I added a new HD tonight, and then used Dell's DSR to rebuild a Dell E510.  After taking off the trial ware and updating as necessary I installed NSW 2004 to have Ghost.

I had planned to Image to a USB HD (a task I'd already done once before a few days ago) and then test that new image by restoring it to the new HD and booting from it.  (Once finished with this I was going to set some data and photo partitions up and ship the system back to my sister knowing I had something I could to recover from if it became infected again.)

When Ghost rebooted into the virtual partition, it denoted that I had a new drive and needed me to provide KB input denoting that I wasn't violating the EULA.  I wasn't, but could not respond b/c I can't get a USB KB to work in the partition.  (We won't go there too much of my time has been wasted on that.)

Just how did Ghost know that there was a new HD?  The system had been wiped clean since it had been installed and used.  Ghost wasn’t installed until after the new HD was already up and running.  I uninstalled and reinstalled NSW but of course that made no difference.

My guess is that it must have something to do with "marking a drive", and I'm not sure what I can do right now.  The only backup I could get to run was a clone (vs Image) of disk 1 to disk 2, both with 3 partitions.  This ran fine as no KB input was necessary, but I was shocked to see that disk 2 is the disk seen as active by XP.

What must I do to have the system recognize disk 1 as the boot disk?  Once that is done, can I delete all the partitions on disk 2 and use it as I like?  If so, then is it marked now and would I be able to image disk 1 to it?

I can't just try this b/c if I wipe off disk 2 and disk 1 isn't bootable I think I'd find a tall cliff to jump off at this point.

I really admire those of you who can get Ghost to do what ever you want done.  I'm simply at its mercy and wouldn't even be that well off if not for this forum.

Clear?  Oh yes it's all been clear as mud to me.  I've had some sleep now and I'll see what I can add....

I've tried all sorts of USB attempts after reading multiple threads here and elsewhere.  I added files to the user files area, but did not make any changes to config.sys.  My BIOS does not allow any changes to USB what so ever.  My KB and mouse work fine in Safe Mode so I can make changes in Boot order as necessary.  I've given up on USB for now as I need to get the system returned to my sister via UPS.

I certainly started all of this in Windows, but ended up in DOS with the EULA b/c I couldn't respond to the prompt.  How did Ghost even know there was a new drive b/c I rebuilt the entire system and Ghost wasn't added until just before wanting to make new images.  (It was as though Ghost remembered its previous installation (where the second HD didn't exist) that had been formatted over.  Since it was then that Ghost’s initial run shouldn’t they both have been new and assumed marked?)

Right now it is all a fuzzy memory so the system as it stands is:

Disk 1 is the Disk that I want to be the active boot drive.
Disk 2 is the cloned image of Disk 1 that is now active.

I'm assuming that the cloning operation "marked" Disk 2.   Will a format of Disk 2 leave it marked?  If so I'd be able (I hope) to image Disk 1 to a partition on Disk 2 and have that as my backup (vs CDs) in the event of more malware issues once the system is back to my sister.

If I can get the system set up this way and have time to try the USB #%^@ again I will, but I'll start a new thread or add to those that I've already posted.

Part of me just wants to disconnect Disk 2 and see if Disk 1 will boot.  I just don't know what could happen if that worked and then I reconnected Disk 2 so I'm fearful of going further. 

Thanks and hopefully this is a bit clearer.

NightOwl wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2007 at 11:35am:

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=11173...

NightOwl:

Are you really ready fo this?????

I hope to answer all of your questions below but will not use quotes as I think they will make it more difficult right now. 

As an update:

I can disconnect the cloned drive (Disk 2 from previous messages) and boot from Disk 1.  I do receive a boot message saying that the Disk 2 is missing do I want to F1 to continue or F2 for setup.  I used either with no change to the system actually booting.

When I reattach Disk 2 I can boot w/o the F1 / F2 message.

When Disk 2 is attached, Windows Disk Mgmt lists it as “(Active)”, and Disk 1 as “(System)” Without Disk 2 attached, Disk 1 is still “(System)”, and Disk 2 (to Windows) becomes the IO Magic USB drive.)

Since Windows lists the new HD as Disk 2 when it is attached, but my IO Magic as Disk 2 with the new HD isn’t attached, I’m going to begin calling them by their brand name so that you’ll know which one I’m referring to.

In regard to your request for clarification on several points:
==========================================

The system is a Dell E510 desktop running WIN XP MC.

It does not normally have a Floppy Drive, but I did end up inserting one as a temporary measure to help with the problems I was having.

