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Using
Norton Ghost
Introduction
Norton
Ghost is a program that copies whole partitions of hard drives, a feature
perfect for backing up the boot partition of a computer. Why is this important?
Because every so often Windows goes berserk and has to be reinstalled. The
traditional way to accomplish this is to reload Windows and all of your software
programs one at a time--not to mention all of the personalized settings and
other changes you've made. With Ghost, you can reload an entire system in less
than 15 minutes!
Here's
how it works. Ghost requires you to have two partitions (or divisions) on one or
more hard drives. Upon your instruction, it can copy the contents of one
partition to a single file on another partition, as long as there's enough room.
Lucky for us, when Windows goes wacko, it's the boot partition that needs to be
restored, not all of the drives. In order to restore the boot partition, simply
boot from a floppy or into "Command" (DOS) mode from the hard drive
and reload from the secondary boot drive or a CD-ROM!
Do
not try running Ghost while in Windows. While the program may be able to
complete some steps, the result will be an unstable system.
Backing up a partition
Requirements
You
must have at least two partitions on the local computer to create a ghost
backup. Caveat: it is possible to perform a backup over the network if you boot
using DOS network drivers, but since we don't do that, I'm skipping that
option.)
The
target partition must have more free space than the source partition takes up.
Caveat: Ghost can compress the output file, so there is some leeway
here.
Procedure
1.
Boot the system in Command/DOS mode.
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From Windows,
select Start -> Shut Down... and choose Restart the
computer in MS-DOS mode?.
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From power off,
turn on the computer and press the F8 key when the screen
displays Starting Windows 95, then select Command prompt
only. Windows 98 users may not see the a Starting Windows 98
message and should instead press F8 at two-second
intervals during the boot sequence until the boot menu appears. (This
really works!)
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2.
Go to the d:\ghost directory using the commands
d:
cd \ghost
3.
Use the Ghost backup procedure outlined below.
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Screen
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Action
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Figures
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Run Ghost using the
command
ghost
Note
that the mouse may be unavailable. If so, use the tab key
to move between fields and space or enter
to accept.
Click
OK to continue.
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Select Local
-> Partition -> To Image from the menu.
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Select the drive
which has the source partition.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
drive and press space to accept.
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Select the source
partition.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
drive, press tab to advance the input focus to the OK
button, and press space to accept.
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Enter the name of
the output file to create. The suggested extension is
.GHO. You may wish to change the
output directory. By default the output will go to the ghost directory.
If
the mouse is not functioning, press tab to advance to the File Name text
box and enter the file name to use. Press enter to
accept.
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Select the desired
compression method. Note the source partition size. If you wish to write
the file to a CD be sure to keep the output file under 650 MB.
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No
compression produces a 1:1 ratio of input:output file size.
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Fast
compression files have a ratio of ~ 1.3:1.
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High
compression files have a ratio of ~1.8:1.
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Ghost
will take between 10 and 30 minutes to produce the output file, depending on
source size and compression method.
Restoring a partition
Restoring
a partition means to replace the contents of an existing partition with the
contents of a Ghost file already produced. This is usually done to recover from
a corrupted Windows boot partition.
Requirements
The
target partition must have the same disk geometry (number of heads, cylinder and
block size, etc.) as the ghost source file.
The
source file must reside locally on a partition separate from the target
partition. Caveat: it is possible to perform a restoration over the
network if you boot using DOS network drivers, but since we don't do that, I'm
skipping that option.)
Procedure
1.
Boot the system in Command/DOS mode.
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From Windows,
select Start -> Shut Down... and choose Restart the
computer in MS-DOS mode?.
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From power off,
turn on the computer and press the F8 key when the screen
displays Starting Windows 95, then select Command prompt
only. Windows 98 users may not see the a Starting Windows 98
message and should instead press F8 at two-second
intervals during the boot sequence until the boot menu appears. (This
really works!)
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2.
Go to the d:\ghost directory using the commands
d:
cd \ghost
Note:
if restoring from CD then change to the appropriate drive and directory. Of
course, you must have the proper CD-ROM drivers loaded as part of your boot
sequence.
3.
Use the Ghost restore procedure outlined below.
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Screen
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Task
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Figures
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Run Ghost using the
command
ghost
Note
that the mouse may be unavailable. If so, use the tab key
to move between fields and space or enter
to accept.
Click
OK to continue.
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Select Local
-> Partition -> From Image from the menu.
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Select the file to
restore. Ghost refers to this process as a partition load.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
file and press space to accept.
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Select the source
partition to use. There will probably be only one choice.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
file and press space to accept.
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Select the target drive
to copy to. Don't worry that you are selecting the entire drive.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
file and press space to accept.
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Select the target partition
to copy to. Only partitions that have disk geometries matching the ghost
file will be available.
If
the mouse is not functioning, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired
file and press space to accept.
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Click Yes to
continue with the partition load.
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The
partition load takes about 15 minutes, depending on size and compression method
used when creating the backup file. You will be prompted to reboot when
finished.
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