xertech

So, let's see what our starting point is......

Do you have Ghost 2003 installed on one of your system?

If Yes, then you should also have the Ghost Boot Wizard available from the Windows Ghost interface--do you have access to the Boot Wizard?

If the answer above is No, then we can use the boot disc information that you have already worked through in this other thread:  http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1379211318

We can use the same techniques, and simply substitute the needed command lines and DOS driver files where needed.

If you have the Boot Wizard installed, then we can create a floppy boot disk that will have the Ghost files associated with access to USB in DOS--and we can test to see if they work successfully with your cardbus adapter.  If the Ghost USB drivers do not work, then we can try the Panasonic DOS USB drivers.

Let me know where we need to start......

xertech

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In theory, the answer should be Yes.  But.....in reality, there's a lot of variables that have to be tested to see if everything actually works as theorized.

Just to name a few variables that we don't know about as yet...

--are the DOS drivers built into the Ghost GUI compatible with your laptop's cardbus USB controller?

--does your laptop correctly support the Windows Ghost GUI where you set the backup parameters while in Windows that is giving you access to the external USB HDD, and then allows the system to close out Windows, re-boot to the Ghost Virtual Partition that is supposed to run the backup in DOS--again the DOS drivers have to successfully access the external HDD once in DOS--you no longer have Windows doing the heavy lifting, and then re-set the system by closing out the Virtual Partition and preparing the system to re-boot back to Windows.  Some folks get trapped in the Virtual Partition created by the Ghost Windows GUI route, and can't use what's supposed to be an *automatic* return to Windows.  There may be an easy route to recovery....or it might require some advanced intervention--but hopefully it will be a happy ending.

--does your laptop support booting to DOS--either by a bootable CD, or possibly a USB floppy drive (sometimes that simple action is a problem on some systems)?

--does the laptop's BIOS have certain settings that are *either/or* as far as USB support in DOS?  Some systems are designed to allow booting from an external USB HDD or flash drive or floppy drive.  But, if the BIOS is injecting itself into that access to the USB controller, then attempting to use a separate USB DOS driver that loads while DOS is booting, can conflict, and often will freeze the system.  If you know you are going to boot to DOS, and you will be loading a DOS USB driver in order to access an external USB HDD (which is what the Windows Ghost GUI is going to be setting up), then disabling the BIOS's setting that makes the system able to boot from an external USB device may solve that conflict issue, and allow for success.

--(this is a non-Ghost issue, but sometimes comes into play especially with laptops--but, some desktops as well--sometimes there are additional partition(s)--not just the OS partition, and sometimes the manufacturer has *locked* the bootability to the OS to the hardware, and/or the partition layout on the HDD and/or the HDD disk ID.  If you change out the HDD with a new one, you sometimes will not be able to boot the system even though everything else worked fine.  Can't really know for sure on this one until you try it out.  Knowing the make and model of the laptop sometimes will suggest the possibility of this.  Knowing the partition layout of the HDD, and if the OS was installed by you, or the original manufacturer gives clues as well.)

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So, as you can see above--it may not turn out to be *quickly*  !

Does the laptop have a optical drive that is a writer?  Is it a CD or DVD drive?  How much data needs to be backed up?  Possibly the quickest way to get a backup is to use optical media until we determine if we can access an external USB HDD successfully.  But, just for the record, not every optical writer is compatible with Ghost 2003's DOS disc writing driver--so that has to be determined as well--never a simple black or white answer--right?!   

So, if you *jump in* head first with your initial outline, you could get into trouble which may or may not be recoverable from.  There are ways to *test the waters* to determine what works, and what doesn't--and determine if you can use recovery techniques if you were to get into some type of problem along the way.

(As a side note:  if the system allows for booting from an external USB HDD, it might be a more efficient method to create a bootable USB HDD, boot to DOS form it using that capability of the laptop, load Ghost, and then store images on that HDD--again using the laptop's access to that booted USB HDD.)

How old is the laptop?  Make and Model?  Did you install the OS, or is it the original install from the manufacturer?