Radified Community Forums | |
http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
Rad Community Technical Discussion Boards (Computer Hardware + PC Software) >> Norton Ghost 2003, Ghost v8.x + Ghost Solution Suite (GSS) Discussion Board >> Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1166588425 Message started by blueprintsg on Dec 19th, 2006 at 10:20pm |
Title: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 19th, 2006 at 10:20pm
hello all! first of all i wanna say you guys are great and have made my life alot easier on the computer maintenance side!
anyway I've successfully created norton ghost bootable CD which I never thought possible after searching on google and found your site. now that comes to mind, I would really love to know if it's possible to do this : my usual installation setup is : C: 10 gig primary partition, Windows XP OS D: 10 gig primary partition, 2nd multiboot-Windows XP OS (Backup Partition) , in case C: screws up and renders windows unbootable. E: (logical partition) is where I store my data. a.k.a labelled as "DATA" drive. F : (logical partition) is where I store my ghost files. Z: my cd rom bla blabla. all NTFS. so now I would boot up through norton ghost boot cd and restore from F: >> C: when crap happens. then recently my DVD drive screwed up on me, and i didn't have a floppy. i had it replaced already, but i was thinking is there anyway I can set my F: drive bootable. y'know make changes to the boot.ini as 1st choice : C:\'s Win XP OS 2nd choice : D:\'s Win XP OS 3rd choice : Norton Ghost Partition. so i wouldn't have a need for any CDs at all? boot into F:\'s norton ghost and load the ghost files directly into C:\ or D:\ I hope i'm not confusing you guys. thank you guys big time in advance. cheers and happy holidays |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 19th, 2006 at 10:23pm
oh before i forget. my boot.ini :
[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect apparently the last one doesn't work. starts looking for some windows/hal.dll error. |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by NightOwl on Dec 19th, 2006 at 11:51pm
blueprintsg
If I'm reading your setup correctly, you have only one HDD with multiple partitions. And, you are using Microsoft's way of multibooting--correct? Well, that is risky on two counts-- 1. Your Ghost backups will get hosed and be unavailable if your only HDD goes out on you--so you really only have protection against problems with your software and OS if something goes wrong with them--but you are not protected against HDD failure. 2. Your second Windows boot is dependent on the health of the first Windows partition--the boot files for both WinXP's are on that first partition--so you loose both installations if the first partition goes south--of course, having the Ghost backup will protect you there. To your question--if your BIOS is newer, it might let you select which HDD is the boot drive, but I don't think you can select through the BIOS which partition is the boot partition--that has to be done by altering the Master Boot Record--or more precisely, the Master Partition Table--you have to set the boot primary partition as active and the other primary(s) as not active--and for some OS's, like DOS, the other primaries may need to be *hidden* as well or it will have problems! If you really want to delve into the sea of multi-booting, then here's the guide to read: Understanding MultiBooting and Booting Windows from an Extended Partition |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 20th, 2006 at 1:15am
hi nightowl! well I have 1 hard disk with multiple partitions.
