Have not used Ghost yet (waiting for it to arrive by mail), but have a couple preparation questions.

I was going to save images to second HD and will partition a section on it for the images. Does ghost create a compressed copy, or will it use space made available? I have read the Rad Guide, but didn't find my answer. Reason I ask is to determine size of partition needed. Would like to save my original image and occasional backup images to the partition I set aside.

Was going to use another partition on this second HD for regular/daily backups of docs, e-mail, pics, music, and audio files. Is there a recommended backup utility I can use to do this?

Thanks ahead of time. Have enjoyed the site and this forum. Glad I found it 

WEStrass, I use an external Maxtor hard disk drive as the primary destination for storing Ghost 9.0 images, and maintain about the ten most recent backups.  This allows me to easily retrieve an older version of an existing file, when the need occasionally arises.  I run a full backup weekly, and monthly copy the most recent set of image files to DVD discs in order to guard against failure of the Maxtor drive.

The Ghost 9.0 User's Guide (pages 33+) has a very nice discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of various options for storing backup images.

For daily backup of application data files (e.g., “*.doc” for Microsoft Word, etc.), I use the DataProtector (http://onlinebackup.connected.com/) online backup and recovery service in order to be confident that all such critical files are safely stored (as well as knowing that they are off-site).

A good overview of backup concepts can be found at http://www.theeldergeek.com/protecting_the_system.htm. ; In addition, an overview of some of the tool options is presented at http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,2533,a=126125,00.asp.

If you want to backup particular folders/files onto your other HD, use xcopy. It's quick and selective when used with the correct switches. I have a notepad file on my desktop, containing xcopy commands and it updates the folders/files that I have backed up to my second HD whenever I double click on it. My second HD is partioned to store ghost images, backups and other work. It all works well.

Thanks for the link Pleonasm, but as I pointed out earlier, the switches do the job in a similar manner.