Help!!

Using Ghost 2003 on a W2K Pro system with 2 hard drives (WD 60GB & WD 40GB) and 2 CD-ROM drives (Samsung re-writeable & Samsung read only) I am getting a log file message 'Invalid Partition Offset - 40207' after Ghost has created and verified as good an image on a D: drive.   The 40GB disk contains 2 partitions of approximately equal size which are the D: and G: partitions formatted as FAT32 partitions.  The 60GB disk contains the primary C: drive which is the only partition on that disk and it is formatted as a NFTS partition.  The size of my C: drive system data is about 8GB.  Although I can see the image file on the D: drive with 001 & 002 file extensions, around 6GB compressed, I am afraid something is wrong with it.

As insurance I decided to create a Ghost image using the Samsung CD-ROM re-writeable drive.  This drive is specifically listed as supported by Ghost 2003 on the list Symantec provides on their website so I was comfortable with compatibility.  Well again everything was going smoothly until Ghost actually tried to write boot information to the CD-ROM drive.  Then I got a Ghost generated DOS message that a blank disk was not in the drive.  In fact a new, unformatted blank disk was in the drive.  I tried several other new, unformatted blank CD-ROMs but kept getting the same message.  

Now I do not know what to do next.  I have read the 'Ratified Guide to Ghost', researched its links, and done some Google searches of other forums but am still unsure of how to proceed.

Thanks for any advice anyone might have.  

Steve  

steveo


Quote:

I am afraid something is wrong with it.

Well, the *true test* would be to get a spare HDD and clone the image to the new HDD, and see if you can replace the current HDD with the clone--if all goes well--you have your answer.

Actually, Ghost might *correct* the *Invalid Partition Offset* error when it restores the image to the new HDD!


Quote:

I tried several other new, unformatted blank CD-ROMs but kept getting the same message.

Have you tried other *brands* of optical media--sometimes--especially *inexpensive* brands, do not perform well.

hey.

re: "everything was going smoothly until Ghost actually tried to write boot information to the CD-ROM drive:"

you were watching ghost as it described which files were being written?

how was the drive partitioned? i mean, which program?

if you're getting a problem with both the secondary drive and the cd-burner, sounds like something is up with the source drive.

do you have any disk ultilities you can use to examine the source disk, such as norton disk doctor?

how old is the source disk?

maybe dan might know something .. he knows a lot about this type of thing:

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/

i'll see if i can find him.

:-[I appreciate the quick reply!

I have run the W2K Pro standard disk checking tool a number of times against the C: drive with no issues but I realize that that software is probably not all that sophisticated.  I do have a copy of Norton SystemWorks 2003 Pro, not currently installed, and I could run Norton Disk Doctor against the C: drive to see if that software detects any issues with the drive.  

Let me elaborate further on my issue.  Before I installed Ghost 2003 I had Symantec Ghost 7.5 Enterprise edition installed on the system.  Creating backup images of my C: drive with Ghost 7.5 seemed to work with no errors being reported when the images were created and stored on the G: drive/partition on the 2nd disk.  However, the last image I created with Ghost 7.5 on the 2nd disk was on the D: drive/partition (the G: drive did not have enough room left for a 3rd backup image) and it gave me some kind of message that the File Allocation Table might have a problem.  I proceeded to un-install Ghost 7.5 and installed Ghost 2003.  I then re-formatted, not using FDISK but the W2K disk management tools, the D: drive as a NFTS partition. Then I ran Ghost 2003 to create a backup image on the D: drive.  The Ghosting process ran in DOS with no hitch through image verification but I received a 'no image created' type error message in the log file.  I looked at the D: drive and saw that approximately 6GB of the drive had been consumed but no filename was present to inform me that a Ghost image was in fact present on the D: drive.  I re-formatted the D: drive back to a FAT32 partition and ran Ghost 2003 again.  As I stated in my original message, the Ghosting process ran through image verification and completed with no apparent problems, until I noticed that the log file gave me the 'Invalid Partition Offset - 40207' message. As I said before, I can see the image file with the name I gave it on the D: drive with 001 & 002 file extensions.  

I still have 2 apparently good but old Ghost 7.5 created images on the G: drive.   I am wondering if I should use FDISK (a version appropriate for large disks and NFTS) to delete all disk 2 partitions and re-partition and re-format the drive from scratch.  

