Hello All  My name is David and I define the word noob.   I recently tried to copy my old C drive to new second drive with WD tools on the WD dos boot disc.  the new drive, I assume was formatted and partitioned, and was being copied to, when the message came up: error can not complete( not exact words)  Wd support  said  probably an issue with Dell, try ghost.  I ordered it, shoukld be in my hands 8-30.  Will ghost 10 deal with this second new drive with the partial copy on it, or should I do somrthing about it before I load G10?  Second question: off topic Why can't I download a pdf. copy of the manual off Symantech site?

Regards David

David,

I think you will enjoy Ghost 10. Firstly, the manual..

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/products/ghost/10/manuals/Ghost_10_User_Guide.pdf

To prepare your slave HD for copying...
Right click My Computer, Manage, Disk Management.  
Right click the partition on the slave (new) HD and delete the partition. You need it blank. Unallocated Space.

Now..

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1148252120;start=

Let us know the outcome.

Thank you Brian for the help.  I went to disk man. and now the only drive showing is C drive, the slave; F is gone.  there are 2 (unlettered) partitions above C on the list that both have 31mg and 27mg free (EISA).  Are these CD-ROM and CD/R/RW?  I clicked on the symantec link, you so graciously provided, and got what I always get "server not found", but thanks anyway.     David

David,

Right click on that Symantec link, "Save Target as" for IE, "Save link as" for Firefox.

Have a look at the graphic in Disk Management. Those two small partitions are Dell partitions and should be on Disk 0. Do you have Disk 1 in the graphic as well?

Which Dell model do you have? SATA HD?

Good morning Brian,   I opened Disk Man. and in the bottom half of the window found:  
disk0=C: 31mb FAT healthy,   27.9gb NTFS healthy.
disk1=basic 31mb FAT healthy,  111.76gb (unallocated)healthy.
So it appears disk 0 and 1 both have that eisa partition.

The dell is model 4550 from the fall of 2002,  BIOS A01 EIDE/ATA.

I will try the "save target as" IE and see what happens, I have never done this step before and will google it for explanation.  Thank you again for your expertise.  I feel progress is being made.        David

dcgilbert


Quote:

I clicked on the symantec link, you so graciously provided, and got what I always get "server not found",

The link opens fine on my system--if you are getting *server not found*, I'm suspecting some sort of improper setting--*security setting?*--that is blocking access.  You may have to allow at least certain *cookies* to access that site.

If you can not access that website directly by clicking on the link, you may find the same issue when you try the *save target as...* function as well--so you may have to review your settings for clues as to the problem!

Also, I have found that if you click on a direct link to a *pdf* file and it opens in Acrobat, I can not then save the file to my local system--only the *save target as...* function allows me to save the file to a local HDD for later viewing.

Hello again,   I tried -save target as-, The download window opens and the little file do-hicky starts flying, then a message box opens saying   "IE can not download ghost_10_User_Guide pdf from ftp.symantec.com    The operation timed out."  I have service pack2 and I'm assuming I have service pack1 installed.  Is there a file I can download from somewhere else?   Thanks again,   David

David,

It seems you are not alone.

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=443630&sid=b99d5ac6f99071225d812a86649072d2

See if you can find some help there. Do you have two versions of Acrobat Reader installed? Have you tried the Firefox browser to see if it views .pdf files? The above link is mainly for Firefox but some people had Internet Explorer issues.

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/


Disk Management indicates that the 31 MB Dell diagnostic partition has already been copied and the remainder of the disk is Unallocated Space. That's good. When Ghost 10 arrives your disk is ready to go with the copy. Well, almost. We can talk about C: drive size when Ghost arrives.


Your BIOS is out of date and I suggest downloading B4500_A04 and following Dell's instructions. There could be relevant updates.

http://supportapj.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/ap/shared/support/en/product_support_hub?c=au&l=en&s=dhs

Choose Inspiron 4500 or enter your Service Tag, then go to Drivers and Downloads, Find Downloads, FlashBIOS Updates.

