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Can Ghost do this (for sure)? (Read 52775 times)
Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #30 - Jun 21st, 2007 at 9:42pm
 
After reviewing the messages on this thread and their numerous links I did not find that a "for sure" answer was actually demonstrated regarding the use of Ghost, even regarding the use of the corporate ghost version, although I can't believe that it wouldn't work as it is a solution which has been provided for Norton's most litigious clientele.  The extended debate around the issue might appeal to the technically inclined, but my only interest is in a "for sure" answer, too.

The "for sure" solution, as I see it, lies in using Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation ($79.99/licensee) along with 9.1 Universal restore ($29.99), an add-on application.  A historical archive thread linked on this forum thread describes a 100% successful set of restore tests into various different hardware combinations using them.  Further, I have seen similar confirmation of this elsewhere.

This solution was primarily designed as a corporate solution for networked users, which its screen images etc. reflect.  Acronis True Image 10 Home Edition ($39.95) has many of the same features as 9.1 Workstation, with additional ones which appeal to me for my Home office use.  While it does not seem to work directly with Universal Restore, the script of an interview with their Senior Director of Strategic Marketing describes that in the event of a hardware catastrophe, one could purchase 9.1 Workstation and Universal restore and use the drive image from Home Edition 10 with them in the new hardware environment to restore one's original working environment with reliable ease and certainty.  I expect a reply from their techs to further confirm this along with an explanation as to how exactly it would work (I did not run into mention of it in their user guides).  In any event, I have encouraged Acronis to include direct restore capability from Home Edition 10 together with Universal Restore in their next build, for whatever that is worth.

Presumably, this is the "for sure" solution that you would be looking for, too.
 
 
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Brian
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #31 - Jun 22nd, 2007 at 12:47am
 
Kurt N.,

I encourage you to ask those questions in the Acronis TI forum. The members seem less keen on Universal Restore than they were initially.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65
 
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #32 - Jun 22nd, 2007 at 3:38am
 
Brian,

I wonder....why the change of heart?
 
 
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Brian
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #33 - Jun 22nd, 2007 at 3:49am
 
Kurt N.,

No change of heart with me. I haven't done any more testing.

I guess there were a few restore failures in the TI forum. Acronis seemed to backoff in its enthusiasm and altered its definition of "different hardware" to a different motherboard. That's my recollection. Worth investigating anyway.
 
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #34 - Jun 22nd, 2007 at 4:18am
 
Brian,

A bit of the text of a March 17/07 interview with the erstwhile Senior Director of Strategic Marketing at Acronis, originally published on Let's Talk Computers:


Stephen: Oh, absolutely. If you have data on your machines at a corporation that in some cases you're required to keep seven years and in some cases you're required to keep it indefinitely, (depending on the type of the data that it is). So, you need to make sure that the data that's on those machines can be moved to different hardware.

Remember, hardware is hardware. It has a life expectancy; it has a period of time that you can expect it to last — hard drives that last several years, but sometimes they go out on you in several weeks. I had a laptop that had to be replaced last year. It was about two years old. That's just the way the world works with technology.

Alan: Well, hardware is hardware. It is not a case of if it's going to fail; it's a case of when it will fail.

Stephen: And it will fail! Just remember Murphy's Law. It will fail at the worst possible time.

Alan: And the more moving parts that you have in it or the more heat that you generate in the box, the more likelihood that it will fail. And you really don't have any idea when it's going to fail.

Stephen: That's absolutely true.

Alan: When you're making your backup, you can use Acronis True Image 9, Acronis True Image 10, you can use your Home Edition, but when you want to use Acronis Universal Restore, you must have the Workstation Edition, shouldn't you?

Stephen: If you're running XP or Vista, for that matter, you will need to run Acronis True Image Workstation, with the optional Acronis Universal Restore module. If you're on a server, then you'll need either a Server edition for a standalone server or Enterprise Server if you have multiple machines.

Alan: If you have a backup with Acronis True Image Home edition, you don't have to do anything to that backup. All I have to do is upgrade to the Workstation edition or the Server edition — put the Acronis Universal Restore onto it and I'm in good shape?

Stephen: That's right.


The full interview text is at http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/pr/ltc_interviews/March_17_2007/


From this it seems that at least one person at Acronis is still talking "different hardware" as something more than a "different motherboard".  And there is no question, speaking from my own unfortunate experiences, that it's not a matter of "if" but only a matter of "when" when it comes to hardware failure Cry.

So, you're right, it probably is worth investigating anyway.

Thanks Smiley
 
 
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Brian
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #35 - Jun 22nd, 2007 at 4:41am
 
Kurt N.,

Interesting interview. Let us know what you discover. I hope it is true.
 
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #36 - Jun 23rd, 2007 at 9:40pm
 
The following is a cut and paste from an E-mail I received back from Acronis Tech Support within 24 hours of my escalated pre-sales (free) tech support request:


We are glad to inform you, that Stephen Lawton is right. The image archive
created by any version of Acronis True Image may be restored by any other
version of Acronis True Image, because of the unified true image backup (*.tib)
file format.

