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A few questions regarding Ghost (Read 20850 times)
sveioen
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A few questions regarding Ghost
Feb 9th, 2007 at 6:34pm
 
Hello all.

I've been reading alot of the material on this webpage and I've found a lot of interesting material. One thing I really dont understand yet is this;

I want to make a bootable  Ghost DVD. On this DVD I also want an image of my disk. In other words, I want a totally independent DVD. Is this possible? I tried doing this with the http://nightowl.radified.com/bootcd/bootcdintro.html-cd-image. But then I ran into problems when trying to add the disk-image into the CD-image. The CD-image only can have 1.44 MB as I understand (as it emulates a flopppy?)

Thanks!
 
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #1 - Feb 9th, 2007 at 11:18pm
 
sveioen

Welcome to the forum--there's lots to learn here if it's of interest to you!

What version of Ghost are you using--my bootable optical disc guide only applies to Ghost 2003 or earlier retail versions or Ghost 8.x or earlier versions of DOS based Ghost--it does not apply to Ghost 9/10/or Save & Restore versions!

The 1.44 MB limitation is for the hidden boot sector of a bootable optical disc--only the boot files need to be included there--the rest of the disc's capacity can be burned with whatever files you wish to burn to the data portion of the optical disc.
 

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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #2 - Feb 10th, 2007 at 9:51am
 
sveioen wrote on Feb 9th, 2007 at 6:34pm:
I want to make a bootable  Ghost DVD. On this DVD I also want an image of my disk. In other words, I want a totally independent DVD. Is this possible?


I'm assuming you have Ghost 9, 10, or Save & Restore version since you posted on this forum.

For those 3 versions, the Ghost 9/10/S&R install CD *is* the emergency recovery boot cd.  You boot from the cd, and then you restore your DVD image (which you previously created with Ghost in XP) to your hard drive.

So, the DVD and emergency boot CD are totally indepndent, if that is what you meant.  Think of it like a boot diskette and DVD.
 

Ghost4me  Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15.  Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #3 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 6:53am
 
Thank you NightOwl!

I have Ghost 9 (Norton Systemworks 2005). And as far as I know the 2003-version is included in this package (at least I found a ghost.exe with -ver = 3.1.25). I think I want to focus on 2003. My impression is that this version is the most reliable.

Another thing about your "bootable"-guide (which is excellent), NightOwl. When it asks if I want to make the CD/DVD bootable, it complains that it does not find ghost.exe "on this floppy". So making a bootable CD/DVD is not possible, right? Would it help if you add ghost.exe to the "non-1.44 mb emulation" (in other words, the "normal" ~648 mb on the cd) sector-thing on the CD? Shouldnt it find ghost.exe if I did this?

The thing is, I want to make a clean install of Windows XP. Boot with ghost.exe, make an image and burn this image to a bootable DVD. All I want is a single bootable DVD to save me when disaster happens.

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum!
 
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #4 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 9:30am
 
sveioen

Quote:
Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum!

Easily corrected  Wink !

Quote:
When it asks if I want to make the CD/DVD bootable, it complains that it does not find ghost.exe "on this floppy". So making a bootable CD/DVD is not possible, right?

Well, that message should not be part of making a bootable CD/DVD using the
Guide
--when does that message occur--what procedure are you using?  Is it when you have booted from the bootable optical disc, have launched Ghost, and you are creating a Ghost image and burning it to the optical media directly by Ghost?

If you have followed the
Guide
,
Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive
, *ghost.exe* should be included in the 1.44 MB hidden boot sector of that bootable optical disc, and it is loaded onto the *virtual A:\* drive that is created when you boot the disc.  

You can confirm that by typing *dir* and pressing enter at the A:\ prompt--*ghost.exe* should be one of the listed files!

It's been a long time since I tried burning an image directly to optical media--that warning message may occur even if *ghost.exe* is present on the *virtual A:\* drive--and the program, if I remember correctly, does say you need to have a *floppy disk* with *ghost.exe on it* in the *floppy drive* during the process of making a bootable optical disc--but the *virtual A:\* drive meets Ghost's requirement, and will copy the contents of that *virtual A:\* drive to the hidden boot sector of the newly created bootable optical disc!

If for some reason, you have not included *ghost.exe* in the boot sector of the bootable optical disk that you have booted from, and you are launching Ghost from some other location to get you to this point in the Ghost process of creating a Ghost image directly to optical media, and you want to make it bootable, this problem can be easily worked around--start Ghost with this command line:

ghost.exe -ghostoncd


Ghost will now start as usual, but if you save a Ghost image to optical media, it will also place a copy of *ghost.exe* on the data portion of the optical media in the root directory along with the image file.  You will still get that message regarding needing *ghost.exe* in the floppy drive, but Ghost will place a copy of itself on the data portion of the optical disc.

The only requirement to now boot the optical disc and have the *ghost.exe* available, is that your boot files have to mount and assign drive letters to your optical drive so you have DOS access to the optical disc once booted to DOS--you can then run Ghost from that root directory of the optical disc.

