Ghost - what's the best version?

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

TheBigCheese

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Hi guys

I'm trying to make a backup of my boot drive onto an additional HDD which will be unplugged so if I need to reinstall or there is a major crash I can just clone it straight back over.

I've heard about how good Norton Ghost is so I was going to use that for cloning the drive...but then I have read that version 10 is pretty rubbish, as it works in Windows and doesn't copy the system files that are in use properly.

Can you guys recommend me an (older) version of Ghost that work flawlessly every time and (probably) works from DOS?


Thanks :)
 
If your going to buy some recovery software there is only one to buy. Acronis true image. Its the best when it comes to recovery software. The recovery disk is created by true image using the drivers you currently have installed on your system so there is no hardware that it can't recognise on your system.
I speak from experience, I always used ghost but, it failed to restore images on several machines I've owned due to raid controllers that it can't recognise etc.
 
Ah right, that's a clever idea as I do use a RAID 0 (though it won't be used in the backup).

Thanks for the post, I'll check it out!


Just for arguments sake, does anyone else have any recommendations?


I should note, I have tried the bundled Windows version and after restoring the image it came up with the error message "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe".

So that was a non-starter. Typical Windows :rolleyes:
 
yep! Acronis True Image rules!

i've experienced with Ghost server, tried to pull/push image across network, deploying images to client PC's but they NEVER work properly. biggest problem i had was failed to install Ghost client software on remote client PC's, couldnt find out what was the problem!, googled and many people got same problem.

dumped ghost Server

installed Acronis True Image Enterprise Server 15 days trial, dead easy to setup, plenty of wizards to create master image, pull/push images over network, deploying images, work every time.

Acronis TrueImage > Norton Ghost
 
lol Spuknik II convinced me but it's always good to get other opinions as well. :)

I certainly won't be needing it over a network, it will be for business use but I only use the one machine.

I'll try it this afternoon and see what happens!
 
TheBigCheese said:
...
Just for arguments sake, does anyone else have any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Yes, download a copy of XXCLONE : http://www.xxclone.com/xxclone.zip
It's free for personal use. It does one task - drive cloning. I've used it many times on different systems and it's always given me a perfect copy.
Edit: Just remember to tick ALL the boxes on the advanced page - jobs a goodun.
 
We use Ghost all the time at work to image our laptops.

Never had one fail. :)

Awesome bit of kit... only thing is though, i've forgotten what version it is. Im sure its version 9, dunno why that rings a bell though.
 
Yep just like to add ive been using Ghost 9 and recently Ghost 10, both very similar id say Ghost 10 was slightly better/more faster, shame both of them never quite worked so well sometimes upon booting it just wouldnt detect my system or finish loading even getting stuck at end.

Installed acronis and ive tried the boot disc on dozens of pcs at work and never failed to load ive even tried my own backup image on multiple pcs and had good success:) but sometimes it wont quite work.

The only one negative thing id say about Acronis is it gives u the option to create the Acronis boot disc to recovery your images, why didnt they just have an option to integrate it with the actual backup image ?

If a company comes out and does that, that will be the ultimate recovery disc.....

And I desperately need something like that the amount of Pcs I see daily in the Pc clinic where there o/s has been corrupted/damaged !
 
Well I've had a go using XXClone because it is totally free!

And the results weren't the best...

The drive seemed to copy fine.

I disconnected C:, checked in the BIOS that D: was detected (it was the only HDD connected) and crossed my fingers...

Seconds later I received the fatal message "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk and press enter".


Bah...can anyone enlighten me as to what I did wrong?


C: is a 120Gb, D: is also a 120Gb which was preformatted and had Windows on it from a previous attempt (I didn't think it would matter if it was wiping everything anyway).

Everything copied fine, all the advanced options were checked as was recommended.

D: is set as a slave drive and is on the secondary connector on the primary IDE channel.

Whether that makes a difference or not I don't know but it's rather a fiddle keeping on plugging and unplugging wires so I just removed the power connector from C: (possible newbie mistake...?).

Any suggestions? (apart from try Acronis lol - I will buy it if I have to but I'd prefer a free version if it does the same job).
 
does anyone know if true image will take an image of a PC - for arguments sake a Dell GX270, and then allow you use this image on say a Compaq Evo?

I cant see this being possible but for managabilities sake, this would be a god send for me!
 
I can't see that working as the hardware etc would be different in the two machines.

Also a lot of prebuilt machines seem to have make specific software on them, woe betide me when I tried to get some XP drivers off my Toshiba laptop XP disc to use on the main machine :rolleyes:
 
Well that was what I was saying in my previous message ive done an image of just WinXP fresh on my AMD64 pc and ive loaded it multiple times on Dells/Packardbells/compaqs-hps (same company) it does sometimes work but sometimes doesnt.

I really do wish there was a image that could load on any pc and at the sametime load the correct drivers and all but doubt such a thing will happen.
 
TheBigCheese said:
Well I've had a go using XXClone because it is totally free!

And the results weren't the best...

The drive seemed to copy fine.

I disconnected C:, checked in the BIOS that D: was detected (it was the only HDD connected) and crossed my fingers...

Seconds later I received the fatal message "Disk boot failure. Insert system disk and press enter".


Bah...can anyone enlighten me as to what I did wrong?


C: is a 120Gb, D: is also a 120Gb which was preformatted and had Windows on it from a previous attempt (I didn't think it would matter if it was wiping everything anyway).

Everything copied fine, all the advanced options were checked as was recommended.

D: is set as a slave drive and is on the secondary connector on the primary IDE channel.

Whether that makes a difference or not I don't know but it's rather a fiddle keeping on plugging and unplugging wires so I just removed the power connector from C: (possible newbie mistake...?).

Any suggestions? (apart from try Acronis lol - I will buy it if I have to but I'd prefer a free version if it does the same job).
Click to expand...

Well if you've doing it that way you'd also have to change your bios settings so it looks for a boot drive on IDE2/Sata2, instead of the original IDE1/Sata1.
 
Mr Blonde said:
Well if you've doing it that way you'd also have to change your bios settings so it looks for a boot drive on IDE2/Sata2, instead of the original IDE1/Sata1.
Click to expand...

Oooooooh right....be right back!

*edit*

XXClone worked! All I had to do was not be lazy, and put the cloned drive on the first connector of the primary IDE channel as opposed to the secondary.

I looked for a bios setting to change as you mentioned but couldn't find one...but changing the cable over worked so I'm happy! :D


Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions, it's much appreciated! :) :) :)
 
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i've used ghost for years until recently after messing around with acronis true image.

i've found it easier and quicker. as well as having more advanced options the bootable cd is quicker too.

i did a recovery using both recently as a test.

the only downside i found with the workstation version of acronis i grabbed was that it doesnt recognise dynamic disks. it did however see my external usb/firewire drives as well as all the shares on my local network!

the server version of true image recognises dynamic disks i've been told on their forums.

a very handy option is the incremental backup. :)
 
HighlandeR said:
I really do wish there was a image that could load on any pc and at the sametime load the correct drivers and all but doubt such a thing will happen.
Click to expand...
Already available from........Acronis of course! Information here Clicky

Edit: might not be exactly what you mean but, Its pretty darn close.
 
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