Radified Community Forums - Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI file

nico

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Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI file
Apr 6^th, 2005 at 7:57am

I obtained recently Ghost 9.0 and it got shipped with a Ghost 2003 cd inside. And thanks god! I almost lost my data by relying on an image created with Ghost 9.0. I got the error “internal PQI file invalid or format not supported” I found no reference about. Thanks god I played safe and made a parallel image with ghost 2003.
I think ghost 9.0 does too many things. True, the image file, the increment option, the possibility to mount, all this is marvelous. But the risk to have all the images lost because of an esoteric PQI problem is really a price too high. Grin

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Pleonasm

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #1 - Apr 6^th, 2005 at 1:55pm

Nico, your post is quite frightening. Some questions:

[1] How did you make the images (e.g., compression settings, etc.)?
[2] Did you verify the integrity of the images?
[3] Where were the images stored (e.g., an external drive, DVD discs)?
[4] How did you attempt to restore the images (e.g., within Windows or booting with the Symantec Recovery Environment CD)?
[5] What does Symantec have to say about this? Did you initiate an inquiry?

The technology used by Ghost 9.0 has a long-standing reputation and history, and so your experience appears to be unique. Nonetheless, understanding what a user of Ghost 9.0 might do differently (or should be cautious about) would clearly be of interest.

Thank you for your contribution.

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nico

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #2 - Apr 7^th, 2005 at 12:16pm

Dear Pleonasm,
[1] i made the image staring the installed ghost 9.0 on Windows 2000, using compression=normal and CHECKING the box verify image after ... on the first attempt i got the message, on the second it went o.k. but got the message on restore.
[2] verify is included in the creation as explained in [1]
[3] the image was stored on a second hard drive
[4] Restore by booting from the SRE CD
[5] tried to find something on their site, didn't find anything, but then tried Ghost 2003 and was so inspired that forgot about 9.0. nontheless, after having something solid at hand i discovered this forum and decided to share my experience.
[..] i'm afraid there is something unique in my case. probably because the pc is rather old, it is pentium III computer with 700mhz. it matches the minimum requirement, but ways of computers as those of God are beyond understanding, right? Tongue

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Dan Goodell

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #3 - Apr 7^th, 2005 at 4:08pm

Pleonasm wrote on Apr 6^th, 2005 at 1:55pm:

The technology used by Ghost 9.0 has a long-standing reputation and history, and so your experience appears to be unique.

I'm not sure there's widespread agreement on that point. "Hot-imaging" technology is very new, and totally unlike the old imaging methods. Ghost 9 bears no resemblance to Ghost 2003 other than the name on the box. Ghost 2003 has an outstanding reputation well-earned under the "Norton" banner, but Norton had nothing to do with Ghost 9. Buying a buggy, troubled product (DriveImage 7) from one company (PowerQuest) and repackaging it under a name (Ghost) bought from another company (Norton) doesn't make it reliable. The reliability of v9 and hot-imaging technology has yet to be proven, IMHO.

Nico's “internal PQI file invalid or format not supported” error is revealing here. PQI ("

P

ower

Q

uest

I

mage") is a file format that was used by DriveImage. In essence, you're seeing Ghost 9's underwear here, showing it's really the DriveImage product underneath.

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Rad

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #4 - Apr 12^th, 2005 at 1:26am bumpage for good measure. ^
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brileigh

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #5 - Apr 13^th, 2005 at 9:05pm

I have just upgraded to Ghost 9.0. So far, I have not got one successful image from it. I keep getting the ubiquitous "EA39070A: The internal structure of the PQI file is invalid or unsupported" when I try to verify it. So after three days on the Symantec Help line, have had me do more upgrades and suggestion than you could poke a stick at. The reason I image a disk is because I want to do an upgrade and want to be able to absolutely and totally roll it back if it doesn;t work. Software that itself needs upgrades to things like the .NET framework, and require defragment of the Disk and the NTFS MFT, and disabling, antivirus, firewall, tape back up software does not sit happily with me. My downtime and exposure to a upgrade event risk has been very sad.

Why this thing about having the Imaging software run "online" from within Windows itself. Sheesh, Nortons has a Recovery Disk which boots into Win/2000/XP or something, to allow you to recover from an Image, and it nicely gives access to various drive types, USB, SCSI, IDE, with FAT or NTFS files systems or CD or DVD, so why wouldn't you use the same methodology to create the image file in the first place. Or at least have "offline" an option for those who have problems with "inline"

It seems to me that having your disk imaged away from the vagueries of the itneraction of other programs, and the potential of having data sitting in memory not flushed to disk, make "online" or "hot" imaging a risk business.

The reason I upgraded from Ghost2003 is that large drives were very slow to image, and they occasionally crashed. Also I like to be able to Clone a machine from a USB drive, and although I can generally find DOS USB drivers, they are difficult to set up, Never once I have I had the Symantec's USB drivers work for me, I have always had to look elsewhere. Where you have USB keyboards and mice, so far I have not yet been able to get it to work. Plus of course Ghost 2003 does not work with NTFS destinations so you have FAT 32's size limitations.