Although, please be aware, that you could not restore your image archive to the
new computer configuration using Acronis True Image 10.0 Home, but you could use
image archive created by Acronis True Image 10.0 Home to restore to the new
hardware using Acronis True Image Workstation with Universal Restore.

There is no special instructions on how to restore image archive (created with
the Home version) using Workstation version, because the archive file itself is
the same. It is a feature of Acronis Universal Restore to add necessary drivers
and change SID records during restoration process.

Thank you for taking time to contact us and for your question.


I wasn't thrilled that three different Pre-sales (free) chat support techs had previously told me that the program did not have this capability in spite of the existence of a transcript of an interview (see link provided in earlier post) of Steven Lawton, Senior Director of Strategic Marketing for Acronis, which  indicated that it did in fact have the capability.  Even so, between this tech's E-mail, along with a review of the text of chats that I ran into among the many links available at the following link...


http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/


...I now feel comfortable that this program provides the kind of restore ability in the event of any number of hardware catastrophes which I (and from the text of his posts, Aaron) was looking for.  In addition, the boot disc ships in the boxed version and a boot disc can be made from the downloaded version.

So far I have not been able to distinguish that any version of Ghost, other than perhaps a corporate version, would have this "new hardware" capability, ie: the "for sure" solution Aaron was looking for.  As far as tech support is concerned, despite the erroneous chats (on this particular point only, as far as I could distinguish), the level of easily available tech support at Acronis was outstanding compared to the longstanding litany of tech support horror stories I have accumulated through my not cheap and ridiculously time intensive personal experiences with Norton's lower level techs.  If it wasn't for you guys, I'm convinced that that company would have become completely lost years ago.  I have taken the time to report back on this because I believe that healthy competition in free markets is priceless for consumers in the long run, and because you guys do such a great job.  Having said that, frankly, at this stage of the game, if I have a good alternative to a Norton product, I will run with it.

Hopefully Aaron will return to these posts so he can factor them into his decisions.

The icing on the "ease of use" cake for me would be if in the next build of their Home Edition 10.?, Acronis would provide for direct driving of the Universal Restore add-on program from within the Home Edition (in which case I would fork out the $29.95 for Universal Restore).  We shall see.....meanwhile, it looks as if my current purchase decision is made. Grin

 
 
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tallin
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #37 - Jun 23rd, 2007 at 10:21pm
 
Thanks for that detailed report on Acronis Technical Support....all good.  As I am currently weighing out the Ghost 12 verses Acronis decision to purchase for my new Laptop, your post has made me take a good hard look at the latest Acronis software in anticipation of installing on said Laptop.

I must say I would be more than lost with my Ghost 10 if I had not found Rad/Brain/Ghost4me.  Only today I answered in the following thread re Symantec's poor support and really would not buy another Norton's product if I could help it.

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1182646000
 

tallin    Norton Ghost 12
 
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John.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #38 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 8:54am
 
Kurt N. wrote on Jun 23rd, 2007 at 9:40pm:
...So far I have not been able to distinguish that any version of Ghost, other than perhaps a corporate version, would have this "new hardware" capability, ie: the "for sure" solution Aaron was looking for.  

In all fairness, the Acronis True Image Workstation 9.1 is also a "corporate version".
Quote:
1.1 Acronis® True Image Workstation – a complete solution for corporate users...

http://us2.download.acronis.com/pdf/TrueImageCorporateWorkstation9.1_ug.en.pdf
It requires a Management Console as well as an Agent and Workstation software.

This appears to be very similar to the Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.0 product.
http://www.symantec.com/smb/products/features.jsp?pcid=cli_mgmt&pvid=ghost

 

Ghost4me  Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15.  Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
 
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #39 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 9:52am
 
As others have mentioned in this and other threads, you should read up on the software product called Universal Imaging Utility.
http://www.uiu4you.com/index.html

I have not used it myself, but from what I have read, it basically is doing the sysprep, sid, and driver updating for you.  (The main downside appears to be a 50 seat minimum purchase.  Ouch!)  

It's appears similar to what happens when you insert a Windows XP install CD--the XP install searches for and installs new hardware drivers for your pc.  This is basically the same effect as "Windows Repair Install" procedure which can also sometimes be used successfully after restoring a Ghost backup to different hardware.

Bottom line:  Let us all know if you find a "for sure" solution for anything!  We all search for ways to improve the odds of success.
 

Ghost4me  Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15.  Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #40 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 12:42pm
 
Ghost4me,

It may somehow have gotten lost in all the text Huh, but the whole point of all my inquiry with Acronis was TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEIR RELATIVELY USER FRIENDLY AND CHEAP[/b]($39.99) TRUE IMAGE 10 HOME EDITION could be used to restore a drive image (if necessary) to wholly new hardware by any variety of manufacturers, in response to Aaron's original question.  The result of this query, that I so carefully detailed above, was YES!!!!!

