Win2k disk-cloning possible?

[UnknownPerson]

I am a sysadm for a small school wich has about 40 computers. We just heard of a product called Norton Ghost 2002, wich clones one harddrisk drive to another. This would simplify our lives since we would install everything into a fresh machine, then create a harddrive image and install all the other computers using the cloning software.

My main doubt is if this will really work on Win2kPro. We have three groups of machines here: one group consists of identical computers, the second of another type of computers but identical between them, and the third is a set of mixed configurations...

Does someone know if Win2kPro will really work if mirrored?? If I buy the product and then find out it can't do the job, it would be a waste of money.

Thanks in advance,

 

[lancsc]

It does work on win2k, the only thing you have to watch out for is the SID (or SIN). this is documented on Nortons/Symantec www.

As is alot of other useful info re ghost.

The way I do it is to boot to DOS with a zip drive or second H/disk attached. create an image file on the attached device and then burn a CD.
My last job was a 20G H/disk with approx 3 gig data on it.
I had to use the span switch to make files of less than 700Mb (CD capacity) went on to 3 CD,works a treat and saves you hours.
With a second h/disk the transfer rate is much better and it took approx 40min to make image.

 

[yoshie]

Hi Unknown,
Just a follow up on this, Power Quest Drive Image will do the same thing for you, I found it a lot easier to use than Ghost. I beleve it is cheeper as well..(don't quote me on it)
Again you can image the drive and it have a nice GUI to help you out if your not sure on what options to select.

Hope this helps

BTW get the demo's and see for yourself which is going to be more suitable.....

Cheers Yosh...

 

[stradiv]

I agree with yoshie.....Ghost gave me a hard time....I would put my money on Power Quest...simple, intutive and a lot more reliable...Ghost.....well...symantec bought out the product and...really made it live its name...

 

[Rus]

Ghost is better... You can ghost over the network, more computer in the same time, from image to disk, from disk to image, etc....

 

[ajfp]

rus... i would like to know how to ghost over the network if u could give some advice
thanks!

 

[sleew]

You need to install Ghost, then from symantec program folder
to start diskette builder for ghosting and to choose network ghosting(I can't remember exact name of application). You also need to provide driver for NIC.Then you boot computer with that diskette and ghost W2k over TCP/IP wich means you need to assign IP address to target computer.Honestly, that way is not trustfull, sometimes it just don't work.... Sleew
Compaq & Microsoft TS
sleew@infosky.net

 

[Guest_imported]

PLease make sure all the systems are "Hardware identical" or you need a ghost from every sytem.

2nd.

Watch the boot partition, MBR is on first partition.
If the OS is on D:\ and you mirror a ghost back, then you can't boot it, because you miss the boot info from c:\

 

[lionborn]

for network image distribution (after you created the image on the first place)you can nicely use powercasting technology of the PowerQuest Drive image (DEPLOY CENTER currently). you n eed a boot floppy that will connect the cdlient computer to the "powercast server" that can be any computer on your network. Point the powercast server to the image source, and ...viola!
Check the user guide on that. The PowerQuest Deploy Center is a sleek solution. Works o ver the router also.

 

[tom11011]

Do not ghost a system that has been brought into the domain. Always bring the computer into the domain manually after receiving the image.

 

[Digum2K]

All you have to do to change the SID for your mass deployments is to set it in the task. Or you can manually do it for each clone with ghostwalker. Be careful when you are rolling out images over your network. If you have a lot a traffic on your network it will lock!! I only deploy with switches when working with a large # of comps, or else you will be sitting a long time!

-Eric, CCNA, Server+, Net+, APS x2, A+

 

[dadoalex]

I've seen many problems with Ghost particularly systems that are less than identical at the hardware level.

Why not make life easy. Install Them apps on a server and use Terminal Services. Restrict user rights accordingly and it works great. License your apps accordingly

 

[tom11011]

Yep, if my company had a larger budget, I would go citrix with thin clients.

 

[Digum2K]

That reminds me you Term Service Freaks, we got these free Cyrix based Oracle Terminals. Dumb ?, but nothing says I can't just run Win2K via Terminal Services right? Love that service!!

-Eric

 

[Guest_imported]

try sysprep it is in the tools folder on the 2000 pro cd It allows you to create a system image with no security ids and then you can use norton ghost to roll it out.At my college we spent a week going over this and doing it. Works great

 

[UnknownPerson]

We bought Symantec Ghost 7.0.

It has soo many problems that we are asking for a full refund. If someone ever asks me this question, it's simple: Poor quality software. Period.

Right now we are going to trial out first (we won't make the same mistake twice) the competitions program named above.

Regards and thanks for all the help.

(Can't get rid of the 504 error. Got check it out on Symantec's website).

 

[Bretto]

Unknown person,

Read about the sysprep tool on the WIN2K CD-ROM, you can set this so after you have made your image it will not only create new SID's but run a minisetup wizard to configure your network setings and install plug and play devices on your different hardware,you can even wright a sysprep.inf file for fully unattended setup. If you read about and learn to use this deployment tool it won't matter what imaging software you use because win2k will do all the work for you (other than creating the physical image).

You can trial the sysprep utility without using any imaging software just swap the drives between the different hardware setups. once you have got it working. then download the software and your can deploy all your clients fully working with apps ready to go.

If you do your prep work well enough you can probably create and deploy all your images within the trial period of the software.

Cheer's
Bretto.

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi,

is there anyone out there who knows, how to create an image from a Windows 2000 Server?

many thanks in advance

pehaa

 

[Guest_imported]

hi,

i need a very urgent help. i m running w2k server with some application and specially our new accounting software.

Now i want to know can i clone my w2k-server with each and all application running on it.

Like i want to clone the whole system with its applications to another system with completely different hardware, in such a way the clone copy of origanl system software will work on a machine of different hardware. I have all and each right of first system and i can do any thing on it.

Please help me out in cloning w2k-server so that i can clone a copy of my exisiting running w2k-srv to another machine with completly different hardware.

 

[mcazz]

Hi Visitor,

First off, if you are thinking about cloning a Domain Controller, your heading for trouble. The first thing
would be to demote it to a member server. On the 2000 server CD, under the Support/tools/deploy directory you
will find the deployment tools for cloning a windows 2000 server or workstation. This can be accomplished by using setup manager and sysprep. What this does, is it creates a mini-setup which allows you to clone multiple machines, while generating new and unique SID's for each computer. Of course you will still need a third party tool to create an image, I would reccomend Drive Image Pro, by Powerquest, I found it much easier to use than Ghost. If you go to the microsoft's knowledge base and do a search on Cloning Windows 2000, You will find a Microsoft Support Webcast, which you might find helpful, Good Luck