I have created a bootable dvd to and copied the three segments of the ghost image onto it.  The only "problem" I have is that I have to watch the restore as it needs me to point to the next image.  How can I make this automatic or combine the three segments into one image.

Leo

You are the third person in about as many months that has reported a similar issue--and I'm not sure we have found the main cause for this failure.

I would like to attempt to repeat the process so as to see if I too have the same problem.

1.  What version and build of Ghost are you using?

2. How are you creating the three Ghost image files--i.e. what procedure and how are you controlling the size of the images?

3.  What boot disk are you using to make the DVD bootable?

4.  What burning program are you using to create the bootable DVD?

You said you want to create the same "error".  We do not feel this is an error but an inconvience as someone has to watch the loading of the image with takes about 35 minutes.

We are using version 8.2.  We have a network with approx 1500 computers.  We create a "gold" image on a pc then use Ghost to create an image on our server which creates three segments.  Two of which are 2 gig and the third with 360 Mb.  When new computers come in we use a floppy boot disk to pull the image off of the server.  The newer computers now are coming in without floppy drives.  We use the floppy created by Ghost boot wizard and Roxio v7 to create a boot CD then pull from the server.  Until now this has been fine but we are getting ready to receive approx 400 new computers.  So we have now created a bootable DVD using the same floppy and putting all three segments on it.

Leo


Quote:

You said you want to create the same "error".

But....I didn't say *error*!!!!


Quote:

Leo You are the third person in about as many months that has reported a similar issue--and I'm not sure we have found the main cause for this failure. I would like to attempt to repeat the process so as to see if I too have the same problem.

I do consider it a *failure*, because my spanned image files on optical media find the next segment without having to wait, watch, and then direct Ghost to the next segment!


Quote:

We create a "gold" image on a pc

I assume this means a baseline system, that is *syspreped* for deployment.  Then, either you boot locally with Ghost and *push* an image to the networked server--or use Ghost Console to *pull* an image to the server--creating the 3 segment image set on the server's HDD--with the first file having a *.gho* extension, and the other two with a *.ghs* file extension.


Quote:

We use the floppy created by Ghost boot wizard and Roxio v7 to create a boot CD then pull from the server. So we have now created a bootable DVD using the same floppy and putting all three segments on it.

The devil is always in the details!!!  Which boot floppy from the Wizard?

Last time I heard, Ghost 8.2 is too large to fit on a single floppy--along with the boot files--so it must be a two floppy boot set--how are you managing that when creating the bootable DVD?

Are you *automating* the bootable DVD, using a command line to restore the template image to the new system without user intervention?

A list of boot files, plus the contents of [config.sys] and [autoexec.bat] would be helpful to understand the setup.

Sorry, I misread your previous response.  In ver 7.5 Ghost Exporer can divide an image, can it also combine images?

Leo

No problem!  

Ghost 8.2's Ghost Explorer can do the same as Ghost 7.5--but, I think it was Ghost 8.3 that came out with the ability to create image files larger than the DOS limited size of approx. 2 GBs.

But, I'm not sure a larger, single file on DVD will be compatible--even if using Ghost 8.3 or above--the DVD file system may not support that larger size along with Ghost and DOS!  Those larger or single file images may have to be placed on a HDD rather than optical media to work.

In Ghost Explorer, you would go to the menu item *View > Options*, and specify the size for Ghost segments--*2048* is the max for pre-version 8.3, if I'm not mistaken--you will get an error message if you try a larger, unsupported size.  

Then load your image file set into Ghost Explorer, and go to the menu item *File > Compile ...*.  You will probably be asked to select a location and new file name for the image set.  

I have the three segments on my dvd so if I can combine these on my server using ghost explore that I do not see why I could not copy the new 4.4 gig image to the dvd.

Leo

In Windows, a 4.4 gig file is supported on a DVD!  But, in DOS--using DOS Ghost!!!???--it may work, but I have no personal experience with that--so I don't know!  Give it a try!!!  Let us know!

But, you have Ghost 8.2--and not 8.3!  If my memory serves--Ghost 8.2 will not support the larger file size--regardless!

where can I get a trial version of 8.3 so I can try it?

