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Rad Community Technical Discussion Boards (Computer Hardware + PC Software) >> Norton Ghost 2003,  Ghost v8.x + Ghost Solution Suite (GSS) Discussion Board >> Automatic boot image restore ?
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Message started by vmx on Aug 15th, 2006 at 9:52am

Title: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by vmx on Aug 15th, 2006 at 9:52am
Good day all!

I have Ghost 10.0 and 2003.
This is what I am trying to achieve after I created my image:

1. Turn On computer.
2. Automatic restore of the image.
3. Boot from that image.

I always need to restore that original image everytime I boot the computer.
Until now, I did not find any information for automatic restore.
Can anyone tell me if it's possible with Ghost 10.0 or 2003?
If not, which image restoration program would you recommend?

Many thanks in advance,

vmx

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by Pleonasm on Aug 15th, 2006 at 9:58am
Vmx, I know of no way to accomplish your objective with Ghost 10.

It isn’t clear why you need to restore an image upon reboot, but the Windows Disk Protection tool “clears changes when the computer restarts” and might be an alternative approach to consider.

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by vmx on Aug 15th, 2006 at 10:08am
Pleonasm, thank you for your fast reply.
My main problem is that, the computer will be used in an aircraft.
According to the law, I am not alllowed to use a UPS in there.
This computer needs to boot up with a specified setup.
This computer can, at any moment, lose power unexpectedly.
This loss of power might cause corruption to the file systems and many other things...

Do you believe that restoring the image at boot up will help prevent this?

thanks,

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by NightOwl on Aug 15th, 2006 at 10:33am
vmx

You might be able to use Ghost 2003 to perform an *automated* restore upon boot that can re-boot to the OS--but it depends on how *automated* it has to be!  You may also have to use some programing from other software sources to get to where you want to be.

Does the system have a floppy drive?

Does *automated* also mean *unattended*--no one is there to see it crash, and no one instigates the restart?

Also, if each re-boot causes the restore to take place--how large is the data that has to be restored--this could re-define the meaning of how long it takes to re-boot a system  ;) !

Restoring an image will not restore whatever data was being manipulated at the time of the crash--is that an issue?

You could do some testing--do the normal things you would do and simply *pull to plug*--see if the system has become *corrupted* by that loss of power when you re-boot!

I had an intermittent power supply issue (bad connector) for awhile (until I tracked down the cause) which caused my system to spontaneously reboot at random times.  In my case, it never corrupted the system--but I suspect I was lucky that the random power loss never occurred during a *critical* system update or whatever event would corrupt the file system.

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by vmx on Aug 15th, 2006 at 10:45am
Hi NightOwl,

The system has no floppy drive, automated in this case is unattended, and the image to restore is no bigger then about 1 gig (just the OS and few settings). There will be no important  data manipulation.

Could you explain (or point me to a guide) on how I could make ghost2003 to perform an automated restore and re-boot the the OS?  Programming is not an issue. Or if you have a better tool to recommend me using could also be good.

Thanks!

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by NightOwl on Aug 15th, 2006 at 11:09am
vmx

Unfortunately, I don't have an *unattended* option that can *reset* itself--one would have to be able to access the system to reset the *active partition*--and the re-boot would only work once--then a manual reset of the active partition would be needed--an attended re-boot with a floppy disk to insert to carry out the process could be *automated*--but not *unattended*!

You might search for *boot loaders* to see if there's anything out there that can run a batch file to first load one OS (DOS) to perform the Ghost procedure, and then return to the batch file to load the second OS to boot your desired OS--if you find that--I could probably supply the technique for the rest--otherwise my idea will not accomplish what you want.

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by Pleonasm on Aug 15th, 2006 at 12:13pm
“Does *automated* also mean *unattended*--no one is there to see it crash…”

In the context of aircraft, this gives a whole new level of meaning to a Ghost 2003 “crash”  ;).

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by NightOwl on Aug 15th, 2006 at 2:16pm
Pleonasm

:D

Made me laugh!

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by Brian on Aug 15th, 2006 at 3:58pm

vmx wrote on Aug 15th, 2006 at 10:08am:
This computer needs to boot up with a specified setup.
This computer can, at any moment, lose power unexpectedly.
This loss of power might cause corruption to the file systems and many other things...


vmx,

You can accomplish your goal with a few mouse clicks. Boot to the Ghost 10 CD, restore the single Ghost 10 backup image which you will have permanently stored on your D: drive, boot into Windows.

It would take a little over 5 minutes but wouldn't be any slower than an automated technique.

Using a Ghost 2003 CD would be even faster as you don't have to wait for the Ghost 10 Recovery Environment to load.

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by vmx on Aug 16th, 2006 at 12:22pm
Yes Brian, this would be a good simple solution...but I need NOT to be there! In other words, no one to interact with the computer...but don't worry, there will be at least 1 pilot in the plane!

NightOwl, I put Dos as my primary booting OS (Yes DOS!). Then it starts Ghost (in autoexec.bat ). Then BootIT NG will start my newly installed image...And it works!

Now, my next challenged: WinXP Embedded on a Flash Card...

Thanks to all of you!

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by NightOwl on Aug 16th, 2006 at 3:48pm
vmx

Ah...you found a boot loader that would work from a batch file!

If you are still watching this thread--it would be of interest, at least by me--and probably other forum members--to see the boot files *config.sys* and *autoexec.bat*, that you have devised--and the command line to run *BootIT NG*!

Thanks for your feedback.

Title: Re: Automatic boot image restore ?
Post by vmx on Aug 17th, 2006 at 10:58am
Sure, I will post in this thread my findings once I get them all to work.

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