Using Norton Ghost 9 To Clone My C:\ Drive

[madjim- with the Lord]

I was doing some maintanance on my show machine and decided to test my hard drive backup system. I keep a second drive in the computer and have been using Norton Ghost 9 to make a copy (clone) of my C:\ drive to it years now. I have never had to use the second copy (hard drive) but decided to put it to the test. When I dsconnect the C:\ drive and restart the computer it does not boot from the second drive.

The only option in Ghost that I have not tried is the option to make the drive the system bootable drive. This tells me that Ghost will make my second drive the drive that the computer boots from but what will it do to my present C:\ drive? I don't want to change the setup of my original C:\ drive, I just want to copy it for backup.

How do I use Norton Ghost 9 to make a bootable copy of my C:\ drive that will stay installed on my computer for backup?

The Norton\Sytematic support system that I found was no help to me. Any help in this matter or information about using Ghost to clone a hard drive would be greatly appreciated. I must be missing something.

Thanks

Jim

[George]

Have heard about this before, but never tried it. I may get interested too.

Anyone out there have any info or experience with it?

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[madjim- with the Lord]

I did a search and found this from Dale.

Your reference to creating a boot disc would be correct for any backup program when you do a full backup of your C: drive. Without this if your computer crashes you will not be able to start the system to restore the drive which is the whole purpose.

I'll make a Norton Ghost boot disc and report back.

Thanks.

Jim

[marklwood]

Originally Posted by madjim

When I dsconnect the C:\ drive and restart the computer it does not boot from the second drive.

You need to try switching the ribbon cable. Most drives are nowadays jumpered "cable select". You have the C:\ on the primary master and the backup drive on the slave of the primary. You can also select to boot from primary slave in bios, but moving the cable is probably less worrisome and easier.

[George]

Originally Posted by madjim

I did a search and found this from Dale.


I'll make a Norton Ghost boot disc and report back.

Thanks.

Jim

Thanks for the reminder. I made Ghost boot discs a few years ago when I installed Ghost, and forgot all about them

[Beavis]

u need to use the clone option. dont forget to select the copy master boot record.

[goonie227]

Originally Posted by Beavis

u need to use the clone option. dont forget to select the copy master boot record.

I have done a bunch of backups and never checked the MBR
am running one now on my show comp. with it checked.
Dick

[George]

Everyone using Ghost needs to develop the habit of cloning to the back up drive on a regular basis. Weekly works best for me.

If you don't, and your primary drive gets in trouble, you'll be missing all those important updates and spend more time recovering them than you would have backing up on a regular basis.

[Beavis]

i have a newer version of ghost and its really nice Jim, it works in windows and you dont have to restart your computer. it can run in the background.

George, its good to see you around again !

[bobcox- with the Lord]

I use acronis, never had a problem, and its very easy to use. Bob

[bryant]

Originally Posted by bobcox

I use acronis, never had a problem, and its very easy to use. Bob

me too.

[Beavis]

just do a image back up.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by Beavis

just do a image back up.

pardon my ignorance, but i never really understood the diff. between imaging and cloning, i am more comfortable cloning since i'm used to it, i have never tried your recommendation.. yet

[Beavis]

making an image only uses what hard drive space has been taken. when you clone a drive it copies everything to another hard drive.


you could just do a back up image on a extra hard drive (may only use 7 gb) and still use the extra space for other things. then if you ever need to restore the original drive, you would have the back up.

i usually install windows, update it to the max, then install hoster, then make a back up image on my external 1TB.

i also have a cloned back up hard drive 250 GB just for emergency's!

i have a hard drive back up with all my kma's on it. that you only need to drag and drop files for a back up.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by Beavis

just do a image back up.

Hey Beav,
Thanks for your help here (and everybody else). In Ghost 9 there is no clone choice that I can find (it does run in windows). There is a Copy Drive option that I assume is the same thing. I copy the Master Boot Records (MBR) when a copy is made but do not set the drive as THE bootable drive because I do not want to destroy the intergidy of my C:\ drive, I just want a bootable backup copy. The help files do not explain this well. After I copy the C:\ drive, I shut down the computer, remove the C:\ drive (both drives are on the same cable Mark ), leave the copied drive and it will not boot up.

I made a set of boot discs (from microsoft) but they did not make the "cloned" drive work either. I could not find a way to make a set of Norton Boot discs within Ghost 9. The only way I see to get Ghost to let me make the boot discs is to reformat the drive and start from scratch. That's the only time Ghost 9 offered to make a set of boot discs. I was under the impression that I did not need a boot disc so I did not make one plus I just don't use floppy disc anymore.

While using Seagate's Disc Wizard for Windows to reformat the second drive, I found an option to make a copy of the C:\ drive with the intentions of leaving both drives in the computer. I'm running it right now to see if it will give me a bootable backup. If it does not I will do some more tests with Ghost 9. Disc Wizard seems to be copying but man is it slow!

While trying to make something work I put the Ghost disc in the CD burner and a program came up but I could not find a way to make it boot the copied drive.

Once again Norton's products have turned out to be "user unfrienly". There is just no need for this unless it's to make money off of support calls. I'll buy a different program that works before I pay Norton support. This is the last (only one I ever bought) Norton product I will buy BUT I do own a copy of the program and would like to make it work, if it's possible.

Thanks again everybody for your help, I'll keep you updated. Keep you fingers crossed!

Jim

[bobcox- with the Lord]

Acronis takes about 5 minutes, for a 500 gig hard drive,
just a thought. Bob

[madjim- with the Lord]

Hey Bob,
The Disc wizard failed, Norton Ghost 9 has failed, I'm downloading the demo of True Image now.

I have spent a full day with this and still don't have a bootable copy of my C:\ drive.

Thanks for your help!

Jim

[bobcox- with the Lord]

acronis migrate easy 7.0, got it at newegg.com a couple of years ago for $9.99 you buyit then download it.
works great, very easy to use.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by bobcox

acronis migrate easy 7.0, got it at newegg.com a couple of years ago for $9.99 you buyit then download it.
works great, very easy to use.

Thanks Bob,
I downloaded and installed a demo of True Image Home. I'm downloading the Migrate Easy demo now. I'll uninstall True Image and get the Migrate Easy installed in it's place.

Thanks Again

Jim

[billyo]

jim
acronis is what i used to cloned my drives, its fast and easy. buy the box version and you dont need to make a copy and you can also install it on mulitiple computers..