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Asking for a floppy? (Read 11408 times)
Aljosc
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Asking for a floppy?
Dec 4th, 2009 at 8:30am
 
Hello there, I just made NightOwl's Bootable CD/DVDs using Ghost2003.exe. Even though it still ask me for a floppy, I just click no and burn the image to my CD-R just to test it out whether it will be bootable or not. To my surprised! I made my first bootable image, thanks to NightOwl Smiley

My questions are:
1)  How can I make my recovery CD/DVDs unattended or less interaction with the user? Because I still need to find the image on my disk to go with the restoration.
2) What is the compatible speed of the DVD media to use for my imaging?
3) Is there's a way for me to transfer my Ghost bootable cd to my USB Drive or External Drive and boot from it?

I don't know if this questions has been asked before or not. But your answers and guidance will be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot!
 
 
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NightOwl
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #1 - Dec 4th, 2009 at 10:31am
 
@
Aljosc

Quote:
I just made NightOwl's Bootable CD/DVDs using Ghost2003.exe. Even though *it* still ask me for a floppy, I just click no and burn the image to my CD-R just to test it out whether it will be bootable or not. To my surprised! I made my first bootable image, thanks to NightOwl

You're most welcome--always glad to hear of successes!

Just to clarify--in the above highlighted section, does *it* refer to your Windows optical disc authoring program?  What program are you using and what version is it?

Quote:
1)  How can I make my recovery CD/DVDs unattended or less interaction with the user? Because I still need to find the image on my disk to go with the restoration.

Lots of details to attend to do this, but quite doable!  The problem that arises here is that everyone's system is a little different, and the command line switches and file names and locations have to match your particular system.

In order to make the process *unattended*, you have to know ahead of time the name of the Ghost image file you plan to use, its path (i.e. the drive letter, and any sub-directory(s) where it is stored, and the destination for that image restore.  If anything changes regarding any of that information in the future, then that command line that starts Ghost that you have created and placed in the *autoexec.bat* file will no longer be valid.

You can find examples of command lines at the end of this FAQ:  Switches: Cloning
And, there are examples in the various Ghost User Guides--see page 166, *Cloning Switch Usage*, in the Ghost 2003 Guide, as well as page 170, *Examples of cloning switch usage*:  Ghost 2003 User Guide, page 166

Other Ghost version Guides have similar discussions.

Quote:
2) What is the compatible speed of the DVD media to use for my imaging?

The limiting factor here is the Ghost's built-in optical disc writing driver--the speed will vary depending on your system.  I use high quality media that matches the speed that the optical drive supports.  I get just under 100 MB/min when saving an image to optical disc--I find it's the slowest method of saving images.  Many folks save the image to an internal HDD first (you can use a switch to specify how large the Ghost image file size should be, up to a max of approx 2 GB), then burn the image file to optical media later.  (When you use this procedure, you must use the DOS optical drive drivers that assign drive letters to the optical drive in order to access the image file.  If using Ghost's built-in optical drive driver, you will get an error stating that the image file is *not a Ghost image file*.  In order for Ghost to read an image file using its built-in driver, Ghost must have written the image to the disc in the first place!)

Quote:
3) Is there's a way for me to transfer my Ghost bootable cd to my USB Drive or External Drive and boot from it?

Yes--apparently!  I personally have not done this--I do not have a system that supports booting from USB devices--but others have reported success!

But, there's a lot of variability as to how to do this.  Many report failure depending on what USB device they are using, and what program they use to prep the USB devices in order for it to be a bootable device.  From my looking around at this procedure, most depend on using a *black box* preparation tool that is supposed to do the work for you.  You don't know exactly what the tool does, what it changes, what DOS Master Boot Record version it is placing on the USB device, etc.  Not knowing any of that information means you won't be able to tell what went wrong if it doesn't work!

Here's a reference to a commonly mentioned tool:  HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8

The description says you can tell it what boot file to use:

Quote:
Optionally you can also make the disk BOOTABLE by specifying a file location.

I'm not sure if the program will use a *bootable image* file, or if it has to read the boot information from a boot floppy disk in a floppy drive.  If it can use a *bootable image* file, then my outline will work fine--just point the program at the boot file that was created!

And, of course, your system has to support booting from a USB device as a baseline requirement!
 

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Aljosc
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #2 - Dec 4th, 2009 at 11:09am
 
NightOwl wrote on Dec 4th, 2009 at 10:31am:
does *it* refer to your Windows optical disc authoring program?What program are you using and what version is it?

Thank you for your promt reply, NightOwl.
I don't think so Undecided  It's the common question I always get even when I used Ghost8 corp. ed. in BartPE. I used Nero Burning Rom v8.3 and the media was a TDK 25x for testing.

I have bootable BartPE and LiveXP in external HDD and USB flashdrive. I don't think it will work if I just burn my ghost file from CD to USB to make it bootable USB correct?

