nForce4 DOS USB 2.0 Drivers?

[Aquila76]

I recently purchased a Desk Hammer Express 320GB USB HDD (basically a WD 320GB HDD on an SATALink SATA->USB bridge) from Staples for backing up my system (see rig link below for full specs). Everytime I launch Ghost to backup my system, I get one of two things:
Using USB 2.0 driver - ASPI just sits there trying to find the drive, never gets any further.
Using USB 1.1 driver - ASPI finds the drive fine, but the Ghost program bombs out and says: "Can't find drive with specified disk identification. You may need to load additional drivers to access this drive."

I tried disconnecting all my other USB devices (phone data cable, USB hub, Logitech KB/Mouse receiver (moved to PS2 ports)) and it still fails.

Now, I know this drive works with Ghost in USB 2.0 mode because I used it to back up my wife's HP Laptop. Ghost ran flawlessly (~400MB/min using high compression).

I've also tried using the Panasonic USBASPI.SYS and DI1000DD.sys in place of the Ghost default ASPIEHCI.SYS. It failed to find the HDD as well in either low or high speed mode.

Are there specific DOS USB drivers I need to use for an nForce4 mobo? I can't possibly be the only person using an nForce4 mobo trying to Ghost to a USB HDD.

 

[dclive]

I use a BartPE boot cd and Ghost32 to do this. An advantage is I can browse the Internet or do other stuff on the PC while my HDD is being ghosted.

 

[Aquila76]

But even with the BartPE disc, I still need a working USB driver (*.sys file) right? None of the ones I've used so far has worked properly on my system.
What .sys is used on your BartPE disc when you run Ghost32? Is your system an nForce4 system, too?

 

[Aquila76]

Screw it. Ghost just refuses to see my external USB HDD. Acronis True Image Rescue CD sees it just fine. Acronis for some reason nukes my USB Keyboard/Mouse and I have to use the USB > PS2 adapters, but I'm willing to live with swapping that once a month.
Aaah, the great feeling of one less buggy/bloaty Symantec program on my system.

 

[Rubycon]

This is not a ghost issue it's an issue with your PC not showing the device as mass storage (USB)?

If that is working on your pc, a usb pen drive should show up in dos (as long as it's formatted FAT32).

Ghost gets flakey with some RAID and SATA controllers in enhanced mode - it will often hang at the splash screen.

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
This is not a ghost issue it's an issue with your PC not showing the device as mass storage (USB)?

If that is working on your pc, a usb pen drive should show up in dos (as long as it's formatted FAT32).

Ghost gets flakey with some RAID and SATA controllers in enhanced mode - it will often hang at the splash screen.

The thing is, I'm able to boot off of the USB HDD (it has an NTFS partition, btw) for BIOS updates, MemTest, etc. with no problem (I press F8 at the BIOS screen and it lets me select what device to boot from). That, unfortunately, leaves it in USB 1.1 mode which is far too slow to use for backup.

Ghost works fine if I go HDD > HDD (both SATA) or HDD > DVD on my PC. It's the DOS USB drivers (ASPI*HCD.sys) Ghost uses and the alternatives I found (USBASPI.sys) to see USB attached storage that simply don't work with nForce4 based systems. It's not even getting to the splash screen if I use the USB 2.0 (ASPIEHCD) driver. It just sits there in DOS for at least 30 minutes (I gave up after that long) after it loads the driver and searches for devices.

Acronis works perfectly fine in DOS (?) mode booting off the recovery CD and performing a backup/restore. It takes about 20 minutes to back up my 74GB Raptor, and just over an hour to back up my 250GB.