Thanks again!

you would have to make that decison, cuz you's lose the two valid images stored there, but it *would* give you a valuable data-point (info) that could help troubleshoot.

if you decide to wipe the drive, maybe "wipe" would be a good idea to be sure you got everything:

http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/os/misc/ibm-wipe-zap.html

these little quirky problems are the most difficult to troubleshoot. if the drive caught on fire, you'd know exactly what to do.

Stephen Diebel

A point of order:  


Quote:

The size of my C: drive system data is about 8GB.  Although I can see the image file on the D: drive with 001 & 002 file extensions, around 6GB compressed,

Ghost will make a max file size of about 2 GB's--if your compressed data size is about 6 GB's, then you should have 3 or possibly 4 spanned image files for this backup--and not just *001* and *002*!

Actually, the image on the D: drive did have the image file name I gave it plus 001 & 002 extensions which would add up to about 6GB.  

I am going to try to Ghost an image onto the CD-ROM drive using, as Nightowl recommended, high quality blank CD-ROMs.  I was using a bulk brand with a blue finish on the non-writeable side.  

Also, I do have a 30GB USB 2.0 external harddrive that is formatted as an NFTS drive with one partition.  It is actually a surplus laptop harddrive (Fujitsu) placed in one of those inexpensive cases that is powered through the USB port.  It works well for what I use it for meaning it basically acts as a very large thumbdrive.  Possibly worth a try to at least see what happens.  I would sure like to have a good image available somewhere before I re-partition and re-format disk 2 in an attempt to get it to work as the individual disk I use to store backup images.

Any thoughts?

stephen diebel


Quote:

I do have a 30GB USB 2.0 external harddrive that is formatted as an NFTS drive with one partition.  It is actually a surplus laptop harddrive (Fujitsu) placed in one of those inexpensive cases that is powered through the USB port.

If that HDD can be removed and used to replace your current C:\ HDD, it is more than large enough to hold your 8 GB of data--Ghost will allow you to go from a larger HDD to a smaller as long as it can hold the data.

Clone the image *Local-Image-Disk* to that HDD, shut down the system, and replace the current C:\ with the *cloned* HDD in the same position as the original--do not boot to Windows before you make the switch after transferring the image--that could screw up drive letter assignments.

There seems to be several issues in this thread, but I'll only address the log message.

"As I stated in my original message, the Ghosting process ran through image verification and completed with no apparent problems, until I noticed that the log file gave me the 'Invalid Partition Offset - 40207' message. As I said before, I can see the image file with the name I gave it on the D: drive with 001 & 002 file extensions."

I didn't find anything in the Symantec knowledge base about that msg, but here's my take:  I think it's just a warning about a non-standard partition table, but that shouldn't cause an image failure.  I think it's finding this problem on the source disk, not the disk on which the images are being stored.

In the old days partitions had to start on cylinder boundaries, but with LBA addressing nowadays partitions are just a long string of consecutive sectors, so there's no longer a technical reason that should still be required.  However, by convention cylinder boundaries are still observed.  FTR, I have seen partitions begin at such unconventional locations and the partition still functioned fine, though partition utilities like PartitionMagic would complain about the partition table.

Images don't contain any specific information about cylinders, which incidentally is why you can restore an image to a partition of a different size or a different location on the disk, regardless of where the original partition was.  I'm guessing the log entry is pointing out the consecutive string of sectors representing that partition starts at an unconventional place, but since the image itself should only be concerned with the string of sectors, the image can still be okay if the sectors are all consistent relative to each other.  As NightOwl suggested, I think a Ghost restore will simply realign the string of sectors to start on a cylinder boundary, as would be conventional.

This is all just my guess, but since Ghost seems to have verified your image, I think this means your image is fine.  To be sure, you can try NightOwl's suggestion to remove the disk from the usb device and temporarily use it to test-restore the image.

To check your partition table, download findpart.exe from http://www.partitionsupport.com.  Run findpart and save its results to a text file.  Post the text results here and I can review what findpart discovered to see if there's an identifiable anomaly in the partition table.

