Hi there,


Ok this is my problem I windows XP fails to load says missing ntfs.sys file so I cannot get into windows,

I have 2 sata hard drives partitioned into around 5 partitions each one. On the second hard drive I have a ghost image of the C drive of the main hard drive that I want to restore. I created the image with ghost 15. Now when I put in a ghost image file  ( from an older version of Ghost probably 2003) on dvd in order to boot into ghost. I can tell it to use the image on the parttion ( not the one on the DVD) I can specify the hard drive thats the main one I want the image to be copied to but the partion on the main drive the C drive is greyed out. Its a primary partition. I cannot tell ghost to copy the ghost image from one partion to the c partion on my main hard drive...


Anybody know why this is. If I specify the image on the DVD it gives me the option of choosing the C partiton but not if I choose the image on the partition of my slave hard drive.


I'm hoping that there is some bootable ghost disc I can create on this computer that will allow me to boot up the not working computer choose the image on the slave parttion and copy that to the C drive of my master hard drive...Is this possible and why is the C partiion greyed out so it cannot be chosen???

many thanks for reading this post and I would be really thankful if anyone can help me out

@ orissacube


Quote:

XP fails to load says missing ntfs.sys file so I cannot get into windows

The most common reason for this error is that the system's *boot.ini* file points to the wrong partition location for the WinXP OS.  Have you been doing anything that might have altered that file for some reason--such as an alternative boot manager?

There are ways to troubleshoot the *boot.ini* file--have to be familiar with booting to DOS.


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I created the image with ghost 15

Ghost 15 image files will not be compatible with old Ghost 2003's image files--these can not work together!

Do you have your Ghost 15 installation disc--it is bootable to the Ghost 15 *Recovery Environment*--you can then access stored Ghost 15 image files for possible restoration.

thank you so much for your reply

What caused my Xp install to fail is that I used system restore to go back a day and then it just wouldn't boot back into windows it came up with that error message.

My PC is dual booted with linux but it still loads grub and gives em the option of either linux or Xp its been like this vor a few years. The system restore has obviously hosed something. I've just burned the iso the the SRC and I'll try that now fingers crossed. Its an old mobo that has worked faultlessly for years.


It was my 77 year old father clicking anything that popped up that caused me to use system restore

Once again thanks for your input

ok the PC loads the SRD I get to the accept terms and condtions and I press enter on my keyboard (used both usb andold style serial port) after that nothing works my keyboard light is on but hitting tab or enter nothing works no mouse pointer or anything...so I can't choose anything

any ideas?

@ orissacube


Quote:

nothing works my keyboard light is on but hitting tab or enter nothing works no mouse pointer or anything...so I can't choose anything

Unexpected!

Translation please:  *SRC* and *SRD* = ?

Are these the Ghost 15 installation disc?  I am not a Ghost 15 user, so I have limited personal experience.  Brian is our Ghost 15 expert--I suspect he'll be along with additional input when he's available.

On an older system, the Ghost 15's Recovery Environment disc is usually able to detect/run most hardware!

*GRUB*--are you able to run the GRUB installer to repair your linux/WinXP dual boot?

If you can boot to WinXP by fixing the GRUB boot manager (maybe in Safe Mode), then you might be able to do an *undo* to the *system restore*--may have to repair GRUB again after that--don't know for sure!

@ orissacube

Are you still seeing "missing ntfs.sys file"? Have you tried...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555531

Here is another Ghost 15 recovery CD you could try as yours isn't working.

http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20091016094409EN&pvid=nghost_15&selected_nav=5

Let us know what happens.

Ok guys thanks for your input.

I managed to get the system recovery disc to work with my keyboard and mouse. I can now interact with the GUI. Now it seems that I musthave made my ghost image of the unbootable windows partition with a previous version of Ghost . There is no facility within the SR interface to select a .gho image and copy to the corrupt partition.

Now what I think I need to do is somehow boot into a previous version of ghost that will allow me to select the image and copy to corrupt partition.

I've actually got images on disc from 2005 (shows how old this PC is !! ) these will let me select the image but not copy it to the corrupt parttion....I have no idea why this is. If I select the image on the dvd it will allow me to copy to the corrupt partition.But not if I select the image on the second hard drive.Its greyed out the other parttions (not primary) are not !!!!

