victory 

(FYI--victory's first post on this problem is here:

ghost restarted -error can't find operating system

)

Need a little more information to make any recommendations:

1.  What OS are you using?  WinXP?  Other?

2.  How many HDD's are on the system?  And what type HDD's are they--IDE, SATA, ...?

3.  What partition layout did you have before you tried using Ghost--on each HDD if you have more than 1?

4.  What were the partition types before using Ghost--primary, active, extended, hidden, etc.?

5.  What file system is on each partition--NTFS, FAT32, FAT16,...?

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This may be a 'boot.ini' problem now, rather than a virtual partition problem--need the answers to the above question to know how to procede. 



By the way, the rest of my day may be unpredictable--so I may not be able to respond for awhile.

victory

Thanks for posting your answers--I'm getting a clearer idea of what you have set up--I can give you some direction to consider, but still have more questions, too:

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A Dell computer--many (all--?) Dells come with a separate partition called the 'Dell Utility' partition, and apparently some come with a third 'Dell PC Restore' partition which is used to restore the system to the way it was the day the system was delivered to you.  You can find out more than you probably want to know here at Dan Goodell's website:

Inside the Dell Utility Partition

Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition

Troubleshooting the Restore Process

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I'm a little unsure regarding your 'terminology'--where/how are you getting this information?  Is it from 'gdisk.exe'--the DOS version of Ghost's 'GDISK' program--which is a command line partitioning program (similar to Fdisk--MS's command line partitioning program for DOS) included with Ghost 2003?

I used 'gdisk32.exe' (the version that will run within WinXP by opening a command window in the Norton Ghost subdirectory) and typing the following command line at the prompt:  'gdisk 1 /status'

Here's the output:



You might notice that I have the same number of drive letters as you--C:\ through H:\!

Now, I have not tried the DOS version, yet, but I would hope that it's a similar output.

All of the drive letters represent 'partitions'.  So are the 'partition 1' and 'partition 2' you are referring to representing ?

In the screen shot above, you see columns labeled 'Partition', 'Status', 'Type', and 'System'.  What is the 'Status' and 'Type' for your 'partition 1' and 'partition 2'?

Are there 'Volume Label' and 'System' listed for your 'partition 1' and 'partition 2'?

Am I correct that your drive letters 'd,e,f,g, and h' do not show up in the 'gdisk' output because they are encrypted?

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Could you provide the specific reference by Symantec, i.e. the web address for the above?

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When you say, 'and also listed partition 2, was the other i described (52752.5mb).'--was that partition 'listed' on the next line (under) as 'partition 3'?

That '7.8mb as partition 2' is a number I've seen before--but not in this context.  If you partition a second HDD on your system that is for 'data, etc.' only, and you make it an Extended Partition only with logical drives within that Extended Partition (this will prevent drive letter changes to your 1st HDD--this applies to drive letter assignments under DOS where the drive letter is not 'sticky' like they are under WinXP NT-based OS's)--you actually do not get just the Extended Partition only!

You also get a 7.8 mb 'primary' partition at the beginning of that HDD (but no drive letter is ever assigned to it), and the rest is the Extended Partition.  It must be a necessary HDD file structure for the system to properly 'see' and 'address' the HDD (in DOS only?).

So, I'm thinking that that 7.8 mb partition represents the entry in the 'partition table' that allows Ghost to create the 'virtual partition' from which to work--and now that you have run 'ghreboot', that entry has been deleted from the partition table.

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I'm unclear what you mean at the end, 'but left the extended part there.'

Please answer the additional questions above--let me know if what I have suggested sounds about right--I still think it's a boot.ini problem at this point--and once I have the answers above, hopefully we can address that issue.

victory

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Hmmmm...you didn't mention 'repartitioned' in your prior posts--you may be way past 'recovery' of your OS at this point   !

Re-partitioning wipes out whatever was on the HDD--as does re-formating.

If you wiped out the partition by re-partitioning, that would explain the '-error can't find operating system'.

So, clarify--what did you actually do?  Did you use Gdisk to do it?

i tried F8 to boot up in many of the safe mode options but all give same blue screen result.

when i replace the mbr with a standard one, did that make a new boot.ini file?

i do have an ultimate boot cd, in case i need to use those tools.

thanks!

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For what it is worth, Norton Ghost 2003 is thoroughly incompatible with an active Roxio GoBack Personal Edition 3 set-up.  GoBack should be installed only after following a successful Ghost 2003 install, and should at least be disabled during any sort of Ghost 2003 operation.

However, Ghost 9.0 certainly falls outside my realm of experience.

victory

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That would be separate.

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I don't know much about Norton Goback--but I doubt it altered the boot.ini file.  As I said above, in the previous post, I think has altered the drive letter assignments in some fashion.

'It's more complicated than that!'  When using the NTFS file system, you can not easily 'look at' files (unless you are successfully booted to Windows), copy them, edit them, or write changes to them onto the NTFS system.  There are ways to do it, but it takes some convoluted steps.  But to access the boot.ini file from a DOS boot disk, floppy or CD, you could use this free program from TeraByte:

EditBINI

There's a brief Readme file in the zip file that tells how to use it.

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You can start here for more info on the boot process, and how the MBR and boot.ini interact:

Background - The Boot Process

Please report back with the progress you make.  We all learn from these endeavors.

depressed.
after all this and two local consultants, it appears now there's new problems. now none of my partitions exist.  i missed the last week of backups of personal data before the crash due to problems at xdrive and difficulties with my laptops, so i'm out all that work.

i think the encryption compounds the windows problems, but at heart it is windows. the encryption people should know what common software conflicts with their programs, but it could all be avoided by not using windows. maybe.

i'm thinking about buying a mac now if i can find a good full disk on the fly encryption program for it. i'm considering linux etc also, but i think i want off this pc platform entirely.  the fact that a mac has the hardware, os, and software all tightly controlled by one company makes a lot of sense.

i just spent 1800$ on this dell a few months ago, but it has easily cost me $6000+ in lost work.  and i just can't deal with it anymore. the frusteration factor is almost enough to make me jump off a bridge. seriously. i can't handle it.

i realize this isn't a mac forum, but what do ya'll think?
does anyone here use a mac?
how about alternate os?

i know the whole ghost and systemworks2005 package is available for mac. i guess different companies actually wrote the mac components and norton bought them to make the suite?  is that the case with the symantec 'go back' product too?

i use my machine mainly for adobe photoshop, microsoft word&excel and the internet. and my main concerns are reliable easy backups and full disk encryption. and it has to be a laptop.

any input appreciated.
v.