Having trouble imaging c drive with ghost 2003

[vhelp]

I'm having trouble creating ghost image of my netbook.

Am running ghost 2003
Windows xp pro sp3
Imaging to a 320 gb usb2 ext hdd, directly w/ no hub

The process stops at dos prompt when using usb2 driver setup
Basically, it hangs and I have to ctrl alt del
Maybe configuration file is missing usb2 driver?

If I change to usb1.1driver, then it seems to be working ok and imaging the c: drive, but, it doesn't complete and crashes but goes back to windows without my help.

I hope I gave enough info, else ask as many q's as necessary.

Thank you

[nic2k4]

This is why all the imaging programs out there have put aside DOS as the host OS; ghost 2003 is a little long in the tooth. I used to love it too, but switched to acronis true image and paragon (I prefer the Acronis file layout). Using a Linux makes it easy to add new drivers for things like USB3 and AHCI.

Paragon is free and there are free versions of Acronis available from drive manufacturers. Find out which brand is your hard drives and go to their site to download it.

[fritzi93]

Yeah, if it's a WD or Seagate drive, they have free versions of Acronis available for download. The only important limitation I'm aware of is they can't do incremental backups. If your drive is a Hitachi you're out of luck for a free version of Acronis that will work, dunno about Samsung or others.

Another one that can do the job is Macrium (free version), doesn't matter what hard drive you have. Worked fine for my netbook with Hitachi hard drive. Good luck.

[EDIT] BTW, either Acronis or Macrium can easily create bootable media to USB thumb drive. Probably Paragon too, but I'm not familiar with it. And you can put the backup image on another thumb drive or SDHC card, for instance.

[fritzi93]

Paragon System Backup Special Edition (essentially the *full version* without WinPE) is free today at giveaway of the day:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/paragon-system-backup-10-5/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_...+of+the+Day%29

[jman98]

I am not 100% sure about this, but I think that Ghost 2003 was not able to correctly backup XP and you had to get Ghost 9 or later to do it. I remember many years ago grudgingly buying the correct Ghost (again, I think it was 9) to backup my XP box, but it's been many years since I used it.

I suppose it might be worth mentioning that if your drives are exactly the same size and you know what you are doing it is possible to boot from some sort of Linux live CD/DVD and use the old dd program to do an exact copy. There's no charge for that, but it does require a decent amount of Linux or Unix knowledge to do it correctly and avoid disaster such as copying the wrong way. It can be used if the destination drive is bigger than the source drive, but I don't recommend that as you end up with a bunch of unused space that way.

[nic2k4]

One of the biggest problem with Ghost 2003 and older (DOS based) was that it couldn't write to an NTFS drive. Since XP wouldn't let you create a FAT partition larger than 32GB, most drives ended up formatted in NTFS.

I'd forgot about Macrium, that's a nice program too. It's just that I mostly use Acronis and Paragon was the only program that allowed me to correctly clone a Bell (same as Dish) PVR drive to a larger drive.

The free version of Acronis will let you clone a drive, create and restore an image of a drive and create a boot disc. You don't get to do incremental backups and you can't create a secure zone recovery partition on your drive.

[unclebud]

Another FREE image tool is To-Do from Easeus.com
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
It can take an image from one machine and allow you to restore it to dissimilar hardware, and it works. You just have to install the drivers for all the missing peripherals.

[jimdagys]

Netbooks (doesn't matter which brand) have a special hidden partition to restore the computer to factory setup. (Screenshot 1 is the hidden partition, screenshot 2 is the restore utility that will only work if the hidden partition is "not messed with". I guess that means, the hidden partition (and its location) shouldn't be altered in any way.)
Ghost 2003 is way older than these new netbooks. If you find a free image program that works, please post details. However, you won't know if it actually works, until you restore your own computer successfully. I made the DVD backup, using the above utility. However, it is unclear to me if I restore from the DVD, will the hidden partition still remain? Because of all these hassles, for the moment, I decided against making a restore disk, using any of the after market programs. I only made the restore factory DVD, using the included utility.

[Cornucopia]

Yeah, but HD Imaging apps basically TAKE THE PLACE of a Recovery Partition. If you know how to do it right (and have the right software), you don't need a recovery partition at all - you're recovering via the Ghost (etc) image.

Sure, it might be a little bit slower (because of it being external/optical, instead of the internal drive itself), but it's not that big of a deal if you're at the point of having to recover - that usually takes a while anyway.

I've had a couple of Netbooks in my household and 5 at work (where I manage IT), and I've taken the original partititions and wiped them clean and then re-installed TO MY DESIGN and re-imaged when I'm done. No problems restoring yet...

Scott

[fritzi93]

I'm inclined to agree with Scott. Who wants to restore to factory defaults with all the crapware unless you're looking to re-sell the netbook? And if the hard drive dies, what then?