Dan,
First, thanks for your response to my issue.  Following is the information about the 40207 error message from the Symantec knowledge base:

Error: "Error 40207: Invalid partition offset" when creating a Ghost 2003 image

Situation:
While creating an image of a local hard drive to another local hard drive with Norton Ghost 2003, you see the error message, "Error 40207: Invalid partition offset." You may also see the message "GDISK Fixed disk has partition(s) that extend past the end of the disk." when you run the "GDisk <drive> / status" command line.

Solution:
Symantec is investigating this problem. The cause is unknown, and there is no solution at this time. This document will be updated when new information becomes available or a solution is found.

I did run Norton Utilities against the C: drive and it did not detect any problem with the partition or any other problems with disk 1 for that matter.  Unfortunately, the disk in the USB device is a small laptop harddrive, not a standard 3.5" desktop drive so I cannot execute NightOwl's suggestion with that drive.  However, today I did see a Maxtor 100GB 7200rpm ATA drive advertised at Office Depot for $19.95 after rebates so I think I will pick one of those up and try it.  I could use the additional space anyway.  I will  download 'findpart.exe' as you suggest and forward the results of that test to you and am grateful for your offer to review that information.  

Since my last message I attempted again to run Ghost 2003 from the Windows interface (no boot floppy) letting Ghost shutdown the system, restart and attempt to create an image.  It failed immediately with the 40207 message soon after booting the system.  However, using only the standard recovery boot floppy disk created by the Ghost 2003 software to boot the computer I was able to successfully create and verify an image with no apparent error.  You are probably correct in guessing that the image created is fine but the Ghost 2003 Windows interface program itself, external to DOS, cannot recover from the 40207 error.      

"I attempted again to run Ghost 2003 from the Windows interface (no boot floppy) letting Ghost shutdown the system, restart and attempt to create an image.  It failed immediately with the 40207 message soon after booting the system.  However, using only the standard recovery boot floppy disk created by the Ghost 2003 software to boot the computer I was able to successfully create and verify an image with no apparent error."

That doesn't surprise me.  When used from DOS, Ghost only needs to read the partition table.  When used from Windows, Ghost needs to write to the partition table to create its temporary working partition.  (I forget what it's called ... "virtual partition"? ... I don't use the Windows interface, but NightOwl may be able to explain the workings better.)

Situation:
While creating an image of a local hard drive to another local hard drive with Norton Ghost 2003, you see the error message, "Error 40207: Invalid partition offset." You may also see the message "GDISK Fixed disk has partition(s) that extend past the end of the disk." when you run the "GDisk <drive> / status" command line.

Solution:
Symantec is investigating this problem. The cause is unknown, and there is no solution at this time.

I've actually seen these kinds of discrepancies in partition tables, so the 'solution' here is interesting.  It sounds like Symantec is intimating the problem is not with your partition table, but is in their software??  Hmm ... maybe your partition table really is okay.

Dan,

Here is the information you suggested that I send you from running 'findpart'.

Findpart, version 4.67 - for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
Copyright Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, 1999-2005.

OS:  Windows 5.0.2195 Service Pack 4     All

Disk: 1   Cylinders: 7294   Heads: 255   Sectors: 63   MB: 57215

-PCyl N ID -----Rel -----Num ---MB -Start CHS- --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 - 07       63117226242 57239    0   1  1 7296 254 63 B    OK?
   0 - 0E 31069710    16065     7 1934   0  1 1934 254 63 B    OK
   0 - 0E 64581300    32130    15 4020   0  1 4021 254 63 B    OK
   0 - 0E 64790145    16065     7 4033   0  1 4033 254 63 B    OK

-----FAT CHS -Size Cl --Root -Good -Rep. Maybe --Bad YYMMDD DataMB
1934   0  2    32  1    512    32     0     0     0 050924      2
1934   0 34   Second FAT not found.
4020   0  2    63  1    512    63     0     0     0 050922      4
4020   1  2   Second FAT not found.
4033   0  2    32  1    512    32     0     0     0 050922      2
4033   0 34   Second FAT not found.

Partitions according to partition tables on first harddisk:

-PCyl N ID -----Rel -----Num ---MB -Start CHS- --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 1*07       63117226242 57239    0   1  1 7296 254 63 OK   OK?