The really neat thing about Ghost 2003, is that if something goes wrong you get an error during the imaging, rather than it resulting in a dodgy image that Ghost 9.0 seems to have.

Does anyone know an alternative to Symantec, that will image offline, and boot so that USB devices, and NTFS backup media can be used, and is reliable?

Regards
Brian

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El_Pescador

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #6 - Apr 13^th, 2005 at 9:42pm

Quote:

"... Plus of course Ghost 2003 does not work with NTFS destinations so you have FAT 32's size limitations..."

brileigh

That is not the case at all - Ghost 2003 works just fine with NTFS destinations, albeit you need to be able to decipher the drive "labels". I succeeded in putting that issue to rest well over a year ago in the thread below (if you have the stamina to examine the entire content carefully, that is):

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=10734...

For some revealing facts along the same line, visit:

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=11040...

El Pescador

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Rad

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #7 - Apr 14^th, 2005 at 3:38am Can somebody tell me if Ghost 9 requires activation?
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NightOwl-

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tat...."

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #8 - Apr 14^th, 2005 at 10:53am

Rad

From the Ghost 9.x user manual:

Quote:

Activation protects you

Product activation is a technology that protects users
from pirated or counterfeit software by limiting use of a
product to those users who have acquired the product
legitimately. Product activation requires a unique serial
number for each installation of a product. You must
activate the product within 30 days of installing it.
Product activation is completely separate from
registration.

When to activate your product

When you first run the software, you are asked to read
and accept the license agreement and enter a serial
number to activate the product.
If you choose not to activate at that time, you will receive
alerts that will remind you to activate the product each
time you start the software.
If you do not activate the product within 30 days of
installing it, the product will stop working. You can
activate it after the 30 days have elapsed.
To activate Norton Ghost, you must have a serial number.
You can find the serial number on the Norton Ghost CD
sleeve, DVD case, or in the download instructions, or in
the email you received from Symantec.

And you need

Microsofts .Net Framework

as well.

No question is stupid...but, possibly the answers are Wink

!
(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use. Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)

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Rad

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #9 - Apr 14^th, 2005 at 12:50pm Thanks. Will update the guide to reflect.
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Pleonasm

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #10 - Apr 14^th, 2005 at 3:24pm

Brileigh, I have never experienced the EA39070A error myself with Ghost 9.0. But in looking around the web, I learned that one user encounter this problem because of a conflict with Norton GoBack. Otherwise, the general advice seems to be:

1. Delete Windows temporary files
2. Defragment both source and destination hard drives
3. Close background applications
4. Check hard drive for errors

That's not bad advice, since it is mostly routine PC maintenance that should be done anyway.

If you have not already done so, it might be beneficial to upgrade to Ghost 9.0.2 via LiveUpdate.

From an exchange of emails with Symantec, I did learn that it is possible for Ghost 9.0 to have problems if the disk is "highly fragmented." I don't know what "highly" means, however. Nonetheless, I typically run Norton Speed Disk before creating an image.

It is advisable to also not disable “SmartSector” copying, since it is intended to be used only for special cases “such as high security environments, it may be desirable to copy all clusters and sectors in their original layout, whether or not they contain data.”

Please let us all know what you discover.

P.S.: I too am disappointed that Symantec does not allow you to create an image by using the Recovery Environment CD. However, I guess that would make it far too easy to violate the license agreement.

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Rad

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #11 - Apr 14^th, 2005 at 3:28pm Re: " I too am disappointed that Symantec does not allow you to create an image by using the Recovery Environment CD. However, I guess that would make it far too easy to violate the license agreement ." Interesting. I never thought of that.
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MoonShadow

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Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI
Reply #12 - Apr 22^nd, 2005 at 6:00am

Originally I had my machine run Ghost 9 backups (Baseline and Incrementals) for 7 - 9 runs (different drives) over 3 months, then I too got the PQI errors (EA39070A).

What it actually means is that when the not-so-backed-up backups are read they fail checksum and are deemed invalid.

If you do an automatic verification on completion of backup the backups get deleted as they are not useable !!!!!!!

I followed all Symantecs instructions, even reformatted my drive from FAT32 to NTFS, defragged everything, ran multiple CHKDSKs with no errors. Then reinstalled Ghost 9.

It worked for another 3 baselines then fell flat on it's face again with PQI errors. I have raised it with Symantec once more. Wonder what they will say this time. Tongue

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Rad

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #13 - Apr 22^nd, 2005 at 1:49pm I'm itching to say "told ya so", but Dan suggested we withhold judjment until we we have more data: http://ghost.radified.com/hot_imaging.htm
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yaby

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	Re: Ghost 9.0 gives an error for undocumented PQI Reply #14 - Apr 29^th, 2005 at 4:00am wow... wish i had seen this forum before!!! can anyone tell me what i can do if i've already formatted the original drive and all i have left now is the backed up images which results in the error ea39070a when i try to restore the image?
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