 
 
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #3 - Dec 4th, 2009 at 12:32pm
 
After successfully booting my Ghost CD to my laptop, I tried using it to a different PC. Now, an error appeared in the ghost window that says, " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again. My PC is a HP Compaq dc5100 pentium4 and I used USB keyboard and mouse.
 
 
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NightOwl
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #4 - Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am
 
@
Aljosc

Quote:
I don't think so Undecided  It's the common question I always get even when I used Ghost8 corp. ed. in BartPE

Hmmm....originally I thought you were talking about when using my guide (Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive) and you were to the point of burning the boot image file to an optical disc.

Now, I think you're talking about when you have booted, opened the Ghost program, selected your optical writer as the destination for the image file--when you tell Ghost to send the image file to the optical drive, there is a added step where Ghost asks if you want to make the optical disc that you are about to save the image file to *bootable*.  If you say *Yes*, then the Ghost program asks if you have your boot floppy disk in drive A:\--and if not, put it in.

If you have booted from a bootable optical disc initially, then the system is using a *virtual floppy drive*, and you can say *Yes* to the question *have you inserted you floppy disk into drive A:\*!  Ghost will read those boot files that were used from the initial boot disc that created that *virtual floppy drive* as if it were reading a floppy disk that is physically in a floppy drive.  And, those boot files are transferred to you new optical disc that you are creating now!

But....

Quote:
I just made NightOwl's Bootable CD/DVDs using Ghost2003.exe. Even though it still ask me for a floppy, I just click no and burn the image to my CD-R

So, in theory, if you say *No*--I'm not sure what happens here!  I'm assuming you already said *Yes* you want to make the new disc bootable, but at the next step you are saying *No* you have not placed the needed boot files via a floppy disk in a floppy drive!  I can't remember ever doing that, so I don't know what the Ghost program response is!  At least according to your experience, sounds like it still gathers those boot files from the *virtual floppy drive* any way, and places them on the new optical disc you are creating!  I will have to test that out the next time I'm doing a back-up an see what happens with my Ghost program!

Quote:
It's the common question I always get even when I used Ghost8 corp. ed. in BartPE

So, that's the Windows based *ghost32.exe* that can only run under some version of Windows.  I've not used BartPE or *ghost32.exe* booted from some flavor of WinPE, so I don't know what Ghost's response will be if you attempt to make a bootable optical disc--because when using *ghost32.exe*, you have booted from a Windows based boot disc (i.e. BartPE, or some version of WinPE) and that can not be used on a *standard* bootable optical disc that way a DOS based boot disc can be.

I have used a version of *ghost32.exe* that comes on the Installation/Recovery bootable Ghost10 disc (RESTOREGHOST.EXE) when booted to regular Windows.  But the opening screen of that version of *ghost32.exe* says *CD/DVD writing functionality is currently unavailable.  Please see the Symantec Ghost Reference Guide to enable it.*  Apparently there are additional drivers needed that are not included with this particular version of *ghost32.exe*--so I can't even attempt to select the optical writer as the destination of an image file to test the outcome--none of my optical writers are even listed!

So, are you able to boot from BartPE and write an image file to a optical disc (even though it might not be bootable) i.e. you have the needed extra drivers for writing to optical discs--or does writing a Ghost image file to an optical disc also fail?

Quote:
After successfully booting my Ghost CD to my laptop, I tried using it to a different PC. Now, an error appeared in the ghost window that says, " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again.

Well, there's too little information here to understand exactly what you are attempting.

What boot CD are you using--DOS/ghost.exe based or BartPE/ghost32.exe based?

Are you attempting to *network* between two computers?

Or, are you booting with the bootable optical disc on a different system--and it gives you that error?

Quote:
An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted.

Is this error message coming from Ghost--or from your system's BIOS (i.e. this happens before you even load the Ghost program)?
 

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Aljosc
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #5 - Dec 6th, 2009 at 1:28pm
 
NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
Hmmm....originally I thought you were talking about when using my guide (Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive) and you were to the point of burning the boot image file to an optical disc.

I did use your guide.

NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
Now, I think you're talking about when you have booted, opened the Ghost program, selected your optical writer as the destination for the image file--when you tell Ghost to send the image file to the optical drive, there is a added step where Ghost asks if you want to make the optical disc that you are about to save the image file to *bootable*.If you say *Yes*, then the Ghost program asks if you have your boot floppy disk in drive A:\--and if not, put it in.

This is were I am confused. When you say "Yes" to the question, " Copy a bootable floppy to the CD/DVD disk?" Does this mean that Ghost (Your guide) already created a virtual floppy drive during the start of Ghost at boot or only when you say "Yes" to the question? If it does, I now totally understand how your guide works. Initially I thought your guide will not prompt you anymore about the " Copy a bootable floppy to the CD/DVD disk?" and just make the image directly to the D: drive. My apologies for my ignorance Cry Grin

NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
So, in theory, if you say *No*--I'm not sure what happens here!I'm assuming you already said *Yes* you want to make the new disc bootable, but at the next step you are saying *No* you have not placed the needed boot files via a floppy disk in a floppy drive!