There is no problem with grub that is working perfectly I can choose to boot into Linux and it will boot into that but if I choose the windows install it stalls giving the error message of a missing or corupt ntfs.sys file

thanks for the links to sort the ntfs.sys file I'll check those out now

Brian wrote on Nov 18^th, 2010 at 5:05pm:

@ orissacube Are you still seeing "missing ntfs.sys file"? Have you tried... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555531 Here is another Ghost 15 recovery CD you could try as yours isn't working. http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20091016094409EN&pvid=nghost_15&selected_nav=5 Let us know what happens.

  thats very interesting thank you so much that looks hopeful.

Now I have another problem, My mobo is an old abit NF7-S cutting edge in its day woefully old now, XP needs to have loaded sata drivers on install inorder to see the hard drives for this it only accepts a floppy disc...how quaint. So now I have to pull an old floppy drive and find a floppy that works.

This is my favourite PC too it may be old but it has never failed me before adn I had it just like I wanted it I even preferred it over this windows 7 PC...I feel as though I have lost an old friend....I know I should get out more.

Ok I'll persue the recovery console in a windows xp as the enxt step now to find some old floppys

@ orissacube


Quote:

Now it seems that I musthave made my ghost image of the unbootable windows partition with a previous version of Ghost . There is no facility within the SR interface to select a .gho image and copy to the corrupt partition.

Apparently you do not recall which version of Ghost you used to create the Ghost image file(s).  A *.gho* image file comes from Ghost versions that were for a long time strictly DOS based--Symantec eventually began to develop Ghost interfaces to run from Windows, and a Corporate *DOS* based version of Ghost that can run under Windows in a command DOS Window.

Retail Ghost v9.x and v10.x did have the ability to access *.gho* files when booted to their *Recovery Environment*, and prior to that retail Ghost 2003, 2002, and 2001 could be used, but only when booted to DOS, to access and restore image files.  There are also Corporate Ghost v1.x thru 8.5, and then 11.xx (v9 and v10 were used by retail Ghost--so, Corp Ghost skipped those version numbers).


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I've actually got images on disc from 2005 (shows how old this PC is !! ) these will let me select the image but not copy it to the corrupt parttion....I have no idea why this is. If I select the image on the dvd it will allow me to copy to the corrupt partition.  But not if I select the image on the second hard drive.Its greyed out the other parttions (not primary) are not !!!!

Okay, what *program* are you using to access (select) those image files?

(We need to clarify terminology:  *copy* a file simply means creating another file of the original at another location--so creating a *doc* file and the creating a copy of the same file elsewhere.  In *imaging* software, we say *restore* an image file if we are using a backup image of a partition or whole HDD to *overwrite* the destination partition or whole HDD with the data within the image file.)

So, above, are you talking about *copying*, or are you talking about *restoring* an image file.


Quote:

I've actually got images on disc from 2005 (shows how old this PC is !! ) these will let me select the image but not copy it to the corrupt parttion....I have no idea why this is. If I select the image on the dvd it will allow me to copy to the corrupt partition.

So, you can't have it both ways!  Above you say *these will let me select the image but not copy it to the corrupt partition*--in this phrase, *these* refers back to the *images on disc* (given the current sentence structure), and you can not *copy* these files to the corrupt partition.

Then you say *If I select the image on the dvd it will allow me to copy to the corrupt partition*--so now you have said if you select the image files on the DVD, you can *copy* the image files!


Quote:

I've actually got images on disc from 2005 (shows how old this PC is !! ) (and) If I select the image on the dvd it will allow me to copy to the corrupt partition.But not if I select the image on the second hard drive.

Are you saying you have old image files dating back to 2005 on DVD disc, and newer image files on the second HDD?  If so, how *new* are the image files on the second HDD?

Or, have you copied the 2005 files from the DVD to the second HDD?


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This is my favourite PC too it may be old but it has never failed me before adn I had it just like I wanted it

If your last Ghost backup is 2005, are you sure you want to over-write your 2010 current OS back to the way it was in 2005--are you saying you have not made any changes since 2005?

It still might be possible that the *real* problem is an incorrect setting in the *boot.ini* file.  There may be a simple way to check, and correct the problem--well, simple if you have a floppy drive and disks to work with.


