Norton Ghost - People still use it?

[gizbug]

Wondering if the general public here still uses ghost?
I heard one should ghost say, a fresh winxp install without any drivers or anything installed, just winxp.
This still wise to do?

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: gizbug
Wondering if the general public here still uses ghost?
I heard one should ghost say, a fresh winxp install without any drivers or anything installed, just winxp.
This still wise to do?

This is what I do. I setup Win2k(works for WinXP also) and setup all the software that I use. Office, email, Xnews, daemon tools.......

After I have it working exactly how I want. I use the MS tool called Sysprep. I run it and it reset the hardware configuration. I shut the machine down and I boot into DOS. I ghost the image to my dvd-writer.

That way I have a generic hardware profile but I have all my software installed. So all it takes when I restore the image is letting the hardware get detected.

 

[gizbug]

Cool
Never heard of or used sysprep

 

[MonkeyK]

Yes, Please explain what sysprep is/does. I took a look at Microsoft's Description, but still do not have a good notion.


I use Acronis True Image for my imaging. It allows me to image the active partition while still running windows.

 

[Sid59]

XP + SP1 + drivers
XP + SP1 + drivers + few core apps ..

those are my ghost images.

 

[PeteyBoy23]

Yes, I use ghost regularly. It's a great product to CYA with servers.

Sysprep removes any machine-specific information (machine name, detected hardware, etc.). It's not necessary to use sysprep if you only have one machine that you are ghosting from/to. Sysprep is used say if I build a win2k/xp workstation/server, and want to deploy that exact image to a number of machines, those machines could have disparate hardware. That's where sysprep comes in. You run sysprep (I prefer with the pnp switch) on the machine with the build you want to save. It will shut down the machine afterwards. You then ghost it to an image file, and deploy that image file to however many machines. Once you startup those other machines, it will rerun the PNP detection (hence the pnp switch I mentioned).

Hope this helps.

 

[MonkeyK]

Thanks for the explanation PeteyBoy. Looks like I am not missing out on anything.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: MonkeyK
Thanks for the explanation PeteyBoy. Looks like I am not missing out on anything.

Here is why I use Sysprep.

I can make a generic image. If I upgrade my motherboard I don't have to start from scratch since my image is hardware generic. That way regardless of any hardware upgrades I ever make my image will still work fine.

 

[techwanabe]

I ghost all the time using multicast server to xmit the image via TCPIP to another PC plugged into the network. I've done it across to the other building but it floods the network, so I usually unplug the switch so it isolates the multicast server and the host machine from the rest of the network

I prep a machine for standard user with all the apps I need and ghost it.

I ghosted 4 machines today in fact.

 

[Rufio]

i gotta try that.....that seems cool

 

[MonkeyK]

I can make a generic image. If I upgrade my motherboard I don't have to start from scratch since my image is hardware generic. That way regardless of any hardware upgrades I ever make my image will still work fine.

How generic can the image really be though. You will still have drivers that could change, don't you? Or does sysprep somehow only set up drivers when you reimage?

 

[PeteyBoy23]

Originally posted by: PeteyBoy23
Yes, I use ghost regularly. It's a great product to CYA with servers.

Sysprep removes any machine-specific information (machine name, detected hardware, etc.). It's not necessary to use sysprep if you only have one machine that you are ghosting from/to. Sysprep is used say if I build a win2k/xp workstation/server, and want to deploy that exact image to a number of machines, those machines could have disparate hardware. That's where sysprep comes in. You run sysprep (I prefer with the pnp switch) on the machine with the build you want to save. It will shut down the machine afterwards. You then ghost it to an image file, and deploy that image file to however many machines. Once you startup those other machines, it will rerun the PNP detection (hence the pnp switch I mentioned).

Hope this helps.

Does that answer it?

 

[human2k]

i use it.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: MonkeyK

I can make a generic image. If I upgrade my motherboard I don't have to start from scratch since my image is hardware generic. That way regardless of any hardware upgrades I ever make my image will still work fine.

How generic can the image really be though. You will still have drivers that could change, don't you? Or does sysprep somehow only set up drivers when you reimage?

After I use sysprep the system has NO hardware profile.

If you have had much experience with Win2k or WinXP, if you start changing motherboards with different chipset you will run into MAJOR issues that can only be solved by a repair install OR fresh install.

Since my image has no hardware profile, each time I reimage, it redetects all my hardware and installs drivers. That way regardless if I have changed motherboards since I made the image, it won't affect the image.