The original SATA drive is a Seagate.  This is listed as Drive 0 SATA 0 in BIOS.  Windows calls this Disk 0.  My notes originally called it Disk or Drive 1.  I will now call this the Seagate.  It is 160 GB with 3 partitions (P1=DSR; P2=C:; p3=Dell Utility)

The newly installed SATA drive is a WD.  BIOS lists this as Drive 1 SATA 1.  My notes originally called this Drive 2.  When connected as the second SATA drive to the system, Windows call this Disk 1.  I will now call this the WD as when this is disconnected Windows moves a USB connected HD to “Disk 2”.  It is 160 GB with 3 partitions (P1=DSR; P2=C:; p3=Dell Utility)  This is the disk I cloned from the original Seagate.

The system has a Sony DVD listed in BIOS as Drive 2 PATA 0, PRI IDE Master.  Windows calls this CD ROM 0.  I will call it the Sony DVD.

The system has a TSS CDRW listed in BIOS as Drive 3 PATA 1, PRI IDE Slave.  Windows calls this CD ROM 1.  I will call it the TSS CDRW.

I have an IO Magic external HD that is usually attached to my LAN, but I have been using it as a USB attached device to this system in order to give me a location to dump things.  Having never tried a Ghost over the network I did not attempt this.  I’ve done them on other systems to the IO Magic as a USB drive in the past so I chose to continue with that method once I began having problems with getting to the point of writing CDs.  This drive is 300GB with 3 partitions and some unallocated space.  I will call it the IO Magic External Drive.  All 3 partitions, as well as those on the SATA drives above, are NTFS.  The partitions are Photos, Images/Backups, and Work.

I also have a small Jump drive that I connect to the front of the system when transferring something off my home system.

The current boot order is:  1. On Board or USB Floppy   2. Onboard or USB CD –Rom  3.  SATA HD  4.  USB Device

The only BIOS setting for USB is “On” for enabled; Off for disabled; No Boot for “controller enabled but BIOS will not recognize USB storage devices”.

Per the warnings I receive from Ghost the USB connections for the Mouse and Keyboard are USB 1.1.  Physically these are at the back of the tower.  I also connect the IO Magic HD in back and Ghost it, as well as the Jump drive that is sometimes connected to the front of the system as USB 2.0

I have gone to Intel to look up the chipset and found that it indeed does have some USB 1.1, and some USB 2.0.  I did not track down which physical connector was mapped to the corresponding controller.

My normal Keyboard and mouse are wireless and connect via USB.  When I first started working on this system I was unable to boot into anything other than XP as the KB was not recognized during the boot process.  After lots of other attempts and an hour in chat with Dell, I found out that the system requires a native direct connected KB and Mouse.  I attempted to use some PS2/USB connectors to connect my old PS2 KB and Mouse and true enough, I couldn’t get into Safe mode or the DSR then either as they both required a KB input (F8 or F11) during boot.

I bought a new USB KB and USB mouse.  The KB is a MS Digital Media Pro, and the Mouse is a WheelMouse Optical. 

It took some moving of them around to find the specific connectors that the KB and mouse will work at during boot.  Using those connectors with the new USB KB and Mouse I can enter any F keys I like during boot.  I can also use the KB just fine when I boot from an old Win98 System Boot (floppy) Disk (ie. DOS).  The Ghost virtual partition does not respond to the KB or mouse.

I’ve added the “class” and “sys” driver files for the KB and Mouse in the User Added Files.  These were the files I found in “Drivers” listed in each device’s Properties.  I also ended up adding the USB driver that I found on a thread here or elsewhere.  I cannot remember the name of it at this point.  I have never made any changes to Config.Sys.

I’ve also tired to see if using MS DOS would help with the USB problem.  I used a floppy that I’d used to make an image of a Dell Dimension 3000 desktop a little while ago.  (That system just hung the virtual partition with PC DOS, but was fine when I used MS DOS.)  When I attempt to use the same MS DOS with this system, however, Ghost tells me that the version of MS DOS is incompatible with Ghost.   The version of Ghost I was using on the 3000 was Ghost 2003 standalone whereas the one on this system is Ghost 2003 via NSWP2004.

As for other bootable CDs that I have, I have a bootable DSRfix and bootable Ultimate Boot CD that I’ve used in other systems now that I think about it.  I have not attempted their use in this system.  (I’ll go give those a shot after I post this note.)  I don’t know enough about what makes them bootable to know what to pull off, but if either works I’ll post their DIRs here and perhaps someone here will know.  This system does have a Roxio pkg that says it can create bootable CDs – as long as I tell it what to include, right?


Responses to your other points and questions

Thanks for the info about the drives and how they are marked.  The cloned WD is now marked and once we’re sure it’s safe I guess I’ll be able to format it in XP add some partitions and then Image the 3 partitions on the Seagate to a partition on the WD.  If all of you ignite a spark in my brain then maybe I’ll get a bootable set of CDs after all.

