NORTON GHOST

[delta7]

There was a discussion on Sunday about backing up data and restoring data and Rog and I were recommending a program called Norton Ghost.

As TS aint the best for discussion then Id like to repeat the benifits of this utility for the squad members

1) Ghost is a small program that takes an exact snapshop of your hard drive( or drives) at the time, this can then be used to recover your system to this exact state

2) you can copy this snapshop to another folder or partition or cd or dvd

3) you can explore the backup and recover individual files or folders e.g. il2 folder

4) the backup can be automatically updated to keep your system up to date.

I would recommend that it is useful to

i)copy your windows install after installing xp, service packs and fixes and drivers then

ii)have a second backup once you have all your main programs installed and patched and

iii)finally a third that you keep updated.

It works better than system restore in that it does not eat resources and is independant of windows so if windows crashes you can restore your system

IT ONLY TAKES ABOUT 10 MINS to completly get back to where you were- a working system fully up to date

here is a link on using ghost - http://ghost.radified.com/ where he describes how to use GHOST and how to set up a recovery disc etc.

now some might think all this backup is a bit paranoid but just wait until 10 seconds after youve done a quick tweak or patch or fix and you get the blue screen and then windows wont boot - and you look at that $1000 piece of plastic and circuit boards sitting in front of you -doing nothin -

I know iv been there and it took about 2 weeks to get everything back to where it was.

hope this helps

[Quazi]

Rgrt Dave. I know enogh to understand what you are trying to teach us. I will be purchasing a copy of Norton Ghost asap myself. I do own Acronis and True Image from Acronis. I know these programs could probably do the same. But, I have heard several others talk about Ghost so it must be all that and a bag of chips. Thanks for taking the time to clarify what you were trying to get across to those of us flying and yakking at the time m8!

[Blairgowrie]

I think I am finally beginning to get it!

If I understand it correctly, if I want to do a reformat, I run Norton first and back up all programmes and other stuff, then reformat. After that is done, I can selectively copy "stuff" back in, all in a few minutes. Right?

[Blairgowrie]

I see there are all kind of different versions of Norton Ghost version 9 ,10, etc. etc. Prices seems to be all over the place.

Any advice or should I just use a hack copy?

[B16Enk]

Use either 9 0r 10.

Yes you cab install it prior to reformat, back up, then selectively restore after re-installing it.

IIRC it uses on-line activation, it can be bought as a download. This then needs to be burnt to a CD from which it will install.

[Arsenal]

I see there are all kind of different versions of Norton Ghost version 9 ,10, etc. etc. Prices seems to be all over the place.

Any advice or should I just use a hack copy?

Why do I get this feeling that in another life, BG's favorite song was:

"Yo-ho, Yo-ho, A pirate's life for me!"?

Well, BG does fly that gay pirate ship P-38. :|

I too will be looking at this, as my system has been a bit wonky lately. Every time I try to install SP2, my mouse refuses to work. Actually, all of my USB items quit working, and I have no idea what to do at that point other than restart in safe mode and do a system restore. I can't find anything on this problem either. Grrrrr!

[JensenPark]

I always thought of BG as more of the Robber Baron type...especially considering his wealth and holdings.

[Blairgowrie]

That Aresnal is a real animal eh?

I hear he has to climb a tree just to take a pee.

[delta7]

I use version 10 and got it off e-bay very cheap

[JensenPark]

Dave...sounds real neat (boy does that sound geeky)

In laymans terms, how does it work?

If I were to reformat, would I have to 'ghost' first to a separate drive that is not getting reformatted?

Help out a computer dumb-bunny here...

[Blairgowrie]

I surrender, unconditionally!

Just used the wife's credit card to buy a copy of version 10 off ebay.

Retail bandits up here want 3 times the price of ebay.

I am going to reformat now twice a week whether I need to or not.

Long live the Quazi man!

[JensenPark]

When you type "Quazi" into bablefish to translate into Latin, it comes out "Timmus oftenus reformatus"

[delta7]

Dave...sounds real neat (boy does that sound geeky)

In laymans terms, how does it work?

If I were to reformat, would I have to 'ghost' first to a separate drive that is not getting reformatted?

Help out a computer dumb-bunny here...

Its best to think of it as taking an exact image of what you want to copy - e.g. drive or partition. and storing this on another drive or partition or disc. It copies the binery data so is much deeper than just windows copy command.

If you want to format because your machine is slow and registry is clogged up then there is no point in doing a ghost image and then formatting and then reinstalling this image after the format cause all the old shit would be back in place-exactly as before.

It is also no use storing the image on a drive or partition that you format as it will be lost in the format so yes you need to store it on a seperate drive or partition or disc.

where it scores is that you take a ghost image when you are happy you have a fast stable system and then install this image after a format to save you a heck of a lot of time reinstalling windows and service packs and up to date drivers and all your programs and patches and so gets you quickly back to a clean uncluttered system

now it is up to you when you take your ghost image or images. Some like to take one just after installing windows+ service packs+ drivers and some like to do it once they have added their standard programs such as antivirus +office and photoshop etc. and some backup retentives ( ahem ) have 2 or 3 images stored on discs ready to use should something go wrong with windows or their hard drive.

so its a safety factor to protect your programs or data from loss or a time saver if you have something go wrong and you have to reinstall.

hope this helps

[Blairgowrie]

Just got Norton Ghost and it is installed.