Thank you NightOwl,  At your suggestion, I changed settings in IE tools to allow all cookies and the security to low, still no luck.  I ordered the retail version of G10 from Viosoftware last week.  hopefully I'll have a manual Weds.  I appreciate the help.    David

Hello again Brian,  Forgive me, but I can't think of anything having to do with upgrading, that is scarier than switching the BIOS.  I wouldn't want to create an expensive door stop, but if it's neccessary, I'll try it.  Mind if I wait till the new HDD is installed     David

dcgilbert wrote on Aug 28^th, 2006 at 2:36pm:

Mind if I wait till the new HDD is installed

Leave it until you feel comfortable.

dcgilbert wrote on Aug 28^th, 2006 at 10:45am:

Hello again,   I tried -save target as-, The download window opens and the little file do-hicky starts flying, then a message box opens saying   "IE can not download ghost_10_User_Guide pdf from ftp.symantec.com    The operation timed out."  I have service pack2 and I'm assuming I have service pack1 installed.  Is there a file I can download from somewhere else?   Thanks again,   David

Trying downloading and installing the latest version of Acrobat Adobe Reader.  I believe it is 7.08.  After updating Reader, then try the ftp link again.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

David,

While you are waiting, could you read this.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#13

It will give you a better understanding of what should be done with the new HD. I suggest a C: drive for your Operating System and a D: drive for your data. You will also have your current HD as the second HD in the computer to store backup images from Ghost 10.

http://rapidshare.de/files/31147334/Ghost_10_User_Guide.zip.html

Ghost 10 userguide

Brian wrote on Aug 28^th, 2006 at 7:22pm:

http://rapidshare.de/files/31147334/Ghost_10_User_Guide.zip.html Ghost 10 userguide

Brian   You are amazing. Talk about an obscure site, but I am now the proud owner of The Ghost 10 User manual.  Thank you   David

Been reading the G10 user man. and Brian's notes in (Advanced).  I'm sure my questions have been answered somewhere in these notes, but I'll ask anyway. 1. In the install section, it suggests connecting the USB drive before install.  I'm going to be using my new Maxtor 100gb Basic for back up later, should I ignore that selection, as my first operation after install will be "copy my hard drive",or does this mean a re-install later?
2.  The current C drive is a 30gb, the destination drive is a 120gb.  Should I resize to fill unallocated space? 3.  In the drop-down list should I select C as the name of the new drive, as that is what I want it to be, when the old drive has been removed and the computer is rebooted?      thanks   David

Quote:

In the install section, it suggests connecting the USB drive before install.  I'm going to be using my new Maxtor 100gb Basic for back up later

I need to clear this in my brain. You have a 30 GB master HD, a 120 GB internal slave HD and a 100 GB external USB HD. Correct?

With your 30 GB HD, how much free space is showing under the Free Space column in My Computer?
In the C drive, roughly how many GB of video, jpeg, music, documents do you have? That is, files you have added, excluding installed programs.


Quote:

In the drop-down list should I select C as the name of the new drive, as that is what I want it to be, when the old drive has been removed and the computer is rebooted?

You need to follow this to the letter.

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1117581957;start=

I know it says Ghost 9 but it's the same as Ghost 10. It will finish up as C: drive.

What I'm trying to decide is how large to make your C: drive and the remainder will be a data drive. Don't worry about trashing your computer as we'll only be working on your 120 GB HD. If you make a mistake then we just do the exercise again. The 30 GB HD won't be changed or damaged by our efforts.


Quote:

Talk about an obscure site

That userguide was mine.

Good to hear from you again.  Your posting from  5/2005 answered my questions and I feel confident I can pull this off.
By the way my G10 package is in New Orleans and will be delivered tomorrow.  The 30 gb current C drive containing 19.7 gb free, is over 4yrs old, and will be retired to a box in the closet.  It will become the last chance backup.  I picked up the Maxtor for $50 on sale at office depot in Hammond.  It will be the off site storage for pics. and other stuff that is now on the old C drive.  My better half has become very interested in video and video editing; thus the new 120 gb HDD and a new LG DVD burner soon.  I'm not sure whether the burner will be int. or ext.   More research I love it!      David

OK. A 30 GB C: drive will be plenty large enough and the remainder will be your data partition. Roughly 80 GB. This in combination with the second HD will be good for video editing. Faster. HD to HD is faster than just using a single HD. So don't retire your 30 GB HD. After we have the new HD working you can delete the partition on the 30 GB HD, format again and use it as a second HD. We have better ways of keeping a "last chance backup".

This is what I'm proposing. Let me know if you don't like it but I think it's a good idea and although initially it may look frightening, it can't hose your computer. We aren't changing anything on your 30 GB HD.

