I have a Dell Latitude laptop -- D620.  It has four USB 2.0 ports.
I have a Standard Ghost boot diskette with USB 2 support.
I have an external diskette drive - says "Dell" on it.

Without  connecting a portable Hard Drive yet,
I get the Ghost-from-DOS program.

But ... when I connect the USB Hard drive, as well as the external diskette drive,  the screen stops at device installed successfully.
I don't get any prompt, or any way to continue.

Is it time to give up and make a bootable CD?

@ Len

NightOwl has good instructions on making the CD.

An alternative method with an external HD is to make the HD bootable. Then you don't need a floppy, USB flash drive or a CD. Put an 8 MB active DOS partition on the HD, containing ghost.exe and whatever other DOS exe files you desire. Boot from the USB external HD and run Ghost.

[/size]
[size=14]Brian,
               Is that hard to do?  Also, have you made a Bootable CD?

Len

NightOwl's bootable CD works well.

Search this thread for pointers about creating a bootable DOS partition. Especially NightOwl's comments regarding sys C:

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1203371188

To:Brian and/or Nightowl

                 Someone who has already made bootable CD's could make another one easily.  No?  Yes?
                  I would be willing to pay, or make a donation, if someone with previous experience would make me one that would work on a Dell Latitude laptop.

                  Maybe this isn't done on the Rad Forums alot, but ... there's always the exception to the rule!

Len

Len,

See if this DOS CD boots in your Latitude.

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1155827177/30

dsrfix98.zip

@ Len


Quote:

I would be willing to pay, or make a donation, if someone with previous experience would make me one that would work on a Dell Latitude laptop.

Well, my Guide is pretty much a step-by-step *cook book* set of instructions--many have reported success by following it!

Let me guess--you have trouble following a cook book recipe also-- :D !!!

What does the boot disc need to be able to do?--simply boot to DOS?--or also support USB external storage devices?--or load DOS drivers so you can access optical disc data?

When it comes to USB external storage devices--there are a multitude of variables that may allow for success or failure--one has to often *tinker* with the settings (for the DOS device driver and the laptops BIOS) or use a different USB device driver than the one supplied by Symantec to make it work.

And, would need to know if the optical drives are SATA (serial ATA) based, or PATA (parallel ATA) based--need different DOS device drivers depending on which is on your system!

I'll try the "Bootable CD" instructions!

Thanks,

Len

@ Len


Quote:

I'll try the "Bootable CD" instructions!

You need to *try harder*--don't give up so easily!  Didn't mean to *scare* you off!

My Guide tells you how to create a custom boot optical disc--but, it may not have the specific drivers that your system may require to be successful.  That's why I asked the questions about what your specific needs are!


Quote:

Is it time to give up and make a bootable CD?

Looking back at your original post--looks like you are using an external USB floppy drive to boot to DOS--that may interfere with being able to use your USB ports for your external HDD--because the DOS USB device driver for the HDD may be re-setting the USB controllers and conflicting with the boot process from the USB floppy drive.

Or, the USB DOS driver provided with Ghost 2003 may not be compatible with your USB controller and/or USB HDD--and possibly using an alternative USB DOS driver may solve the issues: 
A Better USB 2.0 DOS Driver for Ghost + More!.

I thought of another possible solution, beisdes all those mentioned.

The Dell Laptops, including mine, have a media bay.  It usually has a CD or DVD reader/burner.

BUT... it can take a floppy drive or a second hard drive !!

So, I wouldn't need a USB device for one of those.

I'm suprised none of you pros thought of this possibility!

Len

@ Len


Quote:

I'm suprised none of you pros thought of this possibility!

Well, in defense of *us pros*--your original question was regarding needing a *boot CD* to use with your particular laptop.

And, it's almost impossible to know the specific details of individual laptops--what ports, bays, and installed components are present--unless a poster *reveals* that information--even going to the manufacturer's website for a particular model often shows multiple possible configurations--who knows what options you have included on your system--except you!

And finally, if you look at various posts in this forum regarding recommendations about setting up a system for *best* imaging configurations--it's almost always the recommendation to install/use an internal, secondary HDD for fastest imaging, and a second internal HDD has the least amount of compatibility issues that occur!

I'm not a laptop user--but my general impression is that it's a rare system that has a 2nd internal HDD option.


Quote:

I would be willing to pay, or make a donation, if someone with previous experience would make me one that would work on a Dell Latitude laptop.                   Maybe this isn't done on the Rad Forums alot, but ... there's always the exception to the rule

I guess my responses in reply #6 and #8 were too subtle--or maybe you decided based on the number of variables I mentioned, and the amount of details about your system that you would have to gather, that you did not wish to go down that route after all--but, I was suggesting that I might attempt to help you make a bootable CD for your system (and not for any kind of *payment*)--if I knew the necessary requirements.

But, a secondary HDD is the far better way to go!  Let us know how that works out!