Ghost or TrueImage

[v-sharp]

What are the advantages/disadvantages between Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image.

True Image is priced lower than Ghost, but does the price difference has substantial/noticeable difference also in features and performance?

I've read about the ease of recreating the whole contents (OS and programs) to the same or different hard-drive.

I want to create a boot dvd disc that will reinstall a clone of my hard-drive to the same pc, and perhaps to new hdd, after a reformat

How does it work, I mean, reinstalling the mirror image of my hard-drive after a reformat? Do I have to just slide the ghost or trueimage dvd in the dvd-drive, reboot and it will reinstall everything while I watch?

I have many questions and thank you for responding.

[greengate69]

I tried ghost first and couldn't get it to back up my hard disk. Consistently failed near the end of the job. I vaguely remember that the old version (2003?) of ghost is the last actual "ghost" version, the more recent ones being based on a company Norton took over. Anyway I tried both versions and had no luck.

True image has worked flawlessly me on many occasions, both backing up partitions and cloning entire disks. I bought it bundles with Acronis disk director, another excellent product in my opinion.

I am not knocking ghost, it just didn't work for me whereas True Image did and does.

[Poppa_Meth]

I much prefer Acronis now that I've used it. I was using ghost for a while and found it to work okay but it's installation was very intrusive. When I uninstalled it took a few days to figure out how to get rid of all the leftovers. You can run in from CD instead though. Acronis has a less instrusive install and can also be run from a boot CD. I backup to an external HDD, which is the best way with this software. You can write directly to DVD with Acronis now as well. I use an HDD because I can do one full monthly backup and then each week append an incremntal backup to it that just stores the things that have changed since the full backup.

[Bjs]

Neither , both are crap .

Too copy from one drive to another , use the manufacturer's drive copy tool for the new drive only ... best method where existing drive report's hard drive failure will soon happen .

For all other's , drive image is best , support's every type of partition and is a rock solid performer .

There is of course another from linux which support's all ... not as simple as drive image .

[fltk]

I have used True Image for about 4 years now. It does a great job in creating an image or restoring a partition or a whole drive, and its fast too, only takes about 7 minutes to restore my whole C-drive ( 10 GB).
Highly recommended.

[v-sharp]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Has anyone tried a complete system restore from a dvd disc?

For now my interest is on the complete system restore from a dvd disc. I'm going to reformat my hdd, then reinstall winXP, drivers and programs I often use).

I save all my pictures and movies in other internal and external hard-drives not to my systems hard-drive.

After a reformat and fresh install of OS, drivers and programs, I want to create an image or clone or copy of the my hard-drive to a dvd disc for reinstallation after another reformat. There wouldn't be many programs I'm confident the file size won't exceed the dvd capacity.

My preference is a system restore from a dvd disc, not from another hdd.

Which software in your experience does a good job on that task?

[encrypted]

Neither , both are crap .

Too copy from one drive to another , use the manufacturer's drive copy tool for the new drive only ... best method where existing drive report's hard drive failure will soon happen .

For all other's , drive image is best , support's every type of partition and is a rock solid performer .

There is of course another from linux which support's all ... not as simple as drive image .

Which manufacture's software are you refering to?

I tried MaxBlast that came with my hard drive. It didn't work for me. I tried booting my laptop with new drive after using MaxBlast to clone the old drive, but I noticed that things were just not the same. Missing the whole Firefox directly content somehow, for example.

I tried True Image (trial version) after that, and got a great success.

[hech54]

I have a backup set of my HD burned to DVD(from Norton Ghost) but have yet to need to use it.
I also keep more recent HD backups to an external drive....I backup my C Drive every 3 weeks or so.

I think I did do a recovery with my Norton Ghost once(from the external drive image) after I aborted a Windows upgrade by mistake...I'm here talking about it so it worked...

[bevills1]

To do a complete system restore from a dvd disc a bootable dvd would be required. I use Ghost 2003 to backup my OS partition to another partition on another drive and boot to Win98 startup disc to run Ghost. I've used Ghost imgage to restore system on several ocasions with no failures. There was 1 time the Ghost image had become corrupt, and I simply restored from a backup copy of that image. I suggest always backup image whether you choose Ghost or True Image.

[RLT69]

Has anyone tried a complete system restore from a dvd disc?

For now my interest is on the complete system restore from a dvd disc. I'm going to reformat my hdd, then reinstall winXP, drivers and programs I often use).

I have done a complete system restore from DVD using Norton Ghost 2003, several times. I restored 10 computers straight, using the same image. So, yes Ghost does work and works well. You can make the DVD bootable or use a bootable floppy and pull the image from the DVD.

I almost NEVER use Ghost native in Windows to make the image. Tried it with a laptop and it worked but I prefer the Ghost Floppy method; boot from the Ghost Floppy and make the image that way, works like a charm.