I’ll make it easy for you.

Open Disk Management and we’ll work from the graphic section. You currently have the Dell partition and Unallocated Space. We don’t touch the Dell partition.

Right click in the Unallocated Space and click New Partition
The Wizard commences, click Next
Select Primary partition, Next
Choose 30,000 MB, Next
Put dot in Assign the following drive letter and accept the letter, Next
Put dot in Do not format this partition, Next
Finish


Now you have the Dell partition, a primary partition and unallocated space. Now we will create a data partition.

Right click in the Unallocated Space and click New Partition
The Wizard commences, click Next
Select Extended partition, Next
Leave the partition size alone as it should be the remainder of the drive, Next
Finish

Now you have a partition with a green band above and it is called Free Space
Right click in this space and click New Logical drive
The Wizard commences, click Next
Dot in Logical drive, Next
Leave the partition size alone as it should be the remainder of the drive, Next
Put dot in Assign the following drive letter and accept the letter, Next
Put dot in Format this partition, Accept NTFS, Default Allocation Unit size, Type in a Volume name eg DATA
Next
Finish
Wait for it to format

Now we’ll delete the Primary partition to create a space for your impending new C: drive

Right click in the 30,000 MB primary partition and click Delete partition
Click Yes
The space is now Unallocated Space

Don't worry about messing it up. It's easy to do again and again

You are almost ready for the final stage. Ghost 10.

Good Morning Brian, 8:30AM  I've read your instructions 4 times and I believe I get it.  I will be giving it a try as soon as I finish this post.  One question, what is that better "last chance backup" you eluded to, instead of the old C drive?     David

PS:    2:25PM   Disk 1= (31mg Dell) (29.29gb unallocated)(G 82.46bg NTFS) All healthy.  Your instructions were on the money.  I almost  broke my arm, patting myself on the back,
congradulating my ability to monkey see, monkey do.

I think you do need a pat on the back. It's scary stuff on the first time.


Quote:

One question, what is that better "last chance backup"

What you were proposing was keeping a "clone". Most (if not all) of us prefer to keep an image. Dan summarises the case (reply #7)...

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1132968474;start=7#7

In my instructions for "Cloning partitions with Ghost 9" you will need to make one change. You will need to tick “resize drive to fill unallocated space” as your Unallocated Space is slightly larger than your current C drive. That was expected when we chose 30,000 MB.

Thank you Brian, Your change to "resize" is noted.  I'm waiting for UPS to show up with G-10.  I've now read Dan's explanation of the difference btw clones and images, now i need to read about Restoring from images.   Thank you again for your kind attention, I'll post after I boot from the new drive.

David

David,

While you are waiting for Ghost 10 to arrive, go to your G drive, create a new folder and call it Ghost 10 backups.

After you install Ghost 10, when it starts for the first time you will see an Easy Setup window. Don't connect your USB hard drive. Ignore the Complete System Backup, remove the tick from "Run backup now to...", put a dot in "Define a new custom backup". Click Ok.

click Next in the Define Backup Wizard
select the C drive as the drive to backup. Next
put dot in Independent recovery point. Next
browse to the location for the backup image, which will be G:\Ghost 10 backups. Next
Compression Standard (recommended). Tick verify. Untick Limit the number of ... Ignore Advanced. Next
dot in Manually
tick Create Recovery point now
Finish

When it has completed you should have two files in that folder. A .v2i and a .sv2i file.

You are ready to do Copy My Hard Drive. Again, if you mess it up, no problem. If you have a power blackout during the copy, no problem. It doesn't damage your C drive. Just do it again into Unallocated Space.

Remember, after you have completed the copy you won't be able to see the OS on the new HD because it doesn't yet have a drive letter. Shutdown, remove the old HD and put the new HD on the end connection as Dell prefers cable select. I'd imagine your jumpers are for cable select but if they are master/slave then that's OK too.

