Ghost and NTFS

[Bacchus]

Before I begin, I'll start by saying that I've searched the posts for an answer, yet didn't find a definitive answer.

My question: can you both backup and restore images to/from NTFS?

What I'd like to do is the following: I have 4 PCs, one of which is running W2K (only), with two HDs: 1 40G HD (with 2 NTFS partitions) and 1 100G HD (not formatted/partitioned yet). My intent is to use the 100G HD primarily for backing up partitions from this (and my other) PCs (each backup in their own distinct partition on my 100G HD). I'm currently using Norton Ghost 2001 (but I'm willing to purchase 2002, if it makes a difference - which, from what I've read, don't think that it will).

I've scoured thru the literature, yet have heard from both sides of the fence, claiming that you can/cannot backup & restore to/from NTFS.

Looking forward to any guidance on this -- in addition to *best recommendations* as to facilitate my backups, given my current setup.
My thanks in advance.

 

[Bacchus]

*bump*

..anyone?

 

[ojai00]

Hi Bacchus. It should work fine. I just finished Ghosting my WinXP drive, which is a NTFS drive with Ghost 2002. I've worked at an office where the IT managers have used Ghost to back up Windows 2000, so that should work as well. Good luck, and let us know how everything turns out.

 

[LethalWolfe]

You'll need to use Ghost 2002. Any previous version will not write to an NTFS partition. You'll be able to ghost and NTFS partition, but you won't be able to save said ghost to an NTFS partition unless you are using Ghost 2002.


Lethal

 

[Rob G.]

>> "My question: can you both backup and restore images to/from NTFS?"

The answer is 'yes' - but it depends what you want to do.

If you want to clone an NTFS partition or restore one from an image it works fine. However the image file itself cannot be written to an NTFS paritition. This is because Ghost runs in DOS and DOS can't do anything with NTFS.

So the only real issue you have is that image files must be stored on a FAT/FAT32 partition. Or directly to CD-R.

>> "You'll need to use Ghost 2002. Any previous version will not write to an NTFS partition. You'll be able to ghost and NTFS partition, but you won't be able to save said ghost to an NTFS partition unless you are using Ghost 2002."

Sorry but your mistaken. If you're using Windows 2000 you will need Ghost 2001. 2002 is only required for the Windows XP version of NTFS. Neither version can write an image onto an NTFS partition.

Avoid Ghost 2002 like the plague unless you really have to use it (i.e. if you use NTFS with WinXP). You have to type in a twelve character licence key code every single time you want to clone or restore a partition. This is Symantec's way of telling you that you use the product too often and that you really should buy the corporate version. No joke. It actually says as much on their support page.

 

[mOrphine]

<< This is Symantec's way of telling you that you use the product too often and that you really should buy the corporate version. No joke. It actually says as much on their support page. >>



kinda makes u wonder why they call it personal edition, dumb move on symantec's part

 

[Bacchus]

Thanks for the responses, folks.

Rob G: So, if I understand you correctly..

(1) I can backup my NTFS partition.
(2) I can restore my NTFS partition to another NTFS partition.
(3) HOWEVER...I cannot save the *image* of the NTFS partition on another NTFS partition. As such, I have two options(?): Either (a) store my NTFS backups on a FAT/FAT32 partition; a/o (b) store my NTFS backups on CD(s).

Am I correct? Or have I overlooked something?

And lastly, given this limitation, is there any issue with having one of my partitions on my 80G HD FAT32, with the rest being NTFS? Or, given that I'm primarily using my 80G HD for backups, is it best to partition it all exclusively as FAT32? And is there a *recommended* methodology for partitioning this 80G HDs, given what I want to use it for?

Again, my thanks for your responses (and patience).

 

[ojai00]

You can back up your NTFS drive, but I'm not sure about saving it to a NTFS drive. I would back it up on CD's anyway, just in case your drive fails. As for your other question, it would be better to have one drive exclusively NTFS or exclusively FAT32. Having both can slow down your computer.

 

[techwanabe]

I have an older version of Ghost, probably 2000 or 1999. I ghost computers with NTFS partitions almost every day. What do you mean you can't ghost NTFS with older than 2002?