After speaking briefly with Roger last night, I have decided to get an external Hard Drive.

Any thoughts on what I should look for?

I am only using 20gig of my Raptor HD now so I was thinking something in the region of 80 GB would be more than sufficent. I see some have a 7200 spindle speed and some 5400. Does it matter which one I get? Are there any other special features that might be useful?

[delta7]

Please read and follow the instructions to ghost carefully- see link above and ghost home page on web-I wiped out a partition by backing up from one partition into another partition and not from partition into image on backup partition :oops: - fortunatly I had backed up my data on this file or I would have lost my digital photographs.

I would make sure that no matter what you buy that you partition it and keep one or two partitions soley for ghost backups so you reduce chances of errors.

[DoubleTap]

so its a safety factor to protect your programs or data from loss or a time saver if you have something go wrong and you have to reinstall.

hope this helps

Dave, thanks. I think I will do this since I have a LAN and more than one PC and GET ABSOLUTELY NUTS WHEN A SYSTEM STOPS WORKING! Thanks.

BTW, can anyone recommend a good surge surpresser/emergency power unit. Looking for something to protect me both from surges and dropouts.

[delta7]

for power generators ask B "Sparky" G hes blown up a few in his time- :violent2: he might be able to sell you one cheep

[Shadow]

Just got Norton Ghost and it is installed.

After speaking briefly with Roger last night, I have decided to get an external Hard Drive.

Any thoughts on what I should look for?

I am only using 20gig of my Raptor HD now so I was thinking something in the region of 80 GB would be more than sufficent. I see some have a 7200 spindle speed and some 5400. Does it matter which one I get? Are there any other special features that might be useful?

Hi B G,

I have one of these:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... No=1112201

Hands off and works like a charm.

If you are willing to make the trip down here where all us civilized folks live, you can hit the Spadina-College strip and pick one up in a smaller or larger capacity as needed. You get the drive, software, hookup all in the package. Trully a plug & play solution.

BTW, I recently picked up on of the new 150 gig Raptors and I can't get it to play nice with my motherboard. Any help would be appreciated. Lot of money to pay for a paper weight!

Freelancer

[Blairgowrie]

Right then!

I will be picking up a new external drive today. 120g , 7200rpm with transfer speed of 8 mb.

Would it be possible and wise to load Windows XP on it, load all my other stuff and then when everything is set and working, reformat my C drive and then copy external to C?

Benefit as it see it, is that I can take my time doing this and never be down.

Or am I just blowing smoke...........again?

[Blairgowrie]

Picked up the new external drive and partitioned it as Drive:G.

All ready to go I think.

I'll back up drive C with Norton Ghost and perhaps reformat Friday.

[B16Enk]

Right then!

I will be picking up a new external drive today. 120g , 7200rpm with transfer speed of 8 mb.

Would it be possible and wise to load Windows XP on it, load all my other stuff and then when everything is set and working, reformat my C drive and then copy external to C?

Benefit as it see it, is that I can take my time doing this and never be down.

Or am I just blowing smoke...........again?

You could, but it would be much quicker to install XP to the C: drive after making your initial ghost image on G:.

Bandwidth you see...8Mbs vs 130Mbs

[Blairgowrie]

I am all ready to copy drive C to G but I am not sure about this page.

[B16Enk]

That is the drive copy/migrate wizard. Used when you have a new drive to replace an old one.

Have you run the autorun off the CD?

This should install ghost, and put a yellow icon on the system tray.

Right click that and select 'Run Norton Ghost'.

When ghost opens select 'backup Drive'

Follow the wizard to first select C drive as source.

Then G drive as destination, I would first create a folder on G called original and one called Backup, opt to place the intitial backup in 'original.

You will use 'Backup for your daily/new build back ups.

It will prompt you to give the job a name, original will work.

When you have the new build do the same, this time create a job called 'fresh' or the date. This can then be kept as a roll-back.

I can be on msn if you want, signed in now. 20:03

[Blairgowrie]

Ok I ran it the way you recommended and here are the results.

A couple of questions.

My C drive says it has 25gb but this says 18.6gb. I wonder what the difference is?

It also says it is going to back up again tonight. Can I just unplug the external hard drive for the time being and back up when I feel like it?

[B16Enk]

Looks good BG.

The size difference is because ghost backs up what is used and it also defragments the image giving you a smaller image than source.

You can edit the schedule, or as you suggest unplug the drive. This will merely create error messages in the log file but will cause no harm.

Having the drive plugged in when the schedule kicks off a backup will mean it doing the next scheduled backup, it will not retrospectively back up a missed job.

The backup will be small, as this will only be changed files as opposed to a full back up, it will also be correspondingly faster too so may be worthwhile leaving the drive plugged in (so long as the backup doesn't clash with a flying session of course as it will use resources)