Norton Ghost 2003 question

**jp2558** · 2005-10-20 22:44

I need to create a ghost clone image of a laptop. The laptop has a share to it's C drive which I can see from my desktop pc. Can I use Ghost on my desktop pc to make a clone of the laptop using a mapped network drive that points to the share of the C drive on the laptop?

**kaplinb** · 2005-10-20 22:58

Using Ghost to save or write an image to a different computer

**jp2558** · 2005-10-21 00:09

And a Backup is not the same as a Clone - correct? In other words, I cannot recover from a disk crash & subsequent replacement from a backup alone - that would only restore data files and not the OS & registry?

**bigaldoc** · 2005-10-21 08:41

Disclaimer - I haven't used Ghost for several years. The "grammar" in that reference is heavily dependent on which version you have and I doubt most people are using the Server or Enterprise versions. Be careful for I think most of the imaging products (including cloning) really mean making an image or clone of a drive or partition of the computer on which Ghost (or whatever) is installed, with the DESTINATION being another computer on the "network" which is the reverse of the situation you described. Sounds to me like you're wanting to "pull" rather than "push" an image/clone.

**jp2558** · 2005-10-21 13:35

I have Ghost 2003 and its now installed on the laptop. Since I don't have the OS install media for the laptop, I want to be able to make a ghost of the system as it is, before I load anything on it.

I got the laptop via a corporate wide upgrade of their pc infrastructure. They wiped all these laptops and reloaded them from scratch and sold them 'as is'. The only thing on it is an authentic, activated XP Pro which is why I want an image for use as install media in the event that the HD crashes and I need to reload.

I'm going to try to see if I can create a clone or backup image to a USB flash drive (attached to the laptop) and see if that is accessable via a recovery boot floppy. My concern is whether a clone is the same as a backup in terms of whether both can be used during a total system recovery. From what I read (and understand) a clone is for cloning an image to multiples of the exact same hardware - which would be good for doing multiple installs of the same config. Using that logic, I think a backup would allow me to reinstall a single image to the 'same' machine (with perhaps a different HD) it was created on.

Does that make my situation any clearer? Sorry for all the gory details.

**Liberty Raynes** · 2005-10-22 14:31

If you're using Ghost 9, all you should need is the Ghost 9 CD. As long as the laptop can boot to a CD, you're OK -- with a "regular" networked hard drive, that is. As to using the USB drive, I doubt it would work, since Ghost installs DOS networking drivers when booting from the CD, or from a PowerQuest Drive Image floppy diskette set. After installing the program to the laptop, then making the networked image on a networked hard drive, just boot to the CD. The default is to NOT install network drivers, but you want to do that, since you would need to map to the networked drive in order to revert to your Ghosted image. It will give you an option; just click to install them. One thing you need to make sure of is that you possess read/write rights to both machines. The easiest way to do this is to create an adminsistrator account on both computers called V2i. Use v2i as a password for both machines. When you're reverting to the Ghosted image, you'd just type in the networked computer's name (for example, NW1), then v2i as the user, and v2i as the password. It's really fairly simple once you see the interface. If, for some reason, you can't browse to the networked .v2i file, you can always type in the UNC path. Oh, one final caveat -- you might want to keep to a maximum of eight letters (with no spaces, commas, apostrophes, etc.) for your backup folder names to keep things simple and easier to type. Yes, you can install to another hard drive - there is an option to make the image automatically fit the "incoming" drive. It won't work unless that option is checked, nor will it work if the machine is substantially different from the original cloned machine. But, the "same" machine with a different hard drive is no problem.
Hope that's clear. RTM!

**bigaldoc** · 2005-10-22 18:36

And if I might add just an aside to Liberty's explanation. On the subject of a "clone" vs. an "image" I think the reason that all the imaging products have a clone process available is for those folks who simply want to copy a drive to another drive, such as when buying a replacement drive or a larger drive. The result is an immediately usable drive, an exact copy of the original, in one less step. In the image scenario, you make the image with the (usually) intended purpose of using it "later" to restore a blown hard drive, so the restoration is a separate step. Good luck...

**jp2558** · 2005-10-23 13:52

Thanks for the input. However, using Ghost 2003 wasn't worth the effort so I gave up. I spent over two hours (my billable rate is $120 and hour) so at that price it will just be cheaper to buy another copy of XP should I need it.

**bigaldoc** · 2005-10-23 18:19

I hope you take no offense Jerry, but I think you're conclusion thus far is a bit misguided. Using an imaging product (whether Ghost, TrueImage, DriveImage or whatever) should take NONE of your billable time, after a hopefully short learning curve. It can be done in unattended mode, at night, or whatever, that doesn't involve your valuable business time. I think you're likely to find that, in the event of a serious crash or some kind of loss, the cost of the operating system will be the least of your worries. Your billable time will shoot through the roof as you try to recover software applications, AND (most importantly) lost or corrupt data files. Obviously, you have to do what you think is appropriate, but you ought to ask around for some business colleagues who may have suffered through the HOURS of loss and recovery time. Again, no offense intended...

**jp2558** · 2005-10-23 20:09

No problem. I fully understand the ability to backup and recovery as being essential, however since this is on a laptop to be used only during travel, which will ususally connect to the office, there will be little on it to lose in the event of a disk crash. I only wanted to be able to recover the OS as installed because it didn't come with OS install media. If I do need to save important stuff that will either be saved at the office or to a flash drive if need be.

Thanks again.

**Liberty Raynes** · 2005-10-24 22:50

Well then, if it has a CD-RW, install Windows, update it, then install Ghost, True Image, or whatever imaging program you want. Make an image to CDs, then stick 'em somewhere safe, and remove the imaging program. You can always thereafter get back to that point in time, easily, with relatively little updating (well, considering MS, maybe a lot of future updating...).

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