I made the determination that the WD was the boot disk as soon as the system rebooted after having finished the cloning operation.  I saw that XP showed the disk as being “Active” in Disk Mgmt.  I have verified this by adding a new user to the system, shutting down, disconnecting the WD and rebooting.  The new user doesn’t show up when booted from the Seagate.  When I reattach the WD and boot, the second user does show up.

I did not change BIOS.  Something about cloning made the change.  When I cloned the Seagate and WD they and all other device were in the locations denoted above.  They are in the same positions now.  I’ve included a screen print to help.

I don’t know if it’s just me or perhaps there is a difference in the capabilities of the drives, but the system does “feel” faster when booted from the WD – the one that is “active” vs. the Seagate listed as only “system” when the WD is not installed.  I may go run some speed tests to check that out.

Please note I have NOT changed the physical location of the WD and Seagate.  So I can boot from either the “real” or the “clone” without moving the WD into the Seagate’s position

What’s next?

I’m going to post this and while it is being reviewed try the following:

Run Performance Test with the system booted to the WD with it left on the current interface (ie BIOS SATA 1).  Do the same with the same with the system booted with only the Seagate attached and at its current location (ie. BIOS SATA 0).  This is just to see if there is really any speed difference.

I’ll then switch the interface cables run the tests and how those compare to those above.  I’m also going to watch what happens to the “active” notation is Disk Mgmnt.

What would I like help on?

I’d be ecstatic if I could send a set of bootable CDs home with this system.  Since my only choice of creating those seemed to be letting Ghost do that, I’d given up and decided to simply put an image on the WD and hope to be able to have enough of a stable system to use Ghost via the Windows interface if I ever needed to talk my sister through a restore.

If my having a couple of other bootable CD (that I need to test to see if I can use on this system), can help me build what I need for this system then I just need to know what files to pull off and what other files (for Ghost) need to be added.

If any of the USB KB “stuff” makes sense to you after reading through the above then please do explain.

I’m off to run the performance tests and the bootable CDs from my system to see if they will work with this system.  I’ll repost here once that is finished.

I’m open to any “Oh you idiot, you should have……” advice that you may have.  I’m a novice with Ghost and had no idea it could be so different between systems.

If I missed covering anything you wanted to know, just let me know.  I’ve included a couple of screen prints below to help.

artesian79

Quote:

Yikes!!!!  I was not ready for this post!!!!  

Your post is the second this week with anomalous Ghost functioning from its Windows interface--as I note in my previous post--you should not be where you apparently are!!!

Let's see, hmmm ... this last week was leading up to the *full moon* last night--okay--I'm good!!!!  I can rationalize this (in a full moon sort of way   )!

I will respond to a couple points first--will probably not get to most of them until tomorrow--have somewhere to be shortly--

Quote:

For $10-12, that's cheap insurance--I'd recommend keeping a floppy drive installed!  That is going to come in handy shortly, if my guess is correct!

Do you have PartitionMagic?

Quote:

P1=Dell System Restore, P2=WinXP drive C:\, P3=Dell Utility partition--you may wish to review this information--cloning with these partitions present can create problems:  

Dan Goodell's *Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition*

Dan Goodell's *Inside the Dell Utility Partition*

Re: Ghost and PC Restore on Dell

***************************************************

Quote:

The partition on the cloned HDD should be active--because the source for that OS partition is also active--so Ghost transferred that status to the destination HDD--the OS partition on the source HDD that says *System*, is also by default *Active*--otherwise it could not be the *System* partition!

Quote:

OK--that's good (except for the F1, F2 issue)!  If you enter setup (F2), does the HDD controller automatically detect that *Disk 2* is not present and reset the BIOS accordingly?  Or does the F1, F2 message keep reappearing on each re-boot?

Have to be off, I will return.......

artesian79

I noticed that in my last post I did not mention my best guess on:

Quote:

That's most likely one of the Dell partitions--either the *Restore* or *Utility*--I think if it's the first physical partition--then it's probably the *Restore*--if it's the 3rd partition, then it's probably the *Utility* partition.

I can Image to and from the WD.

I set the trace running on the DSRFIX boot but did not see himem.sys load.  I'm not sure if this would have caught what you're looking for.  What do I do to find out?

I need to take the system to UPS tomorrow, but if you have any ideas that you think would be likely to enable me to create the CDs I'll give it one more shot before packing up the system.

Thanks and YEAH Colts!

Running Gost.exe after booting from a different system disk (floppy) allowed my Keyboard to work.

I hate not finishing a problem through to the end....