An Incremental backup just copies the sectors that have changed since the last full image-sector backup (Called a Recovery Point).  So it is much smaller in size.

Similar in concept to file backups.

I've just started using Ghost 10 (never used Ghost before) and was impressed by how fast the initial backup (149 gig drive - 41 gigs used - 20 minutes) went going to a second HD. (I tried using Ghost 2003 to write to DVD's - and after 12 hours and 50% completed- I cancelled it) I put it on schedule for incremental daily backups. 

I then used Ghost 10 CD Recovery Environment to boot the PC (wanted to be sure I could) and recovered a single file to a new location as a test.   It worked perfectly. 

  The question I have, is if you just want to restore just a couple of files, is there an easy way of determining which incremental backup contains the latest version of your file?  Or do you have to manually use the recovery point explorer to browse through them one at a time starting with the lastest incremental?

    One other question, if you recover the PC from a base (full) recovery point (image) to restore a failed drive, does Ghost 10 apply the incremental backups automatically to the restored drive or do you do that manually?

   Thanks for any suggestions you might have. 

  Again, so far I've been impressed by the product. 

   

LakeH,

Ghost4me is not misleading you. Yes, I like incremental recovery points and schedule them daily along with a weekly baseline recovery point. I keep all recovery points (going back 3 to 4 weeks) in the same folder on my second HD. I keep a few older baseline recovery points on an external HD.

If you want to restore to last Wednesday then just choose that recovery point. It doesn't matter if it's baseline or incremental. As long as the recovery points are in the same folder, Ghost 10 will find the needed files.

For restoring files or folders, the easiest way is to mount the recovery point as a drive. Right click the recovery point in Windows (incremental or baseline, it doesn't matter) and click Mount. Accept the drive letter. The mounted drive looks just like your OS partition on the day the recovery point was created. You can copy files and folders from the mounted drive to your HD but you can't make any permanent changes to the mounted drive. Once it is unmounted it's gone and you still have your original recovery point.

Writing an image to a second HD as you have done is the fastest way to create an image. Twice as fast as imaging to the same HD. Choosing High compression (which I use) increases the time of image creation by 2 to 3 fold.


To Restore an image with Ghost 10

Boot to the CD
set the Time Zone
click Recover My Computer
You will probably get a message about No recovery points found. Click OK.
click Open another location
Navigate to your recovery point
click Recover My Computer
put a dot in Custom (not Express). Click OK.
Next
choose the destination. Next.
tick Verify recovery point before restore
tick Check for file system errors after recovery
put a dot in Primary partition
tick Set drive active (for booting OS)
tick Restore original disk signature
tick Restore MBR if you are restoring to a new empty HD. No tick is needed if you are restoring to the HD from which the recovery point was created.
Next
tick in Reboot when finished
click Finish. Yes.

Are you separating your OS from your data files? Then you can image the OS partition and backup your data partition differently. It's more efficient.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#13

NightOwl,

I use Ghost 9 on my computer and Ghost 10 on my son's computer. I still prefer Ghost 9, both from Windows and the recovery environment. I find it more intuitive.

In general, the Ghost 9 recovery CD won't restore Ghost 10 images. The Ghost 10 recovery CD will restore Ghost 9 images.