Welcome, Guest. Please Login
 
  HomeHelpSearchLogin FAQ Radified Ghost.Classic Ghost.New Bootable CD Blog  
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Universale Ghost boot CD (Read 17126 times)
Caesar
N00b
Offline



Posts: 3


Back to top
Universale Ghost boot CD
Apr 27th, 2010 at 12:47pm
 
Hi,

I'm sure someone here created a Ghost Boot CD which works with IDE drives and/or Sata, has USB support and hopefully also network support.
Is there any chance you could share the iso file? Of course I would implement my own registered copy of Ghost.
I experimented and mocked around for ages but it causes me so many headaches (I guess you went through the same or know what I'm talking about...).

Thanks heaps in advance for sharing your knowledge.

Cheers

PS: If you don't want to post it here, my email is
caesar at gmx.li
Thank you heaps!
 
 
IP Logged
 

NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: Universale Ghost boot CD--Reply Part #1
Reply #1 - Apr 30th, 2010 at 10:28am
 
@
Caesar

Quote:
Universale Ghost boot CD

There's the problem--what one person sees as a *Universal* boot disc, the next person will want some other feature or functionality--it's an ongoing moving target as hardware advances and OSs change--often one has to change the boot disc to accommodate those changes!

And, it may depend on what version of Ghost you have available--over time certain functions have been incorporated into the *ghost.exe* program that previously required DOS drivers to be loaded separately during DOS boot.  If the function is built-in to the *ghost.exe* program, then loading DOS drivers may create conflicts!

Quote:
Of course I would implement my own registered copy of Ghost.

I notice you don't specify which version of Ghost that will be used!

If you have a licensed copy of Ghost, when you do the full install, you will get a Ghost Boot Wizard that can assist one in creating various boot disks, or disc--depending on the version of Ghost--these can then be modified for additional customizing if needed--they give you a starting point!

Quote:
I'm sure someone here created a Ghost Boot CD which works with IDE drives and/or Sata, has USB support and hopefully also network support.

It's such a short and simple sentence--seems like such a simple request!

To my knowledge--no one on the forums here has ever posted an iso file of their boot disc that matches your *universal* request--I've only seen posting of a list of boot files and the contents of the *config.sys* and *autoexec.bat* boot files.

But, if you spend time searching the forum here, you will find many threads on creating a boot floppy disk or optical disc--and each thread often has multiple replies trouble shooting how to make that particular boot disk or disc work correctly for that individual's specific system that seems not to be working correctly with the boot files they are attempting to use!

Quote:
a Ghost Boot CD which works with IDE drives and/or Sata

Even that statement is *complicated*!  Are you asking about SATA HDDs--or SATA optical drives--or both?!

Access to SATA HDDs depends on compatibility between the *ghost.exe* software and the SATA controller--sometimes you have to enter the BIOS and set the SATA controller to *compatibility* or some other mode--there's little consistency how different BIOSs handle this--so Ghost will be able to access the SATA controller in DOS!  Then switch the mode back after using Ghost in DOS and you are ready to return to Windows.  Many BIOS default to the *compatibility mode* and unless you change it to the *SATA* native or enhanced mode--you would not know there is an issue in DOS--because it will already work fine--but certain SATA enhancements when booted to Windows will not be available in this case--but I don't know the details of this!

Access to SATA optical drives in DOS requires a SATA DOS optical driver--*gcdrom.sys*--it can be added in addition to the older PATA optical DOS drivers--you get error messages during boot if a specific type of optical drive is not found--those error messages can be simply ignored.  See below for additional resources:

Ghost 7.5 SATA CD-ROM

Download *gcdrom.sys* here--v2.3 and v2.4 available!

Some additional resources:

GCDROM for DOS command line syntax

SATA optical drive & Ghost 2002 report

How to add SATA DOS optical drive drivers to Boot Disc





Creating a DOS boot disc without having a floppy drive available:  Creating Bootable CD/DVD's Without A:\Floppy Drive

Adding USB support to that boot disc created above:  Adding USB (and Firewire) to Ghost Boot CD

(Cont. in part #2 )



 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: Universale Ghost boot CD--Reply Part #2
Reply #2 - Apr 30th, 2010 at 11:12am
 
@
Caesar

Part #2 of Reply:


Networking Boot discs--resources:

How to Create a Ghost 8.0 Network Boot CD

You can use these *Universal Network DOS boot discs* below to boot to DOS and then use Ghost's networking ability to create and restore images--but I've seen a lot of variability in using these networking boot disks or discs--it's hard to get all the settings correct for one's particular NIC networking card--you can find discussions on using some of these with Ghost at their websites:

Brads:

Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk--Download page

Homepage--Universal TCP/IP Network Bootdisk

Barts:

Bart's Network Boot Disk

TeleData:

TeleData Consulting FREE Universal Network/CD Boot Disk

I have thought about putting together a boot disc iso which would be very basic--booting to DOS, loading PATA and SATA optical drive drivers, and having USB DOS support--but, it takes a fair bit of time to put it together and then write up an explanation as to how to use it and add your *ghost.exe* to the iso!--I have not found enough free time to actually do that--and, I don't know that I will anytime soon.  I'm not a networking person so that would not be included!

Quote:
I experimented and mocked around for ages but it causes me so many headaches (I guess you went through the same or know what I'm talking about...).

Bottom line--at least for now, you probably have to create your own version of a *universal Ghost boot disc* on your own, using the various resources mentioned above.

Sorry--probably not the answer you hoped for--hope the resources above help.
 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
Caesar
N00b
Offline



Posts: 3


Back to top
Re: Universale Ghost boot CD
Reply #3 - May 1st, 2010 at 11:59am
 
NightOwl wrote on Apr 30th, 2010 at 11:12am:
I have thought about putting together a boot disc iso which would be very basic--booting to DOS, loading PATA and SATA optical drive drivers, and having USB DOS support--but, it takes a fair bit of time to put it together and then write up an explanation as to how to use it and add your *ghost.exe* to the iso!--I have not found enough free time to actually do that--and, I don't know that I will anytime soon.I'm not a networking person so that would not be included!


Hi Nightowl,

Thanks heaps for the detailed explanation.
I own Ghost versions 8 and 10. Version 8 works best for me.
I'm wondering why "inventing the wheel" again and again.
I'm happy to write a detailed explanation how to implement anyone's own ghost file into a Boot Disk if you do the boot disk part.
It would be great if this community here could work on a boot disk file (and everybody could test it and input their parameters).
It should be completely legal to create and publish such a file in iso format I guess.
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks again.

Cheers
Caesar
 
 
IP Logged
 
OldCasper
Technoluster
***
Offline


I Love Ghost!

Posts: 119
Florida, USA


Back to top
Re: Universale Ghost boot CD
Reply #4 - Dec 5th, 2010 at 4:06pm
 
A boot CD for Ghost can be very helpful, but like has been said, things can change just from one day to the next and then you're back to creating a new CD.

An easy way to keep up to date, with drivers, etc., is to built up what you want on a suitable sized (Bootable) Flash Drive.  (We've discussed making bootable flash drives before)
Then when you have it exactly the way you want it, use a program like Nero to Create a Bootable CD, using the flash drive as the model.

Need to change something later, make the changes on the flash drive and then burn a new CD.  It don't get no easier than that.  I do it all the time.

Happy Holidays Mates!
OC  Wink
 

A man with experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print