Greetings all,

I'm new to this forum but am a long-time Ghost user and have learned a great deal of valuable information from Radified's guides (and these forums via web searches) which I've deeply appreciated. It's wonderful to find such a knowledgeable helpful support group!

Anyway, here are my inquiries which I hope haven't been already addressed. Over the years I've accumulated a large number of Ghost images which I'd like to archive to recordable DVD media to free up HD space. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that and also maximize use of the DVD R/RW storage capacity. Each DVD R/RW disc holds up to 4.7GB of data and the largest Ghost spanned image segment files are 2GB as a result of the DOS file size limit. Obviously I could put 2 of the segments on each DVD R/RW, but I'm confused as to whether Ghost would automatically detect and prompt (?) for each subsequent spanned image segment during a restore. Most of my images also exceed 4.7GB total size so I would have to use multiple DVD R/RW discs.

Symantec states (sorry I'm not allowed to post a hyperlink to the webpage yet) that you could put a single 2GB spanned image segment on each DVD R/RW and implies that Ghost would automatically detect and prompt for each subsequent disc during a restore. But it's not clear whether that would also apply to multiple spanned image segments per DVD R/RW disc and across multiple discs.

On a related note, I also have a question about using Ghost Explorer to split a previously-created image, as discussed on that Symantec webpage. I've successfully tested this function but have been unable to figure out how to use the old naming convention for the new spanned image segment files it creates. I greatly prefer the old naming convention over the new (.GHS extension) one and cannot find any way to force Ghost Explorer to use it. I tried the -cns switch that I use for the main Ghost program without success. I also tried manually renaming the image segments and was able to load them with Ghost Explorer after it popped up a Windows file dialog box saying "Please select the file for the last segment in this image file" but I would prefer not having to do that, especially with the multiple DVD R/RW disc issue I previously mentioned.

Thank you for your help and advice! (BTW, I'm using Ghost 2003.)

So it's been a while but I wanted to close the loop on the first part of my original post concerning archiving spanned images. (BTW I had to re-register with my former user name a while back.) Thank you for your reply, Rad, which I did read but did not reply to as I did not have any additional info to add until recently.

I've verified that indeed it is possible to burn multiple spanned image segments on and across multiple CD/DVD R/RWs, and Ghost is able to handle that and prompt for the next disc(s). These are spanned image segments of Ghost image files I've previously created on HDs as opposed to burning directly to CD/DVDs. I have not actually restored an image from these CD/DVDs but I have successfully validated numerous images during which Ghost prompts for the next disc(s) for the next spanned image segment. I'm confident it would be the same during an actual restore operation.

Yes, I'm using Nero to burn my images but I don't think it would be different with any other CD/DVD mastering program.

I have not spent any time researching my second question about using the old naming convention in Ghost Explorer when splitting a previously created image. If I come up with any new information I'll update this thread.

Thanks NightOwl for your long and thorough reply.

Since my original post I have already come up with a smaller split size that allows me to maximize the storage capacity of DVDs as well as writing them to CDs if needed. I'm still not convinced of the reliability of DVD vs. CD recordable media storage but that's a technical issue for another time. BTW, all of my Ghost images are initially written to HDDs as opposed to directly burning them onto optical media. I don't trust or like that method at all. As mentioned in your bootable CD forum, I have already experimented with and created numerous Ghost boot CDs with various CD/DVD and USB DOS drivers. I plan to report my findings and observations at a later date.

I still have not resumed experimenting with Ghost Explorer to "re-split" previously created Ghost images. My memory is a little fuzzy b/c it's been quite a while since I did so, but as I recall, I was unable to make Ghost Explorer use the old naming convention for the new split spanned image files. I could manually rename the files with the old .001, .002, etc. extensions (and yes I kept the DOS 8.3 naming convention) but Ghost/Ghost Explorer (?) still continued to prompt me to select each subsequent spanned image segment regardless, which defeated the purpose of renaming them. I wanted Ghost/Ghost Explorer to be able to automatically select the next spanned image file with the old naming convention but I was unable to do so.