Disk: 2   Cylinders: 4865   Heads: 255   Sectors: 63   MB: 38162

-PCyl N ID -----Rel -----Num ---MB -Start CHS- --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 - 0C       63 43005942 20998    0   1  1 2676 254 63 B    OK
   0 - 07       63 43005942 20998    0   1  1 2676 254 63 BU   OK
   0 - 0C 43006005 35150220 17163 2677   0  1 4864 254 63 B    OK
   0 - 07       63 78140097 38154    0   1  1 4863 254 63 BU   OK

-----FAT CHS -Size Cl --Root -Good -Rep. Maybe --Bad YYMMDD DataMB
   0   1 33 10495 16*     2 10495     0     0     0 050924  13668
2677   0 33  8578 16*     2  8578     0     0     0 031101  13794

Partitions according to partition tables on second harddisk:

-PCyl N ID -----Rel -----Num ---MB -Start CHS- --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 1*0C       63 43005942 20998    0   1  1 2676*254 63 OK   OK
   0 2 0C 43006005 35150220 17163 2677*  0  1 4864*254 63 OK   OK


When I run FDISK here is what it tells me:

DISK    DRV     MBYTES     FREE     USAGE
  1                   57216                      100%
  2                   38162                      100%
            C:        20999              
            D:       17163  

Again, thanks for your willingness to help with this problem.

Okay, Stephen, your partition table shows a clear anomaly.  I've clipped the relevant lines here:

Disk: 1   Cylinders: 7294   Heads: 255   Sectors: 63   MB: 57215

-PCyl N ID -----Rel  -----Num ---MB  -Start CHS-  --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 - 07       63 117226242 57239     0   1  1  7296 254 63 B    OK?

Partitions according to partition tables on first harddisk:

-PCyl N ID -----Rel  -----Num ---MB  -Start CHS-  --End CHS-- BS  CHS
   0 1*07       63 117226242 57239     0   1  1  7296 254 63 OK   OK?

(The rest of the lines and the information about Disk 2 is all typical and shows no problems.)

The referenced lines show your hard disk has 7294 cylinders, but your partition thinks there are 7297 cylinders--i.e., it spans cylinders 0 through 7296.  Your partition thinks it is 57239 MB, but the hard disk only has a max of 57215 MB disk space.  This is the cause of the log message you're getting.

This is not a major problem, and I think this type of discrepancy shouldn't interfere with the integrity of the Ghost image.  I suspect that if you try to restore from the image, it will straighten itself out and behave as though it is restoring to a smaller partition--IOW, it should act as though it is restoring a 57239 MB source image to a 57215 MB disk.  But this is an abnormal scenario, so you'll have to do a test-restore to really be certain.  If it were me, and assuming no spare hard disk is available, I would offload at least one of the images from your G: partition (to DVD, network share, or the USB drive) so you have room to move the newest image from D: to G:.  Then test-restore the newest image from the copy on G: using D: as the target partition.  If it works without error, your image is fine.

Although the anomaly isn't critical, it's not advisable to leave it that way.  If you have a good partitioning tool like PartitionMagic or Bootit-NG, I would try shrinking the partition to slightly less than max size, then increasing it again to max size.  The partitioning utility should be able to straighten out the inconsistencies in the partition table and the partition's boot sector.

Dan,

I appreciate you taking the time to review the 'findpart' output I sent you and will try your suggestions.  I downloaded a copy of bootit-ng and will attempt to re-size the C: partition on disk 1 to a smaller size and then re-size it back to the larger size.  I did purchase a 120GB Maxtor drive (the $19.95 with rebates deal) which I plan to use to replace disk1 and divide that disk into 2 partitions, one would be the C: drive with the operating system and applications and the second will contain my data.  The current disk 1 (80GB) will be used to replace the current disk 2 (60GB) and be used to store backup images and data.  

If you don't mind I do have several questions:

Why does the C: drive not show up as C: on the FDISK partition information screen?  The C: drive does not show up when I am working in DOS and try to do a directory list on it.  

Do you have any suggestions on preparing and partitioning the new 120GB Maxtor drive before I attempt to restore the last Ghost 2003 image to it?

I was not aware that you can copy Ghost images & extensions to other storage devices as you can with other files but from your message it sounds like that is the case.

Any other advice or comments?  

I realize that you have spent a considerable amount of time, which I greatly appreciate, responding to my messages so do not feel obligated to answer these questions.

Stephen Diebel


Quote:

Why does the C: drive not show up as C: on the FDISK partition information screen?  The C: drive does not show up when I am working in DOS and try to do a directory list on it.