 

[Spyro]

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: MonkeyK

I can make a generic image. If I upgrade my motherboard I don't have to start from scratch since my image is hardware generic. That way regardless of any hardware upgrades I ever make my image will still work fine.

How generic can the image really be though. You will still have drivers that could change, don't you? Or does sysprep somehow only set up drivers when you reimage?

After I use sysprep the system has NO hardware profile.

If you have had much experience with Win2k or WinXP, if you start changing motherboards with different chipset you will run into MAJOR issues that can only be solved by a repair install OR fresh install.

Since my image has no hardware profile, each time I reimage, it redetects all my hardware and installs drivers. That way regardless if I have changed motherboards since I made the image, it won't affect the image.

Cool.

 

[MonkeyK]

I get it now. Very Cool

Thanks!

 

[Rufio]

Originally posted by: MonkeyK
I get it now. Very Cool

Thanks!

 

[TheOneBadass]

I also use ghost and this is one prog I can't live without. backing up and restoring is so simple either within windows or dos. this is a must have for anybody that formats a lot.

 

[Harvey]

I haven't used it since yesterday. I Ghost at least once a week and everytime before I install new software or hardware.

When I'm setting up a new system, I install the OS and Ghost. Then, I Ghost after installing each program. That way, if the install totally screws up everything, I'm still good back to the last good point in the installation.

Once, when I was installling a friend's sound card, when I installed the software, it would lock up on reboot, and the system would only boot in safe mode. I just Ghosted back to the last good point and tried again. It took five tries to realize that the PCI slot had a dedicated IRQ that was conflicting with something else, and all I had to do was move the card to a different slot, but Ghost made the situation tolerable.

 

[Rufio]

Originally posted by: Harvey
I haven't used it since yesterday. I Ghost at least once a week and everytime before I install new software or hardware.

When I'm setting up a new system, I install the OS and Ghost. Then, I Ghost after installing each program. That way, if the install totally screws up everything, I'm still good back to the last good point in the installation.

Once, when I was installling a friend's sound card, when I installed the software, it would lock up on reboot, and the system would only boot in safe mode. I just Ghosted back to the last good point and tried again. It took five tries to realize that the PCI slot had a dedicated IRQ that was conflicting with something else, and all I had to do was move the card to a different slot, but Ghost made the situation tolerable.

man, ghost after each software install?? that must take u forever!

 

[PeteyBoy23]

Originally posted by: Rufio

Originally posted by: Harvey
I haven't used it since yesterday. I Ghost at least once a week and everytime before I install new software or hardware.

When I'm setting up a new system, I install the OS and Ghost. Then, I Ghost after installing each program. That way, if the install totally screws up everything, I'm still good back to the last good point in the installation.

Once, when I was installling a friend's sound card, when I installed the software, it would lock up on reboot, and the system would only boot in safe mode. I just Ghosted back to the last good point and tried again. It took five tries to realize that the PCI slot had a dedicated IRQ that was conflicting with something else, and all I had to do was move the card to a different slot, but Ghost made the situation tolerable.

man, ghost after each software install?? that must take u forever!

I was just thinking the same thing. Then I thought "Well, ghosting it takes 5 minutes if done right" so perhaps it wasn't that bad. But then he mentioned the "it took me 5 times to figure this out" makes me think he wasn't technical enough to setup ghost right. Just my take on it.

 

[tcrosson]

Ghosting in DOS?

Is this possible with an NTFS partition?

 

[Rufio]

Originally posted by: tcrosson
Ghosting in DOS?

Is this possible with an NTFS partition?

i use drive image, and w/drive image, i set the parameters i want in windows, and then the computer reboots and goes into ghost mode. i don't think it's a regular dos version because dos can't read ntfs partitions...but it works, and that's all i need to know!

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: tcrosson
Ghosting in DOS?

Is this possible with an NTFS partition?

Yes

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Rufio
man, ghost after each software install?? that must take u forever!

Not as long as starting a whole new installation. It was only a 20 GB hard drive, so each Ghost took about eight minutes.

Originally posted by: PeteyBoy23
But then he mentioned the "it took me 5 times to figure this out" makes me think he wasn't technical enough to setup ghost right. Just my take on it.

I'm technical enough to figure out most computer problems I encounter, but when you reboot the machine, and it locks up at a blank screen in anything but safe mode, I proceed systematically, step by step, to eliminate the possible reasons. An IRQ conflict was just one of several possiblities I checked.