http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/t/40.aspx

Ghost4me,
RE:  “I haven't found a wipe utility yet that comes with a boot cd AND works with SATA drive” (Reply #13)

What about using GDisk, executed from a DOS floppy diskette?

* * * * * * * * * *
Brian, thanks for the link to the StorageCraft forums (Reply #16)!

Brian wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2007 at 9:45am:

I didn't mean to imply that I think Ghost 12 has NO bugs or problems.  In fact there was a LiveUpdate to Ghost 12, which I assume fixed a few things; but no one can seem to obtain any documentation about what was in it.

Although I have been a vocal denigrator of Symantec's technical support policies, in general their software releases seem to have fewer bugs than the competitors.  And in the field of image backup and restores, that is probably the most important consideration.

(I have completed my usb keyboard and wiped retest.  Details to follow)

I retested a restore with Ghost 12.  I used a usb keyboard.  Before restoring, I wiped the SATA drive with Seagate SeaTools.

I captured the partition tables with the same two tools I used previously.  See results at the bottom.

I still was NOT able to change the options.  I could navigate with the usb keyboard so I know it was recognized, but I couldn't change the restore options.  Here are the options that Ghost used, which I copied down.  X means it was in effect, and blank, not used:

Options:
X  Verify Recovery Point before Restore
   Check for file system errors after recovery
   Resize restored drive

Advanced Options:
X  Set Drive Active
X  Restore original disk signature
   Restore MBR

Results and conclusions:

With the zeroed/wiped drive, once again, it booted into Vista without any intervention (well, same message at startup that Windows didn't shutdown properly, but otherwise no messages).

I restored the same 3rd partition (the Vista c: drive) into the zeroed/wiped drive as the only partition.  Note that the offset is 63.  My guess is that is because Dell placed the offset at 63, so Ghost 12 didn't relocate it.  Vista didn't complain one bit.

I guess if someone had a Vista system where it is originally at 2048 offset, it would be interesting to see if Ghost 12 would relocate it on restore.

My conclusion again:  Very painless restore and no Ghost 12 or Vista problems twice now.





PARTINFW 1.10
Copyright (c) 1996-2006 TeraByte, Inc.  All rights reserved.

Run date: 10/02/2007 9:22

====================================================================
          MBR Partition Information (HD5 - 0xAFFCE7BE)
                        (CHS: 1023/254/63)
+====+====+=============+====+=============+===========+===========+
| 0: |  0 |    0   1  1 |  7 | 1023 254 63 |        63 | 488392002 |
| 1: |  0 |    0   0  0 |  0 |    0   0  0 |         0 |         0 |
| 2: |  0 |    0   0  0 |  0 |    0   0  0 |         0 |         0 |
| 3: |  0 |    0   0  0 |  0 |    0   0  0 |         0 |         0 |
+====+====+=============+====+=============+===========+===========+
                          BOOT SECTOR INFORMATION
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
File System ID: 0x7   LBA: 63  Total Sectors: 488392002   ID: 0x1
                         Jump: EB 52 90
                     OEM Name: NTFS    
                Bytes Per Sec: 512
                Sec Per Clust: 8
                  Res Sectors: 0
                       Zero 1: 0x0
                       Zero 2: 0x0
                         NA 1: 0x0
                        Media: 0xF8
                       Zero 3: 0x0
                Sec Per Track: 63
                        Heads: 255
                  Hidden Secs: 63
                         NA 2: 0x0
                         NA 3: 0x800080
                Total Sectors: 0x01D1C4541
                      MFT LCN: 0x013682E2
                 MFT Mirr LCN: 0x01D1C454
                Clust Per FRS: 0xF6
             Clust Per IBlock: 0x1
                    Volume SN: 0x4EF801E8F801CEE1
                     Checksum: 0x0
                    Boot Flag: 0xAA55
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pleonasm wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2007 at 11:55am:


Yes.  I think it is a natural phenomenon that newer and/or smaller companies are often more responsive.  I read a newspaper article recently that compared Google vs. Microsoft in the same way that Microsoft muscled in on IBM years ago.  Of course you have to have a good product along with it.  But smaller can be better.

Ghost4me wrote:

"I restored the same 3rd partition (the Vista c: drive) into the zeroed/wiped drive as the only partition.  Note that the offset is 63.  My guess is that is because Dell placed the offset at 63, so Ghost 12 didn't relocate it."

If you're talking about the Vista partition on your original Dell disk, it was on a 2048-aligned partition, not a cylinder-aligned legacy partition.

Ghost4me, this has been a long (but good) thread.  Maybe you could author a “summary post” to consolidate your insights, and add this thread to the FAQs?  I have the feeling that it will become handy in the future.

Thanks!