Quote:

My mobo is an old abit NF7-S cutting edge in its day woefully old now, XP needs to have loaded sata drivers on install inorder to see the hard drives for this it only accepts a floppy disc...how quaint. So now I have to pull an old floppy drive and find a floppy that works.

It doesn't matter how *cutting edge* a system is, if you have a system with SATA HDD controllers, and the OS you are using does not have those drivers available natively, and that OS only allows for adding drivers via floppy disk--well, that system needs a permanent floppy drive installed, and floppy disks handy (or possibly a USB floppy drive available--if supported)!

Do you have access to a system with a floppy drive that has an operational OS that will allow you to create bootable floppy disks?

Thanks for your input  I appreciate my terminology maynot be clear.

I have bootable images of my PC made with an old version of ghost on DVD. I can boot the computer and I have the option of selecting the image on the DVD to restore the corrupt C drive. Now as you say this image is just too old. I have more recent images of my corrupt hard drive on my 2nd sata drive in my PC.

I was hoping that I could boot into ghost from my old DVD and select the image on my 2nd hard drive a more recent image of the corrupt partition and restore the corrpt partiton, I can select this image using the ghost environment that I boot into via DVD but it does not let me choose the active partition that is corrupt. It gives me the option of restoring it to the logical partitons but not the active C partition. Yet it doesn't grey out the primary partiton as an option of if I select the image on the DVD.


At the moment I have 2 or 3 options ( I think) sort out floppy drive and floppy and go into XP recovery mode aaaandtry and repair the ntfs.sys file


WIpe out my corrupt partition by overwriting it with an old 2005 image. Then use ghost to choose the most recent image on my 2nd hard drive to overwrite the 2005 version.


find some version of ghost that I can boot into via dvd that will allow me to select the recent image and restore it to the corrupt partiton

Ok I thought this might work using the command prompt in the Ghost gui.

What I want to do is rename the ntfs,sys file on my C drive as old and replace with the clean ntfs,sys file off my XP install disc instead of going dwon the route of loading windows XP with floppys etc etc.


It seems that I cannot get out of the X:\ system32\drivers that ghost uses.

I've tried cd F:\system32\drivers where F is my xp install partition but it won't allow
but it just comes back to X

my knowledge of command prompt is zero

Does anyone know if from the command prompt within the ghost GUI that I can get the ntfs.sys file from my XP install disc onto the partition

@ orissacube

I'm confused. Just to sort out your backup, you can't find a Ghost 15 backup image? A .v2i file.

In your first post you say WinXP is C: drive. In Reply #10 you say WinXP is F: drive. What does this mean?

Its just the naming that the Ghost recovery GUI gives my C drive

Within windows its C within the bootable Ghost recovery disc its named as F


do you think that using the command line in the Ghost GUI that I should use the letter C as it is under windows or the letter F as its called within Ghost.

I will try using C

Unfortunately the image file I have for this PC used an old version of Ghost so its a .gho file

Do you have all NTFS partitions or are some partitions FAT32?

@ orissacube

From your initial post:


Quote:

Now when I put in a ghost image file  ( from an older version of Ghost probably 2003) on dvd in order to boot into ghost. I can tell it to use the image on the parttion ( not the one on the DVD) I can specify the hard drive thats the main one I want the image to be copied to but the partion on the main drive the C drive is greyed out. Its a primary partition. I cannot tell ghost to copy the ghost image from one partion to the c partion on my main hard drive...

Okay, I think it is now becoming clear--you do not know which HDD is which in the DOS Ghost interface (GUI), and you do not know which partition is which!

The *destination* partition that you are trying to specify is actually the *source* partition where the image file is being read from by Ghost--so Ghost is *protecting* you from attempting to overwrite the partition it needs to read that backup file from by *greying it out* and not letting you select it!


Quote:

I have 2 sata hard drives partitioned into around 5 partitions each one.

Being as you do not appear to know how your system is setup, we need you to tell us what you think you do know!

1.  How big are the two SATA HDDs?  Are they both the same size--or different?

2.  Approx. how big is each partition?  You need to list the five (5) partitions for each drive.  So drive #1,  partitions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.  And then the same for drive #2, partitions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

3.  What file system is on each partition--again specify which drive and which partition?

4.  In Windows, what drive letter is assigned to each partition?

From you reply #2:


Quote:

My PC is dual booted with linux but it still loads grub and gives em the option of either linux or Xp its been like this vor a few years.