 

[mOrphine]

<< I have an older version of Ghost, probably 2000 or 1999. I ghost computers with NTFS partitions almost every day. What do you mean you can't ghost NTFS with older than 2002? >>



if u read rob g. 's post, he meant u cant ghost the version of ntfs that winxp uses with a ghost version earlier than 2002

 

[techwanabe]

<<

<< I have an older version of Ghost, probably 2000 or 1999. I ghost computers with NTFS partitions almost every day. What do you mean you can't ghost NTFS with older than 2002? >>


if u read rob g. 's post, he meant u cant ghost the version of ntfs that winxp uses with a ghost version earlier than 2002 >>


Ah, missed that. Sorry!

 

[Rob G.]

Rob G: So, if I understand you correctly..

(1) I can backup my NTFS partition.
(2) I can restore my NTFS partition to another NTFS partition.
(3) HOWEVER...I cannot save the *image* of the NTFS partition on another NTFS partition. As such, I have two options(?): Either (a) store my NTFS backups on a FAT/FAT32 partition; a/o (b) store my NTFS backups on CD(s).

1. Correct
2. Correct
3. Correct. You wont even be able to try to save it to an NTFS partition. That 'drive' just wont appear as an option in the save image dialogue box.

Am I correct? Or have I overlooked something?

Looks good so far.

is there any issue with having one of my partitions on my 80G HD FAT32, with the rest being NTFS? Or, given that I'm primarily using my 80G HD for backups, is it best to partition it all exclusively as FAT32? And is there a *recommended* methodology for partitioning this 80G HDs, given what I want to use it for?

If backups are the main purpose of this drive I'd do the whole lot as one big 80gb FAT32 partition. Any space on there that is partitioned and formatted for NTFS cannot be used for backups unless you're doing it from Windows itself. Plus the drive wont be getting heavy, constant use. That's just how I'd do it. Your mileage may vary. If you decide to do it like that then the 80gb partition will need to be formatted in DOS. Windows 2000 cannot format FAT32 partitions bigger than 32gb, however it's quite happy to mount and use such a drive if it's already been created and formatted.

 

[Bacchus]

Thanks very much, Rob. After I grab something to eat (long day of DBA classes...), I'll start on this.
Appreciate your counsel.

 

[BuckMaster]

Hey guys you lost me! Someone please help!!

I have Ghost 2001 and Ghost 2002. When I was running Windows 2000 I would use Disk to Disk and clone my drive to another drive incase my Main drive went down I could just switch out drives. Worked great!!

Now Im running Win XP and NTFS and when I try either version of Ghost it start the Disk to Disk and stop around 500 megs of coping files and pops up a damn error (29004). I even tried another drive to copy to and get the same error!?

Rob are you saying I cant do a Disk to Disk running NTFS? Its very important I ghost my drive ASAP and im running into dead end here. Ive never tried using ghost any other way because I like saving a extra H/D and just beable to swith out my drive when doing a Disk to Disk.

Thanks!

 

[NicColt]

>Now Im running Win XP and NTFS - and stop around 500 megs of coping files and pops up a damn error (29004)

XP uses a new NTFS so are you using Ghost 02 ?

 

[BuckMaster]

NicColt,

Not really but.... Im glad Im not the only one having this error. Can someone place help me and NicColt!
I even went to Nortons site and the way I understood this error was saying I have bad sectors on the HD thats why I tried another one and still no luck so I know thats BS!

Yea I tried BOTH ghost 2000 and 2001 and get the same error each time.

 

[Rob G.]

>> "Rob are you saying I cant do a Disk to Disk running NTFS? "

No, it should work just fine. If you have XP NTFS partitions on your system, you must use Ghost 2002. I'm pretty sure that was the same error number I kept getting. Going to Ghost 2002 sorted it out.

 

[Zebo]

Hey RobG

Thanks for all the info and the info in the previous post when I asked some ghost stuff. How do I ghost an image file to a CDRW? I know the comand line info I need to make the ghost but how do i boot? How does Dos or whatever recognise my CDRW so I can burn the image file? I am using Ghost 2001 PE and win2k NTFS.