Good afternoon,  Well here we are.  What a morning, Loaded Ghost, (didn't check forum so I did not see your last post 8-30) registered with Symantec, and proceeded to copy my hard drive, used the setup you gave (worked great by the way)  and hit finish.  20 mins later it was done with possible errors.  info 60BB0031: partition past cylinder 1024may not be bootable.  I have no idea what that means, but I changed the 40 pin cable, removed the old HDD, and attempted a boot.  Got to pre-screen from Dell.  It stopped there.  I hit F-2 and went into the boot screen.  I had no idea what to do so I exited and windows began to boot successfully.  went to "My computer" and there was the new Drive C & G.  So far so good.
I went to the short cut for my ISP and received another error " Your connection software has been corupted reinstall"
Called the ISP no help other than sending a new CD.
Deborah to the rescue!  She noodled around and found a back door to the ISP software.  We had one of the access #s and it worked.  Updated ISP sw. and we are back in business.
I have rebooted and still cannot go past the Dell screen without going into setup.  The last time I highlighted C drive instead of normal and it booted to Windows.   Are there some settings I need to change?         David

David,

So close. At least we know that your OS boots and that you can see the G drive. But there are problems. That error message at the end of the Copy and getting stuck on the Dell screen at bootup. It sounds like a BIOS issue. I’m not familiar with the Dell 4550 BIOS but could you enter Setup and find the IDE Configuration. Make sure the new HD is showing as the Primary IDE Master and then press F10 (may be different) and click Yes for Save changes and exit. Make sure you don’t have any USB memory sticks or the external HD attached to the computer and see if it boots.

Are your HD jumpers set for Master or Cable Select?

I’d appreciate other advice.

Hello Brian,  Nice to hear from you.  The answer to your last question is my dell appears to be cable select.  the old drive is configured that way, and both drives were set that way for the transfer.  The BIOS appears to be a phoenix A01.  I'm unsure what to look for in the BIOS, I did see there are primary drive 0 and 1.  I believe 1 is hard drive and 0 is unknown. The start process ends with progress bar under the Dell logo turnig all white.  At that point I hit F12 or F2 which opens the BIOS menu.  I don't have to change a thing just arrow key up and down, hit escp. and Windows boots to login, which is new since loading Ghost, and I hate it.  Never had to log in before as I am the only user.   Sorry to say I'm in a little over my head, but the water's warm.  What does IDE mean?   Sorry to be so crabby.  I'll get over it.   David

dcgilbert wrote on Aug 31^st, 2006 at 1:18pm:

20 mins later it was done with possible errors.  info 60BB0031: partition past cylinder 1024may not be bootable.

Have you ever updated your BIOS for your Dell 4550?  The fact that you have a 30gb drive and that model Dell is several years old makes me suspect that the BIOS doesn't support larger hard drives, or at least needs updating.

Go to www.dell.com and look for bios updates for your model and/or service tag number.  Read the instructions carefully before proceeding.

Was the 120gb drive blank before using it, or did you format it?  It's better if it is blank.  So, after updating the bios, I would recommend deleting all partitions on the drive and starting over.

Also, run chkdsk c: /f on your 30gb drive before copydisk.

Is your 30gb FAT32 or NTFS?

David,

I think I’ve found your BIOS. Try this after pressing F2 to enter Setup.

Right arrow to Advanced, down arrow to IDE Configuration, Enter. Let us know what words are to the right of Primary IDE Master. Press F10. Choose Yes for Save configuration changes and exit now (Press Enter).

Does it boot properly now? If not, download that BIOS update we talked about on the previous page and report back.

I think I misled you earlier. Your BIOS upgrade is a different file.

I chose a 4500 instead of a 4550 Dimension. So the upgrade is A08. File R67246.exe. It's an upgrade from the HD, not a floppy.

Double check.

dcgilbert wrote on Aug 27^th, 2006 at 4:40pm:

I went to disk man. and now the only drive showing is C drive, the slave; F is gone.  there are 2 (unlettered) partitions above C on the list that both have 31mg and 27mg free (EISA).

When you retry the Ghost copydisk procedures, you should run the copydisk 3 times.  Also, copy them in the order that they are listed in the disk manager.  (I think you are saying above that you have two partitions besides C and should copy the first two above your C drive first.)

