For a while, I have been backing up C: to DVD with Ghost 2003. I use "Partition to Image". Then, I check it. No errors.

Now, I have used Win2k Disk Management to partition and format a new drive. The restore went well. (Actually, I had a second "Program Files" on D:, which I Ghosted and restored as well, both with Partition to Image.)

Everything went well until I tried to boot with the new drive, and booting fails. I put the old drive back, and it worked fine.

Both drives are using Cable Select, although I tried the Master setting also.

Any suggestions?
TIA, RickK

RickK

In another thread, I think we found that *Partition-to-Image* does capture the MBR--but a *Partition-from-Image* restore to a HDD that has already been partitioned--as you have done--will not restore the former MBR--i.e. the restore will not *disturb* the partitioning, and the MBR that you have already created using the Win2k Disk Management.

Using Win2k Disk Management to partition and format a new HDD from an existing Windows OS--I'm betting the new HDD's restored primary OS partition has not been set *active*.

PartitionMagic, gdisk--the partitioning tool that comes with Ghost 2003, and  

MBRWizard

, a free partition utility--can all be used to look at the status of that partition and change it to *active*, if that is in fact the problem.

If you did a *disk-from-image* restore--then the backed up MBR would be restored and the *partition table* showing that primary OS partition as *active* would be in place--you possibly would have to use Ghost *switches* to control how big that restored partition will be--if you leave Ghost in its *default* mode--*disk-from-image* will fill the destination HDD with a single partition, and leave no unused room on the destination HDD.

Report back with the results of your efforts!

FWIW I had a similar experience about one year ago.
After restoring an image using Ghost 9 and rebooting, Windows would not start because the file hal.dll is missing or corrupt (according to Microsoft this is not an unusual situation). I booted with the Ghost 9 CD to the recovery environment and could see that the file is where it should be. Following Microsoft’s advice I replaced the file, then ran all the Disk doctor tests without success. The same problem happened with older images of partition C: that had restored well in the past, therefore it did not seem to be a problem of the images themselves. (When making an image I routinely verify it by restoring it immediately; if something is wrong I would rather know it sooner than later.) Symantec support were no help at all; they assigned a case number but did not follow up and stopped answering emails. As I use laptops with Windows preinstalled, I do not have a retail copy of Windows that I can use to reboot and run a repair. I had to start again from scratch by running the recovery program. The problem never happened again but it shook me out of a false sense of security. After reading the 'Ghost Guide' I want now to fine tune my procedures by using Ghost 2003 instead of Ghost 9 and storing the images to a FAT32 partition instead of NTFS (on an external USB HDD).
I bought an alternative program but the initial experience was very frustrating so I decided to stick to the ‘devil I know’ and keep my fingers crossed hoping that the problem was indeed a one-time event.

Thank you for the warning. It accept there is no failsafe method of ensuring that the operating system partition can be restored easily. Although this is a desirable convenience it is not the main objective for me as I can if necessary reinstall the programs and tweaks following a detailed crib sheet. My priority is to preserve the data. Regards