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Norton Ghost 2003: Overview
Norton Ghost is a tool which allows you to backup your entire hard drive or partitions on your hard drive in-case something goes wrong with them at a later date. You can do this to a second hard drive, a number or CD’s or a DVD.

Before Norton Ghost 2003 you had to have knowledge of DOS commands to be able to successfully backup your drive. Now there is a nice new shiny front end that will do all of the hard work for you. All you know have to tell it is what you want to backup and to where.

Below is a guide running through the basic steps of backing up a drive in Norton Ghost 2003 followed by doing an Image Integrity Check. After that I will run through the Ghost Explorer program so that you can view the files inside your image and finish up with Restoring your image back onto your hard drive.





Norton Ghost 2003 Tips
I would reccommend that you make your image after you have reformatted and setup your computer. This way you have a nice clean system to restore to if something goes wrong. Also the overall size of the file will be significantly smaller than if you have lots of programs installed. It will work if you do it on a system that has been running for a while but remember any problems that you had will also be restored.

Backing up your image to a hard disk will be quicker than to CD or DVD. However you must do this to a second harddrive. You can't place your image on the same harddrive that you are trying to make an image of.





Norton Ghost 2003: Image Backup
After installing Norton Ghost you should see an icon like the one below in your tool bar. This is the Norton Ghost icon. You can either click on this or run the program from the Start menu.



This is the first screen that you will see when you launch Norton Ghost. To make a backup click on the Backup picture.



This screen simply tells you that you selected Backup as your option. Hit Next to continue.



The next screen shows which drives and partitions are available to be backed up. Here you will need to select which drive you want to backup. Here you will also need to select where you want to place your backed up image file. The two selections are File and Recordable CD or DVD. If you choose file you will need to have a second partition or drive available to use. This can include a USB removable drive. If you choose CD or DVD then make sure you put a disk into the drive now. Once you have selected your options hit the Next button.



On this screen you need to give your file a name if you are not burning to a CD or DVD. Here you can also give your image a description so that you know what is on the drive at a later date. Hit Next to continue.



On this screen you have the option to change some of the advanced settings in Norton Ghost. Most times the default settings that Norton picks will work. Hit Next to continue.



This screen is just to show you what will come up after the computer resets itself. Hit Next to continue.



This is a simply warning telling you to check out your image after you have created it. This is so you know that it will work should your operating system become unusable. Hit Continue to carry on.



This is the summary screen. It simply shows what is going to happen after you hit the Run Now button.



This is a simply warning giving you one last chance to save anything you where working on. Once you hit the OK button your computer will restart.



The following window may come up as Norton Ghost prepares to image your drive.



After this the computer will reboot into DOS. A screen will come up with two options. One will say continue with Norton Ghost imaging and the second will say go back to windows. This is the last chance to abort the imaging. After this Norton Ghost will automatically image your drive and write it to a blank CD or DVD or another hard drive. Once it has finished the computer should restart and take you back into your operating system.

Back in your operating system you will be able to see your image on your other hard drive or CD.



That's it you know have your hard drive backed up.





Norton Ghost 2003: Image Integrity Check

The Image Integrity Check is here to identify any errors with your image before you make any change to your hard drive or worse have to use the image to restore your computer.

The first thing you need to do is to click on the Ghost Advanced button on the left. This will bring up the Advanced Tools window. To check your image click on the Image Integrity Check picture.




This screen simply tells you that you selected Image Integrity Check as your option. Hit Next to continue.



On this window you need to select the image you want to check. To do this click on the Browse button and locate your image. When you have selected an image the Image File Name will change to the corresponding name.

Also an Image Description will appear. If you modified this earlier then it will contain something different to what the picture shows. Once done hit the next button to continue.



On this screen you have the option to change some of the advanced settings in Norton Ghost. Most times the default settings that Norton picks will work. Hit Next to continue.



This screen is just to show you what will come up after the computer resets itself. Hit Next to continue.



This is the summary screen. It simply shows what is going to happen after you hit the Run Now button.



This is a simply warning giving you one last chance to save anything you where working on. Once you hit the OK button your computer will restart.



After this the computer will reboot into DOS. A screen will come up with two options. One will say continue with Norton Ghost imaging and the second will say go back to windows. This is the last chance to abort the Integrity Check. Once it has finished the computer should restart and take you back into your operating system.





Norton Ghost 2003: Ghost Explorer

The Norton Ghost Explorer is here is here so that you can have a look at the images you have created. It also has an option to modify the image that you have created.

The first thing you need to do is to click on the Ghost Utilities button on the left. This will bring up the Ghost Utilities window. To view your image click on the Norton Ghost Explorer picture.



This is Ghost Explorer. You may have to load up your image using File -> Open. Once the image has been loaded you can view the image by clicking on the image name, then the drive and finally the folder name in the left-hand window. In the right hand window the contents will be displayed.



To have a look at the properties of the image file click on File and select Properties.



This will bring up the following window. Here you can see what version of Norton Ghost has been used to create the image, compression type, image size and a whole host of other things. Here you can also change the description that is given to identify the image.



If you change anything in Norton Ghost Explorer make sure that you compile the image or your changes will be lost. To do this select Compile from the File menu.



You will be asked to give your new file a name. Don't overwrite your original file. Once you have given it a name click the save button to save your file.



There is a process counter in the bottom right handside of the screen. Here you can see it says 2% has been completed. It may take a while for the operation to complete.



Afterwards you should do an Integrity Check on the image to make sure everything is ok.





Norton Ghost 2003: Image Restore
This is the first screen that you will see when you launch Norton Ghost. To restore a backup click on the Restore picture.



This screen simply tells you that you selected Restore as your option. Hit Next to continue.



On this window you need to select the image you want to Restore. To do this click on the Browse button and locate your image. When you have selected an image the Image File Name will change to the corresponding name.

Also an Image Description will appear. If you modified this earlier then it will contain something different to what the picture shows. Once done hit the next button to continue.



In this window you have to choose the source image and where you want it to be backed up to. Firstly you have to choose the image from the left-hand window. Click on the option which has the size of the file. Next you have to choose where you want to Restore the image to. This MUST be the same drive and or partition that you originally Backed up. If it is different then you will corrupt that drive and or partition. Here I am Restoring to a partition and not a drive, so I have clicked on the partition called WinXPDisk. Once you are happy click the next button to continue. Double check before you do continue though.



If you running an Operating System on the partition you are Restoring to you will see this window. Here you have to tick the check box to continue. If you are Restoring to a spare drive which doesn’t have an Operating System on it then this window will not appear. Click Next to continue.



On this screen you have the option to change some of the advanced settings in Norton Ghost. Most times the default settings that Norton picks will work. Hit Next to continue.



This screen is just to show you what will come up after the computer resets itself. Hit Next to continue.



This is the summary screen. It simply shows what is going to happen after you hit the Run Now button.



This is a simply warning giving you one last chance to save anything you where working on. Once you hit the OK button your computer will restart.



After this the computer will reboot into DOS. A screen will come up with two options. One will say continue with Norton Ghost restore and the second will say go back to windows. This is the last chance to abort the restore. After this Norton Ghost will automatically restore your drive. Once it has finished the computer should restart and take you back into your operating system.





Version History
1.3 - Added Ghost Explorer
1.2 - Added Integrity Check
1.1 - Added Image Restore
1.0 - Initial Version Containing Image backup

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