Question about NTFS, Win XP, and Ghost.

[MWink]

I've got a few questions about NTFS. I've never really used it in the past. I'm just starting to experiment with it. I've got a probably out of date version of Symantec Ghost and whenever I try to access a drive with even one NTFS partition the program crashes. Would a newer version of Ghost (the one included with System Works 2002) work with NTFS partitons?

Also, how large an NTFS partiton can Win XP Pro read? I know it can access only up to a 32GB FAT32 partition. Is the same true for NTFS?

My last question about is about the compression NTFS supports. Is it dangerous like DriveSpace used to be? Is there any chance my data could be corrupted. Also, how much of a performance it would I see using that compression? I was thinking of compressing folders that hold my data files as it seems to compact them a bit. Would that be safe?

 

[AndyHui]

Ghost 2002 does support NTFS.

NTFS supports partitions approximately 4TB in size, with a theoretical limit of 16EB.

Please read the FAQ: FAT32 vs NTFS

Compression is a native function of NTFS, and is perfectly safe, completely transparent. There may be a minor performance hit under certain circumstances. It is completely different to DriveSpace.

 

[MWink]

Thanks... And sorry I keep forgetting about the FAQ's.

 

[Bglad]

I hate to disagree with Andy as he is very knowledgable and has helped me several times but...

Ghost is not FULLY compatible with NTFS. There are some limitations. Ghost will not allow you to restore an image to an NTFS drive or partition. It will however allow you to do a drive to drive or partition to partion copy. This includes the newest 2002 version. Goto the Ghost help files on the Symantec site and search for NTFS. The first or second document that comes up will explain.

DriveImage is fully compatible with NTFS and does not have these limitations.

 

[owensdj]

Originally posted by: Bglad
...There are some limitations. Ghost will not allow you to restore an image to an NTFS drive or partition.

That's not exactly true. Ghost 2002(the newest version) won't let you save an image file to an NTFS partition. It will let you save an image of an NTFS partition onto media such as CD-R or onto a FAT32 partition. Ghost 2002 can also write images of NTFS partitions onto hard drives. Ghost can also save images to NTFS partitions on other computers on a network using a mapped drive. In other words, the only limitation is that you can't put an image file onto a local NTFS partition.

 

[Bglad]

Agreed, and maybe I was vague. But it should be noted that this limitation is the one that keeps most people from doing what they want with Ghost. Far more people are interested in saving an image to an NTFS drive or partition than are wanting to save to CD (quite impractical with newer bigger drives) or over a network. Most people saving over a network have the enterprise version that doesn't have this problem.

The best home/small business backup solution is to image one primary drive to a second backup drive and if you are running NTFS it can't be done with Ghost.

Actually, before you call me on this too, you could copy one drive to the other, but this only allows you to make one backup at a time. Imaging allows you to save several images and restore selectively as necessary. Maybe you could live without that but lets face it, the Ghost box says "fully compatible" and it isn't!

 

[gaidin123]

Using Ghost 7.5 Corporate (Ghost 2002 for businesses with more features) we ghost NTFS Win XP partitions to a Ghost server with NTFS formatted drives. Ghost 2002 is smart about not letting you do this. I tried it at home and by manually connecting to a network share and trying to save an image there it would give me an error.

I would assume the corporate version is overkill for home use but it does let you save NTFS to NTFS and restore NTFS partitions from an NTFS formatted drive.

Gaidin

Edit: Just wanted to make one point clear. When I say it can do NTFS to/from NTFS I'm talking about over the network. We don't ghost/store images on local drives, it's all done to/from a ghost server.

 

[JesseKnows]

Since Ghost was in the topic:

Don't you just love the way Ghost 2002 gives you a serial number on the welcome screen and then has you type it back in? I wonder what that accomplishes beyind irritation and the requirement to have paper and pencil available when you run it?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: JesseKnows
Since Ghost was in the topic:

Don't you just love the way Ghost 2002 gives you a serial number on the welcome screen and then has you type it back in? I wonder what that accomplishes beyind irritation and the requirement to have paper and pencil available when you run it?

Sigh, Thats been mentioned once or twice around here I'm trying to get that changed for the next version, reason it's there is to prevent it from being used in automated/corporate environments. But, for end users who need to use it, I agree it's a pain.

Bill