Hi all,

The problem: I can't manage to create a backup from my c:\ drive.

This is what I've done so far:
* using the wizard
-> outcome: during boot, the pc fails to get through the ghost-dos screens (simply hangs)

*using bootdisks:
-> outcome: used about 20 different bootdisks, including or excluding scsi/usb/firewire drivers, with win95(B) or win98 bootdiskfiles, but to no avail. I managed to boot the dos-system, but ghost.exe refuses to load (blue startup screen doesn't go away, pc does nothing)

What would be the easiest way to create the image? I've used ghost a lot in the past, when it was still possible to create an image from the c: drive in windows. But it seems that I can't create a working bootdisk for my pc.

setup:

* USB floppy drive (works, since booting to dos works with some of the bootdisks)
* c: drive on adaptec scsi-adapter (the one that needs the backup)
* a bunch of other harddrives on several adapters, that should not interfere because they are not needed for the backup process (although somehow I think, that the ghost wizard is designed for rather "simple" pc's that boot from IDE)

What if you build a bootdisk yourself? Just make a very very simple bootdisk that only loads the Adaptec driver and nothing more. Than don't make use of the wizard, but just start ghost.ext from the dos environment and "navigate" your backup from there...

Yes, that would be the ideal solution. But actually, I don't know exactly what should be on the disk or how I should create a custom bootdisk If I remember well, a bootdisk has some files in a special location on the disk (eg. config.sys?). How can I manage those?
And which file do I need to support discs on an Adaptec 29160N scsi-adapter?

In the mean time, I managed to mirror the drive to another one, with another PC. So I transferred the entire SCSI-setup to PC#2, ran the wizard on it and mirrored the drive. (needless to say that I booted from PC#2's c:\ drive and NOT from the SCSI ).

If PC#1's c: drive fails, I now have a spare one to backup with. But this procedure isn't really convenient and it would be a lot easier with a working bootdisk. Anyone?

Thanks!

Actually a bootdisk has to be formatted accordingly and contain:

1. IO.SYS

2. MSDOS.SYS

3. COMMAND.COM

3. CONFIG.SYS

4. AUTOEXEC.BAT

5. HYMEM.SYS

6. DISPLAY.SYS, etc.

A simple bootdisk can be done with a dos command: format a:/sys. Or: a system can be "SYS.COM"-ed with SYS (drive letter command.

I may have misunderstood the problem, sorry if this is the case. Tried to help.

can i get a norton ghost boot disk software?

Hi Cupid92, welcome to CDFreaks!

I think you will have a hard time finding Ghost 2003 if that's what you want, as it's rather old by now.

The current version is Norton Ghost 12.0.

Norton Save & Restore is the latest similar backup/restore utility from Symantec, and I believe there's also a similar function built into Norton 360, but I haven't tried Norton 360 myself.

There is also similar software available from competing companies, such as e.g. Acronis True Image.

I have Ghost 2003 and made a Ghost boot disk simply using Nero to "Make Boot CD," and selected all files in the Ghost folder on the hard drive. Note it's necessary to enable "Show hidden files" in Explorer to be sure all files are included. Disk created in this fashion will boot to DR DOS as drive A; then simply type "X:" and press "Enter" where "X:" is drive letter of CDROM to change to CDROM drive, and finally type "Ghost" and press "Enter" to run Ghost from the CD.

Why Norton anyway? why dont you try Acronis True Image. It'a so easy to use.

Norton is so easy to use too. It's simply a matter of knowing how to use the program regardless of software chosen, and I only paid $3 for download version of Norton System Works 2003 which included Ghost.

If you can not figure out any other way, here is how I make lots of different boot cd's. Just format a regular blank floppy disk with system files only on it. Then make a folder on the desktop and put those files in that folder and add all of the Ghost files to that folder. Then use Nero or Roxio and make a bootable cd. When the computer boots up, choose to start with cd support. Then at the A: prompt, type in the cd drive letter followed by the name of the Ghost .exe flile. eg. D:\Ghost.exe and hit "enter".