Good Morning Ghost4me,  Sorry I didn't respond sooner, brain went on overload yesterday, so I called it a day.  New day and as you can see I'm still able to communicate.  I checked Disk Man. in My Computer it now shows:
1. (blank)     basic,FAT,Healthy,31mg,27mg free
2. (C:)         basic NTFS, "  "  ,29.29gb,27,4gb free
3. (G:)         basic NTSF, "  "  ,82.46gb,82.4gb free

Hello Brian,  I have been looking for a screen shot of an A01 BIOS setup screen, as on mine i can't find "advanced". I think this one is more primitive than the you are describing or I don't  know what to look for,or I'm in the wrong screen.   I will check out the Dell support site and read up on A08.    David

P.S.  http://www.computerhope.com/help/phoenix.htm#02  
Found this on Google.  It's phoenix, but it doesn't look like the screen I see when I hit F2 or F12 at logo.  Mine looks like a DOS  BIOS screen.
P.P.S. 2:48PM   EUREKA!  Here's an example of my Bios screen    
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4550/syssetup.htm#1097056

Brian is this what you're thinking about when you were describing the Right Arrow/F10 operation, in reply #27?
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dn=1023538

David,

We are certainly in different time zones. I'm just out of bed.

Your first link is the BIOS I saw yesterday but unfortunately it's not yours.
The third link is not what we want to do.

The second link I assume is your BIOS. For Primary drive 0, in the right column it should say, Hard Drive.  If that's so then press F10 and if there is a message to Save something, press Enter for Yes. Does this make a difference?

What happens if you don't press F2 at the end of the Dell scroll bar. Does the computer boot to Windows if you wait a few minutes?

I think your old BIOS is the problem. I suspect that the Ghost copy was fine and hopefully after a BIOS update your computer will be fine too. I understand your reluctance to upgrade the BIOS but the chance of something going wrong is very low.

Go to this page http://supportapj.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/ap/shared/support/en/product_support_hub?c=au&l=en&s=dhs

Type in your Service Tag number
Press the arrow just to the right
Under Downloads and Drivers, press More Details
Under Select an Operating System, select Windows XP
Click Find Downloads
Click FlashBIOS updates
Click Dell Dimension System BIOS
Click R67246.exe
You should now be on the download page for Dimension 4550 A08 FlashBIOS
Click Download Now
Save it to your usual download folder
After the download has completed, find R67246.exe, double click it and follow instructions. Your computer will reboot and just wait for the process to finish and boot back to Windows.

Let us know the outcome. Any questions?

We'll fix the login screen shortly.

Hello Brian,  I'm in Southern Louisiana., USA.  When I boot up,tomorrow morning, (14+hrs from now) I'll see if it finally boots to Windows without intervention.  But I don't think it will.  Memory of the first time after copy is a blur.  I will follow instruction and report back.  In the meantime, have a wonderful day.     David

Want to try it now?

Good Morning,  As Brian suggested, I booted the Dell and waited to see what would happen if Ijust left it allow.  50 seconds past and a prompt came up saying "Unable to find primary ddrive 1.  hit F1 to continue, hit F2 to enter set up."  I entered the set up menu, toogled down to primary drive 1, reset it to off, saved and exited, and continued to boot.  windows loaded and I restarted.  ten seconds later the machine was booting to Windows.  Problem solved!  
Could it be that a cable select BIOS doesn't want to be in AUTO if there is no drive in that slot?  I've turned the Dell off to reposition it on it's shelf and get every thing plugged in again, and it is booting as normal.  Now the next problem to solve is bypassing of the Log in Menu.  But that's small potatoes.   I'm a hsppy camper.   David

David, that's very ingenious. You have learnt a lot in the last week.

OK, let's look at the login screen problem. When you installed Ghost, were you asked to install Microsoft .NET Framework? It doesn't matter if you can't recall.

Have a look in Control Panel, then open Add or Remove Programs. In my list I have...

Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Hotfix (KB886903)
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Which of these programs are in your list?

David,

Have you updated your Dell BIOS yet?

Brian, These have been loaded:
MS.NET Framework (English) v1.0.3705
MS.NET Framework 1.0 Hotfix  (KB886906)
MS.NET Framework 1.1                       Size  36.15mb  

Hello Ghost4me,  No, I'm still getting comfortable with the idea of flashing my BIOS.  Is there any way to copy the current BIOS so that I can have a plan B, as Murphy lives under chair?       David

Well that idea didn't work.

Go to this page and download TweakUI.exe. Then install.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

From Control Panel go to User Accounts. Select your account and create a simple password eg    d

Now, Start Menu, All Programs, Power Toys, Tweak UI
Click the + next to Logon
Click Autologon
Type in your username and password. OK or save (whatever)
Click OK to exit TweakUI and you shouldn't see the login screen again.

What's next in your project?