Anyway, on mine I cleaned it up, set up my programs and imaged it. Then wiped, re-partitioned and restored the image with the WD version of Acronis.

The netbook I mentioned earlier (with Hitachi drive) is actually a gift for my mother to replace her Kindle.

[ A little OT: Her Kindle died just out of warranty. I was certain it just needed a new battery and blew 40 bucks on that, to no avail. It was hard to navigate with it and hard to read anyway. The netbook is much nicer using the Calibre e-book reader, which beats hell out of Kindle for PC. A pain to break DRM though and convert to *.pub format. BTW, at projectgutenberg.org you can find tens of thousands of books out of copyright. From Thucydides to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to Louisa May Alcott to Edgar Rice Burroughs (remember "Tarzan"? Even some early books by Churchill: The River War, History of the Malakand Field Force, etc. Lots of great books there.]

Anyway, I set everything up on her netbook and imaged it. Then, just in case, I used the in-built utility to make a factory install image too, and saved it on another computer. Good thing too, because I fooked up the re-partitioning with parted_magic and wiped the drive.

What the hell, let's see if the factory image works. It did. Then I re-partitoned *correctly*. Then the OS image with programs set up (using Macrium), which also worked fine. (Documents now on second partition, backed up separately). So her netbook still has the recovery partition. Images saved on another computer and on SDHC cards.

Please pardon the long story. Good luck.

[vhelp]

thanks guys.

i sorted out the ghost problems, but it is (still) running at usb1.1 speeds only.

i am using an ext usb2 320GB hdd. it seems to be very sensitive to my hands. whenever i touched it it kicks me out of the ghost image process. when i'm inside windows, and its spinning, and i just touch it slightly, the light flickers dim and it disconnects and reconnects--pops up a folder.

the image process goes smoothly as as long as i configure for usb1.1 and don't touch the hdd.

so yesterday, i made my first successful image restore from the usb hdd.

now, if i can only get the usb2.0 speed working, it should cut the process (below) down in half, i hope.

--specs--
netbook atom N450 processor 1.67GHz 512mb windows xp pro sp3 160gb hdd
usb 2 320gb ext wd freeagent hdd
norton ghost 2003
usb1.1 speed configured
file system type: NTFS
OS: windows xp pro sp3
17 minutes, backup - imaging my current windows configuration
11 minutes, restoring - back the above image

[vhelp]

jimdagys, whatever partition that might have been there, is nonger there. it was ( overwritten? ) when my IT person imaged the drive with windows xp.

the old partition setup used to be

c: drive as 10 gig and
d: drive as 150 gig

but is now just c: drive 160 gig partition

so i lost all the netbooks driver and i can't find one of them anywhere for download. i need the sound driver. wright now the netbook has no audio, not even the built-in speaker is working.

[bevills1]

I've had similar problems getting Ghost 2003 to work with usb 2.0 on a very few systems and finally switched to using Seagate Discwizard which is a free download. Discwizard has worked on all usb 2.0 bakcups and restores I've tried, and usb 1.1 imaging is simply too very slow to use imo. I'd try the netbook manufacturer for drivers.

[vhelp]

that idea is no good. well, actually, i did finally find the website of my netbook. is a third party of some sort. anyway. they do not cary drivers. i left them an email the other day and am waiting on a response but i seriously doubt they will help me. (i am trying to find the sound driver for this netbook since i have no sound--it was lost when the netbook was imaged, over-writing the restore file)

as far as imaging my netbook over usb, i have no problem doing it now. only it is usb1.1 speed not 2

also, i don't believe i need to find alternate software when it is capable of doing both 1.1 and 2, speeds. i am simply way behind with regards to resolving the usb2 issues with ghost. anyway. i paid for this sw back in 2003, and am now finally using it. i'm not going to buy any more or d/l freebies niether. at least not yet. i mean, i've already made numerous images of various xp scenarios and all is working well--only slower.

if i find the answer to the usb2 speed issue with ghost 2003, i'll post back the how-to resolve.

[nic2k4]

Try DOS USB drivers other than the one ghost provides, here's somewhere to start:

http://www.computing.net/answers/dos/usb-20-drivers-for-dos/13447.html

I've used both DUSE and Motto Hairu with ghost in the past, it depends on the chipset of the external drive and PC; it can be finnicky. As I recall, it was easier to get USB2 speeds from flash drives.

I found I couldn't install an Acronis (or Paragon) recovery partition on a drive that already had a hidden factory partition. But all imaging programs can image an entire drive (all the partitions). Some programs would then let you restore individual partitions from a drive image and others wouldn't (forget which ones). Which is why the limitations of the free WD or Seagate software is no big deal.

As I said the main advantage of those newer programs is their ability to work with AHCI drives. If you don't have your SATA drives setup for AHCI you're cheating yourself of the full potential of your drive.

[stiltman]

Use BartPE and use ghost32.exe (not ghost.exe)