Thanks again rob

 

[Rob G.]

>> "How do I ghost an image file to a CDRW? I know the comand line info I need to make the ghost but how do i boot? How does Dos or whatever recognise my CDRW so I can burn the image file? I am using Ghost 2001 PE and win2k NTFS. "

I'm a little uncertain what you mean there. You boot into DOS the same was as you do now - with a boot floppy or boot CD. When you select the destination for the image file, just select the CD-R drive. If there's a suitable blank disc inside it'll work. You will also have the option of making the first written CD bootable, but this isn't something I ever bother with.

If you're going to use CD-RW then you need to format the discs before you try to use them with Ghost. You can use Nero or Easy CD (well, practically and CD writing sofwarwe) to do this.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your question.

 

[BuckMaster]

Rob I tried using Ghost 2002 and get the same error?
I previously had ghost 2001 installed and did a uninstall from ADD/REMOVE programs and then installed Ghost 2002 and still same error!

Ill try making a new bootdisk maybe? HELP!

 

[Rob G.]

Buck, I might be misinterpreting what you're saying, but Ghost doesn't really need to be 'installed'. The only file you need to do the actual work is ghostpe.exe Make sure the version of that file is the ghostpe.exe from the Ghost2002 installation CD (or wherever you got it from). Make sure you have the correct version of that file on your boot floppy (or at least available on another) Boot into DOS from a floppy or CD and run that file.

If you know that you are definitely using 2002 (the version will be displayed somewhere and you'll get a prompt telling you'll need to use the twelve-character key code to restore from the image) and you're still getting the same error then it's a problem beyond what I've encountered.

 

[BuckMaster]

I think it has something to do with this file it tryies to copy at 527 Megs during the DISK to DISK: NTKRNLPA.EXE

 

[Dill]

I know this post is kind of old..but here's whats been happening to me (maybe some help needed)

my 30 gig 75GXP started making the scratching of death, so I quickly ghosted it to a 45gb 75 GXP using an older version of ghost (I run WinXP with a FAT32 primary partition and an NTFS storage partition) Partition one is about 10 gb, and Partition 2 is whatever is left.

Now I'm trying to ghost the 45gb drive to a Maxtor 40gb I bought (dont trust the IBM's anymore)

The NTFS partition copied fine, however, something won't ghost correct with my Fat32 OS partition. I get a 'File_Volumn MFT Record' error when I first select the partition. I've scandisked and defragged this partition as well.

I hit ok when it showed this error (it came up 3 times in order) and then it asked me if I wanted to treat the drive as a raw partition. The first time I said yes, and it copied over my stuff. Switched drives and it booted to XP, but came up with the standard login screen instead of the fast switch screen. I tried to log in and it said there was a problem checking my key, and then it went back to the login screen. So that was hosed.

I tried ghosting it again, this time saying 'no' when it asked me if I wanted to treat it as a raw partition. Same result. Right now i put the drive I was ghosting from back in, and it booted up fine and is running right now to type this message. So my copy of ghost HAS worked to copy this exact install before, but why not now?

 

[Dill]

boobs.

 

[OatMan]

Great info guys!

Sorry for my thick head but I still can't solve my problem from these posts -

Trying to image copy my win2000 NTFS drive to an identical drive on the same PC using Norton System Works 2002.

1. can't see the NTFS drive in dos so how do I ghost it? - To run the dos program I copied it onto a FAT32 partition on the destination drive (otherwise empty). But The FAT32 drive is the only drive I see when I run Ghost - it says only one local drive.

How do i make this work? Do I have to have the "enterprise version" or am I just stupid? I tried switching which drive was slave, master - i tried cable select (new that wouldn't work) - STUCK!

I must be missing something 'cause lots of people are making NTFS images - but how can you do this if you can't see an NTFS image from DOS.

Do I have to ghost accross a network (like peer to peer?) that will be a pain but if that's what it takes...

TIA!!!!!! Ughhh!