In your first post to the thread you said:


Quote:

The 60GB disk contains the primary C: drive which is the only partition on that disk and it is formatted as a NFTS partition.

NTFS partitions are not given a drive letter in DOS because DOS is not compatible with NTFS partitions--that's why you can not do a *directory listing*.


Quote:

Do you have any suggestions on preparing and partitioning the new 120GB Maxtor drive before I attempt to restore the last Ghost 2003 image to it?

You do not have to *format* your partitions if you are restoring an image file--Ghost will create the format that the image file was taken from.

Because you are going from a smaller to larger HDD, you should try *Image-to-Disk*--Ghost will indicate that it will fill the whole HDD, but you should be given an option to resize the partition before the final restore operation.  Shrink the size to whatever size you wanted the first partition to be.  The remaining space should be *unallocated* free space.  Once you have your system up and running, use WinXP's Disk Management to create the second partition.

Do not reboot your system with both the new HDD with the restored OS, and the old OS HDD still hooked up.  Remove the old HDD and put the new HDD in its place before restoring the image to the new HDD--if both are present after the image restore and you boot to WinXP--there could be conflicts with the drive letter assignments--often leads to boot issues.

Once you have booted to the new HDD successfully, you should be able to put the old HDD in a *slave* position and change it to whatever use you intended.

NightOwl has given you good information, so I only have minor points to add.

"Why does the C: drive not show up as C: on the FDISK partition information screen?  The C: drive does not show up when I am working in DOS and try to do a directory list on it."

Implicit in NightOwl's explanation is the point that partitions do not have drive letters permanently affixed to them.  It is the operating system that assigns at boot time whatever drive letters it will be using during that session.

This nuance is often misunderstood by users.  There is no "C:" stamped anywhere on a disk partition as some kind of universal identifer.  When XP boots it assigns the letter C: to some particular partition; when DOS boots it assigns C: to some partition . . . and these may or may not be the same partition.  (Fortunately, a given OS usually assigns things the same way on subsequent reboots, or things would get really confusing.)

This distinction is important to understand.  Referring to your partitions by drive letters (as you've done earlier in this thread when calling your Disk-2 partitions D: and G:) is bound to confuse you or us eventually.  Letters are valid only when a given operating system is booted.  XP may call them D: and G:, but when DOS is booted those partitions will probably be designated C: and D:.

When DOS boots it won't give a drive letter to any partition that doesn't have a file system it understands.  Since NTFS file systems are foreign to DOS, the XP partition on Disk-1 won't get a drive letter.


"I was not aware that you can copy Ghost images & extensions to other storage devices as you can with other files but from your message it sounds like that is the case."

Yes.  Images are files, just like any other files (though bigger).  You can put them anywhere you can put files.

Dan & Nightowl,

It appears that the 'Invalid Partition Offset' problem has finally been fixed through the process of installing a new 120GB Maxtor hard drive and making it the boot drive.  The hard drive partitioning and data copying tool (Maxblast 4) that came with the new drive works quite well.  Using the Maxblast 4 tool I partitioned and formatted the new drive into a 40GB and a 70GB partition leaving 10GB of free space.  I was then able to copy the operating system, applications and data from the old C: drive, the 'invalid partition offset' drive, into the 40GB partition on the new drive whereupon the new drive become the boot drive.  I then ran FINDPART against the new boot drive C: partition and the partition no longer appears to have any problems.  Now I get to try Ghost 2003 again and trust that my problems are over.  We'll see.

Thanks for all the help from both of you.

Steve  

Nightowl & Dan Goodell,

It has been awhile and I just wanted to tell both of you that my image creation problems with Ghost 2003 have been resolved.  I can now very rapidly create backup images from a the primary partition (C:) on a  new Maxtor 120GB drive to a 2nd WD 60GB drive (previously the primary boot drive).  No more 'Invalid Partition Offset' errors.  Additionally, I finally determined the Samsung CD-RW (24 x 10 x 40) drive either had a hardware problem or it just could not handle 'data overrun', I guess that is what it is called.  I installed a Lite-On 52246s CD-RW (52 x 24 x 52) drive I had in another computer and now everything works great.  

Thanks again for your help!

Stephen Diebel

Stephen Diebel

Thanks for the follow-up--glad to hear things have worked out  ;) !