Leo

If you have a site license for Ghost 8.2--you would use the LiveUpdate for your Ghost installation!  You should be *eligible* for at least v8.3--but, probably not the latest v11.x.

Ghost 8.x is still supported, but no longer available for purchase or trial downloads.  You can probably get a trial version of Ghost 11.x--but, it will probably have some limitations as to its functions:  

Symantec's Ghost Solution Suite 2.0 Info Page

Tried that and it said I have the most recent version.  I have version 8.2.0.1117.  I also tried to find version 8.3 as a trialware on symantic with no luck.

NightOwl wrote on Feb 15^th, 2008 at 9:50am:

But, I'm not sure a larger, single file on DVD will be compatible--even if using Ghost 8.3 or above--the DVD file system may not support that larger size along with Ghost and DOS!  Those larger or single file images may have to be placed on a HDD rather than optical media to work.

Yup, correct. There's no way (until we get funding to build a UDF filesystem driver into Ghost - which is a possibility, for future Blu-Ray/HD-DVD media, but not before GSS3.0 at the earliest) to do this because the ISO 9660 filesystem that MSCDEX (and Ghost) uses has a 2Gb limit.

The "native" filesystem for CDs is ISO 9660, which the MSCDEX add-in for DOS provides a reader for. For larger-capacity media you can use ISO 9660, but to bypass things like the 2Gb limit (and to deal efficiently for the various oddities of the -R, +R, -RW, +RW DVD media) a different filesystem design called UDF is used and there is no reader for DOS for it.

Leo


Quote:

Tried that and it said I have the most recent version.  I have version 8.2.0.1117.

Well, I don't know why LiveUpdate doesn't update to 8.3--maybe that update required an upgrade license?!

Could post a question about that over at the GSS forum:  Symantec Ghost Solution Suite (GSS) support forum

Or, do you maintain a support contract with Symantec?

Probably the fastest way to resolve the issue is to hook up a DVD optical writer that's known to be compatible with DOS Ghost to your *gold* system, as well as a floppy drive.  Create the floppy drive you wish to use for booting the DVD, either boot from that floppy--or if not appropriate--boot from whatever floppy is needed.  Then load Ghost, and use Ghost's built-in ability to store an image to optical media.  Tell Ghost you want to make the DVD bootable when asked, and when Ghost asks for the boot floppy--put the appropriate floppy disk in.

[edit]2/16/2008 @ approx. 11:00 pm--If you want the *ghost.exe* placed on the data portion of the above bootable DVD, you should use this command line switch to load Ghost:  ghost.exe -ghostoncd

If you control what drive letter is assigned to the optical drive in DOS, and add a path statement to the root directory of the optical drive when a data DVD is present--then the above switch places *ghost.exe* in the root directory of the DVD (along with the Ghost image files), and any Ghost command lines on your boot floppy that is copied to the hidden boot sector of the DVD will find that *ghost.exe* on the DVD![/edit]

You should now have a bootable DVD and spanned image files that should be able to detect the next one in the file set--any luck with that?

NightOwl wrote on Feb 16^th, 2008 at 9:00am:

Well, I don't know why LiveUpdate doesn't update to 8.3--maybe that update required an upgrade license?!

Yup, Ghost Solution Suite 1.0 to 1.1 was (mostly) a paid update. There are a lot of options for buyers of corporate products - some purchase options get you future updates, some don't. The simple pricing shown on e.g. websites doesn't cover that kind of deal, though.

Basically, only changes in the third version digit are free updates. One of the complicated factors in assigning version numbers is that all kinds of folks conflate the various elements. So our LiveUpdates for GSS to 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 are being called by some folks 2.1 and 2.2, which they aren't. Still, it means that we pretty much have no option but to call the next version 2.5

Anyway, the main thing is that to get >2Gb files on optical media in DOS isn't going to happen. You would have to format the DVD using the UDF filesystem, and then run Ghost32 from a Windows PE boot disk to read it using the UDF filesystem support in that. If he has GSS1.0 (aka Ghost Enterprise 8.2) then Ghost32 should be there and so Windows PE is an option.

