NightOwl, I understand that Ghost 8.2 is capable of restoring .GHO images created by Ghost 2003.  Nonetheless, from a marketing viewpoint, I was interested in whether Ghost 2003 is actually included with Norton Save & Restore.

Ghost4me, I understand from your prior post (Reply #13) that the Ghost 8.2 file included with Norton Save & Restore has the same version number as that provided with Ghost 10.  To clarify the issue, however, can you try to create an image using Ghost 8.2 supplied with Norton Save & Restore?

John. wrote on Apr 24^th, 2006 at 5:51pm:

Symantec has been releasing utility software bundles containing Norton Ghost 10.0 which a number of vendors have been selling for anywhere from $9.99 USD to FREE (after MIR while disregarding sales taxes and/or shipping - CLICK HERE for an example) lately.  I use the Ghost 10.0 CD to concoct a BartPE-XPE CD for mimicking Ghost 2003 without sweating DOS-related aggravation with external USB HDDs.  I doubt that I could get such a bargain on Ghost 8.2 even if I was able to locate a seller.

Ghost4me, to the best of my knowledge, a user can’t purchase a single license for Ghost 8.2 – it is only sold in expensive multi-user packs by Symantec for the corporate environment.  So, the presence of a fully functional Ghost 8.2 bundled with Norton Save & Restore or Ghost 10 is (practically speaking) the only way for an individual to acquire a license.

Beyond the comments already offered by NightOwl, I would add that the use of Ghost 8.2 provides application redundancy for an image backup strategy.  Personally, I use Ghost 10 as my primary image backup solution, but about once a month I create a .GHO image backup with Ghost 8.2.

Finally, consider that the use of Ghost 8.2 through the Ghost 10 recovery environment CD allows a user to create and save an image of a “factory fresh” PC before any applications are installed.  Obviously, this objective could not be done with Ghost 10.

P.S.:  Does Norton Save & Restore also include a copy of Ghost 2003?

Ghost4me

Quote:


But, Ghost 10 comes with a separate installation CD that is Ghost 2003.  It was included with Ghost 10 packages because those folks who still are using Win98se or WinMe can not use Ghost 10 that requires WinXP.

So, I think Pleonasm is trying to find out if that separate installation CD is still being included.

With the *official* support for Win98 and WinMe by Microsoft set to expire this summer, I suspect other companies are going to *abandon* most of their programs for those OS's as well.

By the way, *ghostexp.exe (2003.0.0.739)* is *Ghost Explorer*.

Ghost4me, the Ghost 2003 application – if present in the Norton Save & Restore product – should be reflected in the existence of a Ghost.exe file dated 17 DEC 2003 (1,031,428 bytes).  The application file might possibly also be named "F2506_ghost.exe".

Pleonasm wrote on Apr 25^th, 2006 at 1:49pm:

Here is just my own personal opinion, so take it for what it is worth:  Consider that the life of a pc is about 4 years.  2003 + 4 = 2007.  Why would Symantec continue to support something that is at the end of its life cycle?  Also, many of the Ghost 2003 problems I have seen posted deal with issues of getting USB drivers and new SATA and other chipsets and motherboards to work with Ghost 2003.

Trying to keep supporting fewer and fewer legacy pc's probably just doesn't make sense.  They can barely provide tech support for their current product (Ghost 10)!

Life cycle decisions are a part of any smart business planning, whether we agree with them or not.

According to Symantec's own website, the requirements (read into that:  target audience) for S&R are:

Windows® XP Home/XP Pro/XP Media Center Edition