and actually i'm not sure if there's a difference between microsoft's way of multi booting or the way I used = partition C: 10gig NTFS (Primary Partition) install winxp alter boot.ini (to have options to boot 2 windows.) run diskmgmt.msc create another D: 10 gig NTFS use norton ghost bootcd to drive copy from C:'s contents to D:'s (and in fact this method i find it's WAY faster than re-installing a 2nd OS by loading the windows cd again) so when I boot into C:'s windows, D:'s not affected, I'll have to be careful when installing softwares when I boot into D:\'s windows because usually they direct to C:\program files. i don't think the health is linked because they're like totally seperated. when i'm in D:'s windows, I check all the temp files etc it's all set to D:\windows\temp. except for the pagefile.sys hehe which doesn't really matter. I've been in cases where my C:\'s windows is down but I just login to my D:\'s and transfer out the data + reghost and i'm up and running again. actually I don't know what's "hosed" but i'm thinkin it's "lost" , and yes 1.) i'm aware it's not protected from hardware failure, so after I get it all up and running smooth, I burn a .gho onto the DVD-r =) 2.) as mentioned above. hmm well what i'm trying to do here is , again C:\Windows XP (NTFS primary partition 10gig) *set active* D:\Backup Windows XP (NTFS primary partition 10gig) E:\My Data (NTFS Extended Logical Partition XXgig) F:\I Store Ghost Images here. (FAT Extended Logical Partition) <--- <---- = I've pointed the arrow above, what I want to do is making the boot.ini to run DOS ghost.exe , I'm not sure if i got you confused thinking i'm trying to boot windows from the extended partition. but all I want is sort of : instead of putting in a norton ghost cd... I already have that F:\ partition with ghost.exe in it. just log into it straight and restore the ghost files to C: or D: (whichever is down first). really appreciate your help nightowl! meanwhile I'll check out this bootmanager called XOSL (thanks for the link recommendation) see if it works the way I want it |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 20th, 2006 at 1:51am
hey nightowl , what i'm trying to do is something like this :
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18480 but that F10, F11 is a bonus. took me a while to read it , but does this mean that I have to install windows XP as FAT32 in order for the ghost boot partition to work? (the steps through hiding/unhiding is a serious hassle.. but the results look gold) what I want is i don't need to "hide" the partition in case I "update" the ghost images with new ones. |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by NightOwl on Dec 20th, 2006 at 8:36am
blueprintsg
That's an interesting twist on setting up multi-booting--now that I see it, it makes sense that it works--but the system is still dependent for booting on the C:\ partition--if the boot files there become corrupted--you will not be able to simply boot to D:\ WinXP! I'm tight for time for today--I'll report back later! |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 20th, 2006 at 7:42pm
hmmm "if the boot files there become corrupted--you will not be able to simply boot to D:\ WinXP!"
really? that's just weird. it works for me though. what system files does it rely on though? maybe I can try delete them on purpose and see if my D:\ still works. no worries I got a little spare time heheh. |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by NightOwl on Dec 20th, 2006 at 10:21pm
blueprintsg
You can protect yourself from corrupt boot files if you have a floppy disk (or, you can probably to this with a bootable CD as well!): How to use System files to create a boot disk to guard against being unable to start Windows XP To prove whether your boot files are on C:\ or D:\, you can check each partition's root directory--if you have set Windows Explorer to show all files, then both partitions should have a *boot.ini* file. You can add a *marker* command line parameter to show which boot.ini is active: The command line parameter */SOS* disables the Windows splash screen that hides what's going on behind the scenes during the boot process--if you add it to your command line in boot.ini for the OS you are booting, then you should see what's taking place on-screen. So, using Notepad--open *boot.ini* on the C:\ partition root directory. Edit the *boot.ini* file like this: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /SOS multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect And then save it back to the root directory of the C:\ partition. Now open the *boot.ini* file on the D:\ partition in Notepad. Edit it this way: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /SOS multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect And then save it back to the root directory of the D:\ partition. Now, re-boot to your C:\ WinXP--you should see the boot process without the splash screen. Then, re-boot to the D:\WinXP--and you now should see the splash screen again, because it's the boot.ini file on the C:\ partition that is controlling the boot process--and not the boot.ini file on the D:\ partition. In the reference link above: Quote:
If you want to boot to a DOS OS, then the multi-boot process has to build the *Bootsect.dos* file that WinXP's loader has to pass the boot process control over to during boot to boot a non-NT based OS--so, yes, the boot partition would have to be readable by DOS--so FAT32 or FAT16. |
Title: Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Post by blueprintsg on Dec 21st, 2006 at 10:13am
ah I see that explains loads. anyway having windows XP installed into FAT32 partition isn't much of an option for me, maybe I feel NTFS is more stable when it comes to win XP. so I'll have to drop that. HOWEVER, thanks to your link I searched and searched from one branch to another and I now use www.ubcd4win.com , installed it into my hard disk, and I use its drive image xml to restore. (also slipped in a customized ghost image too) I'll keep ya updated when it works and all. thanks so much man!!
|
Radified Community Forums » Powered by YaBB 2.4! YaBB © 2000-2009. All Rights Reserved. |