This is my fault I said yes to all and I remember when I click "No" It didn't make my CD/DVD bootable it only burn the image thats it. I'm sorry! Embarrassed

NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
What boot CD are you using--DOS/ghost.exe based or BartPE/ghost32.exe based?

I was using your guide that I created and when it booted and already in the Ghost GUI the sand clock was there and it like Ghost froze and when you click on the window, that when that error showed " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again.NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
Are you attempting to *network* between two computers?

No.

NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
Or, are you booting with the bootable optical disc on a different system--and it gives you that error?

Yes. And I tried it again booting from another pc and it booted just fine. The error,  " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again." is this depends on what kind of pc hardware you are using, configurations or how much memory is installed in your PC?

NightOwl wrote on Dec 5th, 2009 at 10:36am:
Is this error message coming from Ghost--or from your system's BIOS (i.e. this happens before you even load the Ghost program)? 

No. It happened after Ghost loads up and the error showed in Ghost window without the Local, Options, Help and Quit selection menu.




 
 
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Re: Asking for a floppy?
Reply #6 - Dec 11th, 2009 at 11:59am
 
@
Aljosc

Quote:
This is were I am confused. When you say "Yes" to the question, " Copy a bootable floppy to the CD/DVD disk?" Does this mean that Ghost (Your guide) already created a virtual floppy drive during the start of Ghost at boot or only when you say "Yes" to the question? If it does, I now totally understand how your guide works. Initially I thought your guide will not prompt you anymore about the " Copy a bootable floppy to the CD/DVD disk?" and just make the image directly to the D: drive

Actually, have to give *credit* where credit is due--this is not a function I have created with my guide.  This is a function of Ghost's built-in ability to create a bootable optical disc if you tell Ghost to do so by answering *Yes* to the question. 

And, it's the function of a DOS bootable optical disc.  When a DOS bootable disc loads at the beginning, it creates the *virtual floppy drive* with the drive letter A:\ assigned.  That virtual floppy drive is *read only* and contains all the boot files that you have included on the original boot files that were used to make the disc bootable.

Quote:
This is my fault I said yes to all and I remember when I click "No" It didn't make my CD/DVD bootable it only burn the image thats it

Thanks for clarifying!

Quote:
I was using your guide that I created and when it booted and already in the Ghost GUI the sand clock was there and it like Ghost froze and when you click on the window, that when that error showed " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again


Quote:
Yes. And I tried it again booting from another pc and it booted just fine. The error,  " An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the STACKS setting in your CONFIG.SYS file, and then try again." is this depends on what kind of pc hardware you are using, configurations or how much memory is installed in your PC?

Did some research on *stack overflow* and I think I found an answer to the problem!

I use this reference for many of my questions about DOS functions and files:  MS-DOS v6.22 Help: Command Reference hosted by Vernon Frazee.  Here's the specific subject regarding *stacks*:  STACKS:

So, quoting:

Quote:
Supports the dynamic use of data stacks to handle hardware interrupts. You
can use this command only in your CONFIG.SYS file.


The default settings are:

Quote:
The default settings for the STACKS command are as follows:

Computer                              Stacks

--------------------------------------------

IBM PC, IBM PC/XT, IBM PC-Portable      0,0


But apparently not all systems are IBM *identical*--so, systems that don't use the same IBM configuration:

Quote:
The default settings for the STACKS command are as follows:

Computer                              Stacks


Other                                  9,128


Quote:
When you specify 0 for the n and s values,
MS-DOS allocates no stacks. If the values are 0, each running program must
have enough stack space to accommodate the computer's hardware interrupt
drivers. Many computers operate correctly, saving some memory for programs,
with n and s values of 0. If, however, your computer becomes unstable when
you set these values to 0, return to the default values.

So, most computers work fine with the IBM default setting of *stacks 0,0*--which is the setting if nothing is stated in the *config.sys* file.

But, if you have a system that has a *stack overflow* error message, then adding the following line to your *config.sys* file should solve the problem:

Quote:
stacks=9,128


However, if your particular system still has a *stack overflow* error--then you have to increase either the number of stacks and/or the size of the stack value:

Quote:
If the STACKS values are not equal to 0,0 and you see a "Stack Overflow" or
"Exception error 12" message, increase the number or size of the stacks.


So, the solution should be to add a *stack* command line to the *config.sys* file before burning the boot files to an optical disc.  So from my Guide, pulling in the *config.sys* from the
Step-by-Step Instructions, you should add the highlighted command line indicated below:

Quote:
[config.sys]

device=oakcdrom.sys /d:nightowl
stacks=9,128
lastdrive=z

Ghost does not use a large amount of DOS memory--it's a small program--so there is no real concern about *saving* DOS memory by having the stack value at 0,0--so just keeping that value on your general purpose bootable Ghost CD will not cause any usability or loss of performance issues!  Minimizing DOS memory usage was of great concern back in the days when DOS games were being loaded--they used the maximum amount of memory that they could to enhance the game programming!

Let us know if that solves your problem with that particular system!




 

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