5.  Which of the partition(s) on which of the two drives are dedicated to linux?

6.  In Windows, are those linux partition(s) seen?

7.  Which of the partitions is dedicated to WinXP on which of the two drives?

8.  Have you *Labeled* any of the partitions with unique names to identify them--such as *WinXP* for the WinXP OS partition, *Linux* for the Linux OS partition, *Data* for a data partition, *Games* for a games partition, *Programs* for a programs partition, *Backup* for a backup partition, etc.?

If you do not know the answers to any or all the above--just say so!

But, we need to find out from which drive you are booting, and on which drive and partition your boot files are located.  Randomly restoring partitions to the wrong destination will only create more and probably undo-able damage to the system!

9.  How recent is the most recent Ghost image file that you have found on your *second* HDD--what's the file creation date seen when you load it in Ghost?

ok I have 2 hard drives HD1 305 gb and HD 2 240gb as defined by Ghost 2003

2nd hard drive has 2 partitons the .gho image from march this year is on partiton 1 called ghost backup NTFS drive

the main drive has  one primary parttion of around 15gb then it has 8 ext NTFSl logical  parttions plus one Linix parttion and a fat 32 swap

In ghost 2003 I select partion>from image I can select the image to restore from by selecting ghost image from what Ghost 2003 calls 2.1 to differntiate it from the first hard drive whose parttions are numbered 1.1 to  1.9
It then gives me the option select source drive from image file this is defined as par 1 Primary Id is 07 NTFS label diskload size 15829 data size 14643  (by the way I have checked the integrity of this image.

It then asks me to seelct loacal desitnation drive number I seelct drive 1 305gb

then it asks to selct destination partiton from basic drive 1 I then see the 8 parttions of the windows system and the fat32 ext swap and linix ext of the linux

partiton 1 the partiton that I want to restore too is greyed out as is parttion 7 and 8 because they are too small

WHy is this is it becauuse the descrition of the image I want to restore ie the same as the parttion I want to restore it too

. SO I could quite happily restore an old image from dvd using the same process if I do exactly the same process yet this time choose the image on dvd not the one on the parttion the primary parttion is not greyed out

so I can quite happily restore an image from dvd (but its too old) to the primary parttion on disc 1 but not a recent image from parttion 2.1 (first parttion 2nd drive) to 1.1 first parttion first drive.

Does it have something to do with data size there is very little free space on1.1 only around 40 mb


Once again I really appreciate all your input ti is at times like this when you can ask for help that you realise the wonder of the internet and the kindness of people

@ orissacube

Ah....excellent reporting of the details of your setup!


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partiton 1 the partiton that I want to restore too is greyed out as is parttion 7 and 8 because they are too small *and* Does it have something to do with data size there is very little free space on1.1 only around 40 mb

Looks like, in the process of gathering and reporting the details of your system, you may have stumbled upon the *answer* to your own question!

I don't know the inner workings of Ghost, so I can't say for sure how much *free space* Ghost wants or needs before it considers the size of a partition adequate to hold the data that is being restored.  But, if there is only 40 MB of free space vs the amount of data to be restored--that could likely be the problem!

What is the size reported by Ghost for that 1:1 partition that is greyed out?

And, what is the size of the data reported by Ghost contained in the image file for the partition you are trying to restore?

Curiosity question--with only 40 MB of free space--wasn't WinXP complaining about lack of free space?

So, assuming it is a *free space* issue--what to do?

Well, I would pop my DOS boot disc in that has DOS PartitionMagic on it.  Do some re-sizing to increase the size of the 1:1 partition (I wouldn't want to do partition resizing unless I had a *good* (Integrity check passes) Ghost iamge of the whole drive #1 first!).  And then see if Ghost was okay with restoring that 1:1 partition to the HDD #1.

But, if you don't have PartitionMagic, you might be able to find other partitioning tools (free?) on the internet that can resize partitions non-destructively (i.e. the data is not destroyed by partitioning)--but, I have no experience with any of those.