The enterprise edition is even more interesting. You can image several PCs at the sametime.

Your best approach would be to demo each software and see which one you like best. I think Acronis has a demo version available. I don't know if Symantec does. The lastest version of Ghost, Ghost 10, includes Ghost 2003.

[Paul_G]

Used norton ghost 2003 for years and works well. Unlike trueimage, the backup dvd/cd is bootable with the required software rather than messing around with booting some other disc.

[lordsmurf]

Paragon Drive Backup is my choice.

[stiltman]

Neither , both are crap .

Too copy from one drive to another , use the manufacturer's drive copy tool for the new drive only ... best method where existing drive report's hard drive failure will soon happen .

For all other's , drive image is best , support's every type of partition and is a rock solid performer .

There is of course another from linux which support's all ... not as simple as drive image .

You do know Symantec owns DriveImage too. Symantec bought PowerQuest in 2003

Personally, I have always used Ghost. I started way back with version 1. Back when new developments were pushed out regularly by Binary Research. Once Symantec bought them, development went down the tubes. I then switched to DriveImage because it could handle dual booting with LiLo as the bootloader. Ghost (Symantec) supported Linux partitions, but always bombed out on dual booting with LiLo as the bootloader.

Now I just use the 1mb DOS boot file from Ghost and use Binary Research's UIU

[fltk]

Has anyone tried a complete system restore from a dvd disc?

Yes, I have done that several times with Acronis True Image. Works perfect.

[blinky88]

I use Ghost and have never run into any problems. I have a spare drive indentical to C drive in my computer which I clone monthly. I have only had to use the cloned drive once and it was perfect. I then cloned the original C drive and it is also working flawlessly.

[TBoneit]

I use Ghost 2003 too.

Never had a problem, just create the image file to DVD, 2 times for insurance. Test restore to a scrap drive. Too late to find a bad burn when you need to restore.

[v-sharp]

It appears that the popular brands are Ghost and TrueImage. A few more details please about the dvd disc.

Yes, I have done that several times with Acronis True Image. Works perfect.

I use Ghost 2003 too.

Never had a problem, just create the image file to DVD, 2 times for insurance. Test restore to a scrap drive. Too late to find a bad burn when you need to restore.

How do I install the image of my hdd from a dvd disc to a new hdd in the same pc?

Assuming that I have already replaced the old hdd with a new hdd in the pc, how do I go about transfering the clone of my old hdd into the new hdd? Just boot pc with the clone disc in the dvd drive?

Thanks to everyone, the information given are very helpful.

[RLT69]

Assuming that I have already replaced the old hdd with a new hdd in the pc, how do I go about transfering the clone of my old hdd into the new hdd? Just boot pc with the clone disc in the dvd drive?

That's it in a nutshell. Both programs will allow you to creat a bootbale disc which contains the image of the hard drive. Thus you simply boot from the CD or DVD and run through the program to restore the image to the new hard drive.

For more details I suggest reading the documentation for either program.

[Faustus]

Semi On topic.

Anyone know a piece of software that can create a real pro like EASY to use (IE you mother could figure it out) Restore CD for a PC?

[stiltman]

Semi On topic.

Anyone know a piece of software that can create a real pro like EASY to use (IE you mother could figure it out) Restore CD for a PC?

Bootable CD with ghost image and in the autoexec.bat, just use the switches to automat it all.

Used to do it all the time.
Just leave out the reboot switch....or it will continue to reghost the pc until you remove the CD during the BIOS screen....found that out the hard way

[jgombos]

If you're skilled with a linux commandline, check out dd. dd is free (GNU), and it doesn't care what filesystem/OS you're backing up. Unlike Ghost, it's used in forensics because it copies every bit verbatim, and takes no shortcuts. The shortcoming is also that it takes no shortcuts (that is, unused space is also imaged); while Ghost ignores unused space (which is probably favorable in your case). Ghost is crippled, preventing you from sending the image over the network, unless you buy the more expensive enterprise license. dd of course doesn't care if you send it over the network. You'll have to use the el torito toolset or something to get the image on a bootable CD.

[Scorpion King]

I use ghost 2003. It can read and write NTFS but it can't store image files on that format. I have a removable 30G hdd formatted Fat32 I store image files on and I simply slide in the drive, boot to an old Win98 floppy, and run the ghost program from dos. Very simple and quick. I have several image files. I have one that is a fresh activated XP install with no drivers or programs. I have several others made at different points of the XP rebuild.

I usually backup my computer to a new image file whenever I make a very big change to it. I have My Documents on drive D so it is safe from a restore from image file.

Using DVD's would be ok but I like to keep a fairly up-to-date image file on hand so a hdd is a lot better for me.

Having the ability to quickly restore from an image file makes life a lot easier, believe me.

[stiltman]

Ghost is crippled

Ghost has all the forensics

[RLT69]

I use ghost 2003. It can read and write NTFS but it can't store image files on that format.

