohw-1653sx) and I want to be able to use it to re-initialise my hard drive from a Norton Ghost image. Trouble is, when I boot uo into DOS, I can't see the DVD burner. Can anyone let me know where I can find some DOS drivers that will let me "see" the burner? Thanks