Brian, I've got the Tweak loaded.  In the user acc'ts, 3 are
showing: 1. My Admin acc't Name, (no password needed) 2. User acc't (off) and this third one that, I think showed up fter loading Ghost   3. ASP.NET Macchine A........(limited acc't)
Which acc't do you want me to access?  And can you have a one letter password?  Better yet, Can number 3 be closed or made to go away?  I know, dumb questions.    David

Not a dumb question. Keep all three accounts. You need to open your Admin account and give it a password otherwise TweakUI doesn't work. Give it any password you like but a single letter is OK as you aren't looking for security.

You are almost there. The ASP.NET account is present because you haven't got the latest version of  Microsoft .NET Framework but don't worry about that at present.

Does your new HD seem to be working properly now?

Good Morning Brian,  Last question first: Yes, thanks to you, Ghost4me, and your friends, this sucker is booting normally now.  I have a functioning 120GB HDD and didn't have to spend a solid week online, downloading MS Updates.
I checked the Symantec site for an answer about  "info 60BB0031" and cylinder 1024  but no luck.  I'm hoping that issue doesn't jump up and bite me, you know where.
Stop the presses!   Ya know what.  I am trying to remember, when I booted uo this morning; I don't remember having to deal with the log in screen.  I hit the ON button, on the front of the Dell and went to the bathroom.  when I came back there was the desk top.  Last night I downloaded a 10.6mb SP1 for MS.NET from the MS update site.  I just checked the add/remove list, nothing has changed with respect to MS.NET except the 36.15mb size is no longer listed.  I'll post this and reboot just to see what's going on.  Be back soon.    David

Update:  For what it's worth, the MS.NET SP1 solved the log on problem.  The ASP acc't is no longer listed in user acc'ts and the log on screen is history.  I have absolutely nothing to complain about now.
Will you folks help me make an image of these new partitions on my Maxtor USB Ext. drive.           David

John. wrote on Aug 28^th, 2006 at 3:32pm:

Trying downloading and installing the latest version of Acrobat Adobe Reader.  I believe it is 7.08.  After updating Reader, then try the ftp link again. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Hi guys, this is tangential to the discussion topic, but I see there are some problems with opening the pdf file linked to at the beginning of the topic.  I've been using a pdf reader called Foxit Reader by Foxit Software after reading favorable reviews of it in Maximum PC and PC World magazines.  I've found it to be much faster than using Adobe Acrobat which everyone knows can take forever to load.  Here is a short online review of it at PC World.  I thought I'd share it with you guys.  

dcgilbert wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2006 at 11:15am:

Update:  For what it's worth, the MS.NET SP1 solved the log on problem.  The ASP acc't is no longer listed in user acc'ts and the log on screen is history.  I have absolutely nothing to complain about now. Will you folks help me make an image of these new partitions on my Maxtor USB Ext. drive.           David

There were two ways to get rid of the login screen.   .NET SP1 update and TweakUI. Good work.

In Reply #22 I outlined how to make a recovery point. Try that now. After the recovery point has been created on the G drive, copy it to the external HD using My Computer. For the exercise do it this way rather than writing directly to the external HD. Some people have described problems with a direct write.

Now you need to confirm that your Recovery Environment works and that you can see the recovery point. Have the USB HD connected before booting to the RE. Page 93 in the manual etc. Naturally we don't want to restore the recovery point. When you start the Recovery Environment it will search for recovery points but it won't find the one on the external HD as it wasn't created there. You need to click Open Another location and browse to the recovery point. Once you find it, get out of the Recovery Environment.

Good luck.

Out of interest, here are the RE instructions for Ghost 9. I'll make some Ghost 10 instructions soon.

Boot to the Ghost CD
Set the Time Zone
Advanced Recovery Tasks
System Restore
dot in Restore drives          ,Next
dot in Single drive            ,Next
Browse to your image file      ,Next
Select a destination           ,Next
tick Verify backup
tick Check for file system errors after restore
tick Resize drive to fill unallocated space (Y or N) Will be greyed out if partition is correct size
tick Set drive active (for booting OS)
tick Restore original disk signatures
tick Restore MBR (for a new HD)
Next
tick Reboot after finish
Finish

Hello Brian,  I have a confession to make, Deborah has been runnig this project from the background.  She's the one who suggested we check MS updates.  The . NET SP1 was suggested there.  
I have reread #22 and will do it tomorrow.
My copy skills are limited to Rt. click, copy, Rt. click, paste.  Wish you could do that to a whole partition.  By the way, how do you cancel a copy command, or clear the clipboard, when you make a mistake.  
The mental fog is starting to set in, I'm getting a beer and calling it a day.  Thanks again for the aid.       David