What are you talking about? Cannot store image files on an NTFS filesystem? Are you kidding me?
We have image files of various computers stored on our servers, Windows 2000 Server NTFS format.

Unlike Ghost, it's used in forensics because it copies every bit verbatim, and takes no shortcuts. The shortcoming is also that it takes no shortcuts (that is, unused space is also imaged); while Ghost ignores unused space (which is probably favorable in your case).

It's called a sector by sector copy and yes Ghost can do that. In fact it's the only method you can use for unsupported file systems such as ReiserFS.

You need to read the documentation.

[genki500]

I jumped from Ghost dos version to True Image. True Image is easy and works great, especially for beginners.
About restore image, both work when restoring from an hard drive.
However, when using back-up DVD to restore, I never, ever restore successfully through True Image.. I know it works for many, but I don't seem to have that certain luck.

[jgombos]

Ghost is crippled

Ghost has all the forensics

I'm sure Symantec pitches it that way, but law enforcement actually prefers to use a varient of dd that has been slightly modified by the army for forensics - and that version is freely available as well.

I'm having trouble remembering what it was about Ghost that made it unfavorable for forensics. It might have something to do with the fact that Ghost requires the filespace to be mounted. I would also expect Ghost to be useless if it's told to image a drive containing unrecognizable filesystems, but I'm speculating.

BTW- my comment about Ghost being crippled was referring to the non-enterprise version blocking the image from being sent over a network.

[mazinz]

Genki500 wrote

However, when using back-up DVD to restore, I never, ever restore successfully through True Image.. I know it works for many, but I don't seem to have that certain luck.

try this, use manual restore and RAISE the priority level up one. I had a similar issue in that it would skip or not be able to fully restore certain files from my backup archives it made. So I raised the priority and it then worked fine--

[Morse2]

Hi v-sharp

>>>...Has anyone tried a complete system restore from a dvd disc? ...<<<

Routinely. I used to back up all my OS's monthly (yes, you read that right...and that's a LOT of DVD's...). I've lost count of the number of times that a Windows install has "gone flakey" due to a codec conflict or somesuch but has been easily repaired by restoring to it's 'initial clean state' via a Ghost image. On all my remaining Windows boxes I use Ghost 2003 and have not had any troubles yet. I use it less now since I'm transitioning to Linux on all my remaining systems but that's no slight on Ghost 2003 - it's been good to me.

In general, Ghost 2003 works best if you have your drive partitioned into C: and D: with the system in a fairly small section of C: That way the entire contents of your system HDD can fit on a single DVDR. Don't use a DVDRW though - IME they are not as "bit perfect reliable" for OS copies. That could just be a local experience though.

In any case, if you track down an older copy of Norton Ghost 2003, you shouldn't have any trouble doing a partition to DVD image and restore. The only thing that seems to throw first-timers to the prog is navigating via keyboard after booting off the image. Use the "tab" key navigate from one control to the next.

The newer Ghost 9.0 and 10.0 are based on a completely different program that is (reportedly) inferior to the original 2003 (that's hearsay so take it with a grain of the salt of your choice).

If you're feeling adventuresome, the "ultimate boot cd 4 windows" that was recently written up over at overclockers.com does have some imaging software included in the package - but I've not had a chance to hands-on the thing yet. Puppy Linux has a disk imager that is good for disk to disk copies (though not HDD to optical disk).

Good luck and all the best,
Morse

[RLT69]

BTW- my comment about Ghost being crippled was referring to the non-enterprise version blocking the image from being sent over a network.

Could you expand on this? Because I know in Ghost non-enterprise version, you can mount a network drive and store and image there. From the Symantec article:

"Norton Ghost 2002 and 2003 can use TCP/IP connections in a peer-to-peer configuration, using the option TCP/IP in Ghostpe.exe or Ghost.exe; and the corporate Ghost versions have more complete network capabilities."

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/2000012111391925?Open&docid=19980...256689006d4438

I know the enterprise version has greater network capabilities but I'm curious to know what problems you have encountered.

[TBoneit]

when you use Ghost 2003 dos version if you load a mouse driver in the autoexec.bat then you can use a mouse to navigate.

Ghost 2003 will mark a drive as usable unless you tell it not to....

Does Ghost 2003 mount the drive? It does check the drive to see what format the filesystem is and if the chkdsk bit is set it will suggest running chkdsk. It has switches to clone even if bad sectors.

I've found it handy to go hard drive to hard drive and hard drive to DVD or DVD to hard drive.

Hmm.... I wonder if it does DVD to image and image to dvd? Hmm, it probably would work on unprotected DVDs only but with the ignore bad sectors switch it might be a way to copy a DVD and retrieve video/data from a damaged disc. More testing needed. Or if it works it could be a way to dupe lots of discs. Make a master image and then burn the image to DVD blanks.

Cheers