Help please with Norton Ghost

[conan]

Hi all, after doing a lot of upgrading of PC's then having a hard disk failure I've decided to use Norton Ghost to create an image. The idea is that life will be less painful in future if anything goes wrong. I've got the latest 2003 version and ran through the wizard to ceate an image to a spare 4 gig drive I have. Thing is, the image file is only 23MB from a 3.5gig used on my main drive which is a bare installation with service pack and updates and a couple of pieces of software installed. Can anybody shed any light on things for me? The plan was to attach the spare drive to each of the PC's (3) in turn and take an image from each.

[conan]

OK peeps. Sorted it.

[Kynoch]

what did you find out about it?

im interested in seeing if the proggy actually works.

[conan]

I went through the options again a bit slower this time, I think I just did it without paying attention the first time. The second time I got an image file of 2.1 Gig which sounds about right. I haven't tried the restore yet, I'll try that sometime this week and post the results.

I also need to look at the options again as the other PC's have stacks of software and games on them. I don't want to back all that up, just the OS really to save me having to install the service packs, updates and drivers etc.

[smeld]

Ghost works great, as long as you spend a little time learning what it can do. Personally, I do a fresh install, all SP's, drivers etc, and Ghost the partition/drive. That way it's "clean"
Ghost makes it so much faster to do a reinstall should you have a wee mishap :mad:
If you install Ghost Explorer then you can play around with the image files you've created, adding/removing files, but I ain't had too much experience of that yet!

[[GPO]Solitaire]

Ghost is a great prog..

I was using it daily when beta testing XP..

it was easier to ghost my C: drive wipe it then install XP then image that install it was a breze to test the OS without loosing my only working system! if anything went wrong i just put back me old WinME C: installation and carry on..

The best thing about Ghost is the Image to CD option!! best thing for backing up a system on the go!!

[imac]

Yep,
Ghost, Partition Magic and directory Opus are my 3 main proggies that I find indispensible. I wouldn't be without them.

Regarding PMagic and Ghost 2003, it is essential you read the manuals, 'cos if you don't you could wipe the lot.

I have been using both since they were first released so I should know that, but :-

I just got got Ghost 2003 for my WinXP Pro system.
If I make a **** up or install sommat and later don't want it, I just restore the C: image.

Last week I decided to restore C: from within windows. I selected the image source file, the destination drive wouldn't let me select the partition, but, I assumed that because the image to be restored was just C: it would be OK.

Like heck it was. Wiped all 4 partitions. But I was OK, I had images and backups.

Hint = ALWAYS keep backups.

[conan]

Just to follow on from my original post, tested the restore and it worked fine. I did the test so I would know how to go through it if neccessary. I've an old 4gig drive and have used this to take an image from two PC's. Should save a lot of time in future when I or kids mess something up.

[Sharky]

How many GB did you put into the image?

I mean how much compressed is it?

[conan]

From a clean install of XP, SP1, updates, Opera and Kazza added the total before backup was 3.5gig. Finished up on the Ghost image at 2.1 giig.