Good Afternoon, Spent the morning reading up on Ext. HDD connections, got the Maxtor hooked up, followed #22,(which worked like a charm) and now I'm trying to figure out the procedure to copy the two files on drive G, to the folder I set up on drive F. Then we can see if the R.E. can see them on F drive.
Could it be as simple as "copy this folder", even if it has 8GB of info on it?  Everyone has to start somewhere.  In my case it's at the very beginning.      David

Update 12:57 " Copy folder" works .  Took 8 min. both .v2i and .sv2i are now on F drive, but the "NG Recovery point storage.ini"  1kb configuration sub-file didn't make it .  Is this a problem?

dcgilbert wrote on Sep 4^th, 2006 at 12:47pm:

but the "NG Recovery point storage.ini"  1kb configuration sub-file didn't make it .  Is this a problem?

You don't need to copy this file to your F drive.

I'm staying with friends for a few days and I'm using a Dell 4550 at present. I'll check out the BIOS.

Today is your RE day. That will be interesting.

Hi Deborah.

Hello Brian,  I've been waiting for you to check in.  Deborah says Hi! back atcha.  Can I assume your guide for RE Ghost 9 is close enough to G10 that we should not get confused?  We'll find out.  By the by, copying from My computer is easier than I thought.  I'll report back soon.    David

Update: 5:02PM CST  I Realized that it was not neccessary to go thru the complete RE procedure and the goal was just be able to see the files on F drive, was able to boot to the CD and all proceeded to main recovery menu.  I hit "recover my computer" and every thing froze.  I believe they call it  Crash and burn.  Any ideas?  I'll try again tomorrow.  Gonna get a beer.    David

No, the Ghost 10 RE is significantly different to Ghost 9. Follow the userguide instructions but only go as far as finding the recovery point on the external HD. See Reply #44.

I won't have access to Ghost 10 for a few days but I'll write some instructions when I get home.

Hello again, I didn't see your reply before I started my update on my previous post.  See above .  Have a good day.  David  

dcgilbert wrote on Sep 4^th, 2006 at 4:17pm:

I hit "recover my computer" and every thing froze.

That shouldn't happen. Try again.

Good Afternoon Brian,  I've been thinkig about my experience in the Recovery Environment yesterday, and I don't think I
handled it well.  I don't know which section on the menu page to open for this test.  I noticed a GMT time reference in the lower right side of the menu page.  Should I try to change it?(Time or Zone).  Also the Maxtor has a rather elaborate "USB and power supply booting" sequence of its own.  I was wondering if until the R.E. CD is workable, (can't be my fault :)  I look for the v2i and sv2i files on drive G.  When I can pull that off, then connect up the Maxtor and try to find them on the F drive.   Hope you're having fun,  David  

dcgilbert wrote on Sep 5^th, 2006 at 2:33pm:

I was wondering if until the R.E. CD is workable, (can't be my fault :)  I look for the v2i and sv2i files on drive G.  When I can pull that off, then connect up the Maxtor and try to find them on the F drive.

Sure.

I found a Ghost 10 CD here. This is how I do it.

Boot to the CD
Choose your time zone
Click Recover My Computer
If you see a message about “No recovery points found…” click OK and then click Open another location
Browse to your recovery points
Select the recovery point and click Recover My Computer
From the Recover My Computer wizard, put a dot in “Custom”, OK
Next
For Recovery Destination, make sure that the correct partition is selected.  Most likely it will be the OS partition.
Next
Put a tick in
• Verify recovery point before restore
• Check for file system errors after recovery
• Set drive active (for booting OS)
• Restore original disk signatures
Only tick Restore MBR if you are restoring a recovery point to a new HD
Next
Put a tick in Reboot when finished
Finish

The Recovery Environment shouldn't freeze but response to clicks may be slow.

Hello Brian, I'll give it lots of time, and take it to"browse".
We've copied your guide.  I'll let you know what happens.

I was watching the US Open Tennis and one of the announcers quoted Authur Ashe who said; "You can make a living with what you have. and you make a life with what you give".
When I heard that, I thought of you and the folks on this forum for what is given here.  again thank you,     David