Hopefully, I didn't loose you in all that info above...  Wink !

Quote:
ghost.exe with -ver = 3.1.25


...

Actually, the version is *Ghost 2003*, (build=793)* (was the last updated build before support ended)--the *cdrlib=3.1.25* is the optical drive compatibility list that Ghost uses to know what DOS commands are needed for various optical writers in order to be compatible with Ghost!

Quote:
I think I want to focus on 2003. My impression is that this version is the most reliable.

Both Ghost 2003 and Ghost 9.0 are very reliable--as long as you do not run into a compatibility issue--and that can happen with both!  The major difference is that Ghost 2003 runs in DOS outside of the Windows OS, while Ghost 9 does what's referred to as *hot imaging* from within the Windows OS!  So it depends on what your needs are for an imaging tool!
 

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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #5 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 12:15pm
 
Thank you for a really good answer NightOwl!

I went through the bootup again with the Ghost boot CD, it asks if I want to copy over the bootfiles, I say yes, and this comes up:

Quote:
Ghost boot disc 1 does not contain ghost.exe.
Ensure you have ghost boot disc 2 (containing ghost.exe) available when booting
from this CD/DVD.


I did include ghost.exe in the boot-sector. And the DVDs I have burned have not turned out to be bootable, so obviously I am doing something wrong.  Smiley

I used http://nightowl.radified.com/bootcd/bootcdintro.html (Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive)
 
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #6 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 12:46pm
 
sveioen

Quote:
Ghost boot disc 1 does not contain ghost.exe. 
Ensure you have ghost boot disc 2 (containing ghost.exe) available when booting from this CD/DVD.

You must not be building the bootable optical disk from scratch according to the
Guide
.

That message only occurs if you are using one of the 2 floppy boot disk sets that is created by the Norton Ghost Boot Wizard where the boot files are only on disk 1, and the *ghost.exe* is on disk 2!

So, you will have to explain how it is you claim to be following the
Guide
, but end up with Ghost claiming it's one of the two disk boot floppy disk sets????

Post the contents of *autoexec.bat* and *config.sys* and the list of files you are including in the boot files for creating the bootable CD.
 

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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #7 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 1:02pm
 
Strange indeed. The error only appear when I choose to save the image to the DVD-drive (which is logic..).

List of files:
  • autoexec.bat
  • command.com
  • config.sys
  • ghost.exe
  • io.sys
  • mouse.com
  • mscdex.exe
  • msdos.sys
  • oakcdrom.sys


Autoexec.bat:

Quote:
path=a:\;x:\
mouse.com
mscdex.exe /d:nightowl /l:x /m:16 /v
ghost.exe


Config.sys:

Quote:
device=oakcdrom.sys /d:nightowl
lastdrive=z
 
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #8 - Feb 11th, 2007 at 1:10pm
 
sveioen

Hmmmm...well that's strange indeed--as I said, it's been awhile since I've tried saving a Ghost image to optical media.  It will take me awhile, but I'll try it and get back to you...
 

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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #9 - Feb 12th, 2007 at 12:26am
 
sveioen

I have tried with both bootable CD's and floppy disks--the only way I can make Ghost create the message:

Quote:
Ghost boot disc 1 does not contain ghost.exe.   
Ensure you have ghost boot disc 2 (containing ghost.exe) available when booting from this CD/DVD.

is to use a boot disc or disk that does not have *ghost.exe* included in the 1.44 MB boot sector of the optical disc or floppy disk.

In all my attempts, if *ghost.exe* is present, then that warning message does not occur--and *ghost.exe* is included in the boot sector of the bootable optical disc created.

So, because you apparently are able to boot from the original optical disc you created and load Ghost successfully--there must be something that's *not right* about that boot disc so that Ghost does not *see* *ghost.exe* when you attempt to create bootable optical discs with new image files on them.

I can only recommend you re-do the bootable disc as outlined in the
Guide
, and see if a new one works correctly.

Once you have booted with that bootable CD--if you have Ghost set to automatically load during boot--*Quit* out of Ghost to the A:\ prompt, and then type *dir* and press enter--I assume *ghost.exe* shows up as one of the boot files in the A:\ directory listing?
 

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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #10 - Feb 12th, 2007 at 9:29am
 
Yes, ghost.exe is where it should be.  Cry

I will "experiment" a bit, try to make it work, and report back.

Thank you, NightOwl!  Smiley
 
 
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Re: A few questions regarding Ghost
Reply #11 - Feb 14th, 2007 at 10:04pm
 
I haven't got round to attempting this yet - i think you mean make a bootable dvd that boots and runs ghost PLUS has your image file on the dvd so you don't have to swap disks - just a nice all in one.  Plus if you can get it to work, i believe you can get the ghost exe file to run with switches to automatically restore the image to a certain partition/drive on the pc.  Obviously you'd have to be careful about getting the switches right depending on your hard drive and partition setup.

If you have any luck post back.
 
 
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