Or, you could use Ghost to resize your HDD!  Here's how:

Do you have enough room on the drive #2 to hold a Ghost image of the whole #1 drive?  You would choose *Local > Disk > To Image*.  If *yes*, then make an image of the whole drive #1.  (Good to have a whole drive backup anyway if you might be doing other partitioning with other tools later.)

Now, do a restore of that image:  *Local > Disk > From Image*.  When you do a *whole disk* restore, you will get a confirmation screen after you have selected the drive #1 as the destination drive that shows the partition layout of the destination drive.  You can, on that confirmations screen, select the different partitions and change their sizes.  You probably need to *shrink* the size of at least one partition to create enough *free space* to add to the 1:1 partition to make it bigger.  Now restore that image to the *resized* destination drive.

Once you have created a bigger 1:1, now return to Ghost and select your March, 2010 image file and see if you now have the option to restore it to the 1:1 partition (i.e. it's no  longer greyed out!).

Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!  Other questions?

Thanks nightowl your pateince seems to be endless and for that I'm thankful

Unfortunately my back up hard drive is too small to clone the main harddrive without losing the ghost image

Can you check my logic as this is what I've decided to do

I have a feeling that my ntfs.sys problrm is due to the little space on my OS partition. I have through linux run the program nsfsfix which repairs any errors . I have also run chdisk which again shows no erros so this is what I have decided to do

Buy another hard drive clone the whole of my main hardrive to the new larger capaicty hardrive and see if the problem persists. If it does then use the image on my back up hard drive to restore to the non working partition in my new hard drive that has just been cloned

Can you see any potential problems in this scenario.

@ orissacube


Quote:

I have a feeling that my ntfs.sys problrm is due to the little space on my OS partition.

May be the problem--but not likely!

I looked at your post about the system more closely and finally focus on this:


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It then gives me the option select source drive from image file this is defined as par 1 Primary Id is 07 NTFS label diskload size 15829 data size 14643

Ghost is saying that the primary partition size is 15.829 GB in size, and the data stored in the image is 14.643 in size--so that's over 1 GB smaller than the partition size!  That should not be a problem for Ghost to restore to!  So, it's unclear why Ghost is refusing to restore an image file stored on the 2nd HDD, but is okay with an image stored on the optical DVD!!!

Your plan is not a *bad* one, but I'm not sure it addresses the *actual* problem--given what I have mentioned above.  But, it's worth a try.  Let us know how it turns out!

When doing the direct drive to drive clone, when you select the new, larger HDD as the target destination, you will get that confirmation screen like I mentioned above where you can change the size of the partitions before Ghost proceeds with the cloning.

I would recommend you put the new, larger HDD on the connector that the current OS drive #1 is connected to, and then connect that OS drive #1 to the connector that the other backup drive #2 was connected to (i.e. remove that drive #2 and set it aside for now).  Then do the cloning--you should see the size differences shown in the Ghost interface so you know which is the *source* and which is the *destination*.

Thanks nightowl

I'm at work now so haven't access to my PC but I think the reason the image on the dvd is allowed to be copied is that it is much smaller than the current parttion ie its from years ago so only a matter of a few gb's so a lot smaller than the partition size as regards data




I had thought that the hard drive may have gone but it loads the linux partition ok. It passes chkdisk I can copy files from within my linux partition from the windows partition to usb stick or to the linux partition. So I presume the disk is healthy.


I do understand that buying the new hardrive may not be the answer but it will alow me to mess around trying to fix the problem knowing that if I make a mistake i have a back up. Also that C drive was getting too small and I often got maeesgaes asking to clean it up but I forgot about system restore. only the day before I had 350mb free then next day after this only 40mb so I presume that system restore made another restore point and used up almost all of the remaining space.

@ orissacube

Let us know how your testing come out.

hi Guys,

Just wanted to update you on my progress. I am writing this on my PC I have fianlly sorted it.


The wait was due to my new hardrive arriving.

What I did was copy the whole system over from my corrupt hard drive to my new hard drive. I then disconnected the corrupt HD and then cloned my March  10 image to the C partition of my new hard drive. I then had a problem with Grub not loading properly so reinstalled Linux that rewrote my MBR and allowed me access to my Windows install which booted up no probs ( well after a chdsk sequence) so far so good

So we have a happy ending. I couldn't have done it without Ghost and your input esp Nightowl thank you so much for all your help.

It has taught me the lesson of regular back-ups for sure