All right I can live with three segments of an image but is there a way to make ghost automatic rather than me having to point to each segment?

Leo


Quote:

is there a way to make ghost automatic rather than me having to point to each segment?

Probably....

I have made one suggestion in reply #12 above.

As I said before--*the devil is in the details*--you need to reply to the questions at the end of reply #3 above


Quote:

The devil is always in the details!!!  Which boot floppy from the Wizard? Last time I heard, Ghost 8.2 is too large to fit on a single floppy--along with the boot files--so it must be a two floppy boot set--how are you managing that when creating the bootable DVD? Are you *automating* the bootable DVD, using a command line to restore the template image to the new system without user intervention? (What's the command line?) A list of boot files, plus the contents of [config.sys] and [autoexec.bat] would be helpful to understand the setup.

I am using the network boot disk but I picked any network card as it is not really needed.  Here is the config.sys file

[menu]
rem menuitem=FROMFLPY, This computer was started from a Ghost boot disk
rem menuitem=FROMCD, This computer was started from a Ghost bootable CD

[FROMCD]

[IBM]
\IBMNET\netbind.com

[DELL]
\DELLNET\netbind.com

[COMMON]
DEVICE = oakcdrom.sys /D:cd1
DEVICE = btdosm.sys
DEVICE = flashpt.sys
DEVICE = btcdrom.sys /D:cd2
DEVICE = aspi2dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi8dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi4dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi8u2.sys
DEVICE = inicd.sys /D:cd3
DEVICE=\net\protman.dos /I:\net
DEVICE=\net\dis_pkt.dos
DEVICE=\net\e1000.dos
LASTDRIVE = Z

Here is the autoexec.bat file:

@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
prompt $p$g
\net\netbind.com
MOUSE.COM
CLS
LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:cd1 /D:cd2 /D:cd3
rem echo Loading...
rem if %config% == FROMFLPY goto FLPYBOOT
rem if %config% == FROMCD goto CDBOOT
rem if %config% == IBM goto IBM
rem if %config% == DELL goto DELL


goto CDBOOT

goto FAILED

rem :FLPYBOOT
rem echo Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)
rem pause
rem if exist a:\ghost\ghost.exe goto GHOSTFND
rem goto FLPYBOOT

:CDBOOT
rem echo Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)
rem echo To run Ghost.exe from a hard disk or CD, press Ctrl-C at rem the following prompt
rem echo then change to the appropriate drive letter and type rem 'Ghost'
rem pause
rem if not exist b:\ghost\ghost.exe goto CDBOOT
rem b:
rem goto GHOSTFND
c:\ghost


:GHOSTFND
c:\ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE  -forceusb -force1394
goto END

:FAILED
echo Unknown boot menu selection
goto END

:END

Here is the files and folders on the floppy:

aspi2dos.sys
aspi4dos.sys
aspi8dos.sys
aspi8u.sys
autoexec.bat
btcdrom.sys
btdosm.sys
command.com
config.sys
flashpt.sys
ibmbio.com
ibmdos.com
inicd.sys
mouse.com
mscdex.exe
oakcdrom.sys

also two folders:
GHOST (empty)

NET - containing:
     dis_pkt.dos
     e1000.dos
     netbind.com
     protman.dos
     protman.exe
     protocol.ini

I use this with Roxio to create a bootable DVD and then on the DVD I copy:

Ghost.exe
also I copy over the three image segments.

Leo

So, your optical drive is assigned drive letter C:\?

And once Ghost is loaded, you select your Ghost image file *.gho* after choosing the optical drive under its DOS drive letter C:\ as the source drive--you are not using *@CD-ROM...your drive name* as the designation for the source drive--correct?

Yes, this is the way the default of the boot disk that is created by ghost boot wizard.

Leo

I'm working the last couple days on a project that's taking much of my time--so I can attempt to duplicate your setup until maybe tomorrow--but I'll try to see if I can create the same problem.

Leo

Finally got this test done--and on my system there was no problem for Ghost to continue uninterrupted from one Ghost file to the next.