If I, as a Home Office User, am not interested in using Acronis's lauded corporation oriented Acronis Workstation 9.1 (at $79.99/license) on a day to day basis, you can be sure that, as a practically-minded person, I do not need to spend one second further reading about a corporate version of Ghost that has a 50 seat minimum purchase, offered at a, no doubt, relatively ridiculous cost!!! Roll Eyes

If it is not already clear, I AM NOT MARRIED EITHER TO NORTON OR ACRONIS, and I am not in love with Ghost.  I am just an ordinary consumer.

As I see it, the main value to non-moderators of Radified's web threads has become to provide much needed additional support to users of Symantec's products while maintaining at least some level of objectivity about other products.  Brian so clearly contributed these qualities vis a vis my inquiry on this thread.  Any other approach can only, in the end, be counterproductive in terms of the survival of Norton's market position, whose parent company seems to be digging such a deep hole for themselves to climb out of, at the expense of their clientele.


 
 
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #41 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 1:14pm
 
I am an owner of ATI 10, but have been too afraid to install and use it after seeing the numerous problems discussed at the ATI forum.  Don't assume that a rosy-sounding email from Acronis Support means it will actually work.  In fact, one of the most recurring complaints at the ATI forum is that support never returns the inquiries for customers who have problems.  
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175684

I am monitoring numerous forums on these topics for my own interests.  I am "RAD" at the ATI forum, but I have no connection to the Radified forums....that was just a coincidence.  I didn't even know about the radified community when registering.  Cheesy

Edited:
Rad edit. Well I am 'Rad' here. Nice to meet you, Mr. Rad
 
 
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #42 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 2:45pm
 
Kurt N. wrote on Jun 24th, 2007 at 12:42pm:
If I, as a Home Office User, am not interested in using Acronis's lauded corporation oriented Acronis Workstation 9.1 (at $79.99/license) on a day to day basis, you can be sure that, as a practically-minded person, I do not need to spend one second further reading about a corporate version of Ghost that has a 50 seat minimum purchase, offered at a, no doubt, relatively ridiculous cost!!!

If it is not already clear, I AM NOT MARRIED EITHER TO NORTON OR ACRONIS, and I am not in love with Ghost.  I am just an ordinary consumer.

Sorry if my previous post wasn't clear:  The 50 seat minimum is for the Universal Imaging Utility, which is NOT a Ghost product, but a separate vendor one.  The Ghost Solution Suite 2.0 has a 5 seat minimum ($39.20 each).

Although I didn't mention it, I have both used both Ghost AND True Image products.  There are quirks on both of them.  But as my handle says "Ghost 4 me".  I have never had a Ghost failure due to corrupted-image, which is the main issue that scares me away from True Image.  Read the TI forums yourself and search for the word "corrupt".

I could go on and on about Symantec user/technical support (which is an oxymoron) so don't take me for a Symantec shill.  It's just that their Ghost product(s) have always worked for me and my customers.
 

Ghost4me  Ghost 9, 10, 12, 14, 15.  Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #43 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 2:54pm
 
RAD_2,

I understand that forum complaints re tech support can have many base causes, so unless there are a litany of recent consumer descriptions of solid and logical paths of fault described which point directly at the source of problem as being current and ongoing tech support initiated problems (not just cases of general grousing among grousers), then I don't let myself get involved in it.  

For example, I myself almost joined the ranks of the exact Acronis forum complainers you described (re not hearing back from their tech support), only to discover 26 hours later that I had misunderstood how Acronis's mail program works and so my original mail had never transmitted.  By chance I tried again, and by chance I succeeded in my second attempt only to realize that my first request never went through (receiving a transmission confirmation E-mail re my second "send" but not after my first).  So maybe the problem is that Acronis has is a non-user friendly tech support E-mail request user interface...who knows?  I suppose if one really wanted to be persnickety, one could suggest that they have it designed that way on purpose to frustrate tech support requests, but in this case I would rather mention to them that it would be better if it was more user friendly, instead.  And, at least I have the ability to contact someone at Acronis support directly to point that out (via chat or 24 hour turn-around E-mail, with no upfront charges), without having to pay $70USD (like I did at Symantec).

Nor did I assume that a rosy sounding E-mail from Acronis support is an indication that it (the program feature) would actually work.  

That is why, in addition to reading the texts of more than 6 Lets Talk Computers radio interviews of Acronis execs re the products including descriptions of the way they are designed (and so how they would do what the E-mail described), I also reviewed a half-hour, familiar and local to me, product independent TV tech show which was interviewing an Acronis Exec as they live-trialed the product (the link for which just happened to be on the Acronis site) and why I also E-mailed the Senior Director of Strategic Marketing there re not only that issue but also to let him know that his own message during interviews confirming the point (described and linked in posts above) seems to have been lost on all of the members of his pre-sales tech support staff that I have encountered via live-chat.  I now await to hear from him.

So don't worry...I'm not jumping easily to any quick conclusions here....in fact, if anything, it is just the opposite.
 
 
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Kurt N.
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Re: Can Ghost do this (for sure)?
Reply #44 - Jun 24th, 2007 at 2:56pm
 
Ghost-4-me,

Your points are clarified and taken.  However $200 USD is more than I want to pay for the feature in any event... Cool
 
 
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