My setup was different from yours because I'm using Ghost 2003 and not enterprise Ghost 8.x.  My Ghost Boot Wizard can not create a boot disk that supports CD/DVD and Network support on a single boot disk--it's one or the other--but I noted on your boot files that you had disabled any network support--so essentially your boot disk was for CD/DVD support--which is what I created and used.

As my restore continued, I pondered what else could be causing your experience to be different from mine, and I came up with a couple thoughts:

1.  When I create my initial Ghost image file set, I used the default setting of Ghost 2003, using the DOS executable locally, and saving to a second internal HDD.  The only *Option* that is selected is *-auto* for automatic naming of spanned files.  

The *Option* for spanning (-span) is not selected--that is used, apparently, if you are going to run out of room at your initial location (volume) for an image file set, and you will need to specify an additional location (volume) for additional image files (example--using a Jaz storage device and having to put in a new disk once the first is full).

But, when restoring, if an image set is made with the spanning *Option*, I think you are then forced to specify each new image segment at the end of the previous segment.

Did you have the spanning *Option* selected?

2.  File naming:  my image set consisted of three files.  The first two were approx. 2 GB in size and the final was about 400 MB.

When Ghost 2003 auto names the spanned files, it tacks on a 4 digit sequential number at the end of the file name and uses the DOS 8.3 naming convention.  The first file created with Ghost can potentially have a *long file name* when setting up the Ghost procedure--but the spanned files will not--Ghost only retains the first 4 positions of the name and adds its 4 digit number.

Because of this, I always create file names that are a max. of 4 positions--I actually use a two digit month and two digit day as file names.  That way the file name is never truncated or over-written by Ghost's naming.  So my files today would be named:

0228.gho
02280001.ghs
02280002.ghs

3.  You can not use Ghost's built-in ability to access optical data discs with a Ghost image on it, unless Ghost burned that image directly to the optical disc.  You will get an error message right from the start saying it's not a valid Ghost image if you have burned the image file set first saved to a HDD and then burned to optical media using a third party burning program at a later time.  But, you did not report that error--so this is not the issue--and you're boot files indicate you are loading those DOS optical drive drivers.

You can use that Ghost image, but only if you boot with DOS drivers that assign a DOS drive letter to the optical drive and you access the image file on the optical media via the DOS drive letter of the optical drive.

4.  On my DVD, I placed the three image files in the root directory of the data portion of the disc.  And *ghost.exe* was also in that same root directory--no sub-directories were used--but, based on your previous posts, it sounds like you did the same--so that's probably not an issue.

5.  I used Roxio Easy CD Creator v5.xx--I don't know about v7.xx.  But in the Ghost 2003 User Guide, it makes this comment about burning files to an optical drive:


Quote:

If you use software to write an image file directly to the CD, you may experience problems when restoring the image file. Software designed to write directly to a CD, such as Adaptec Direct CD, uses a different file format. Therefore the copied files are not recognized by Ghost. If you are writing directly to a CD using third-party software, use a program that lays out the format of the disc before it writes it, such as Adaptec E-Z CD Creator.

But, again, it doesn't sound like this is the issue either!

6.  As I mentioned above in #1--I create the image file set locally on a second internal HDD--it sounded like you are possibly sending your image file over a network to a central server?  Maybe that procedure somehow *breaks* the auto spanning of the files if they are then transferred to optical media and are not on a HDD still--grasping at straws here--don't know why that would be!

So, unless one of those items above is having an influence on your Ghosting, the only other item I can think of is that your optical drive is not *100 %* compatible with Ghost and spanned image files

I am creating the image over the network to a server.  I do have the auto span turned on. I tried making each segment larger but ghost would not accept it.  It still is taking too long a time to image a drive from the CD, about 30 minutes.  I have now tried to setup a server with Ghost on it and using a hub and I can image up to 10 machines at a time in less than 20 minutes.  This is something we can live with and will probably contunue using.  Thanks for all your help and I really like this web site and will continue to monitor it.

Leo

It sounds like you found the restore from optical media too slow--and have moved onto a different approach.

But, did you ever resolve the automatic spanning of image files on optical media--did you find a fix or workaround?