For Norton Ghost Users

[Zephyrize]

I have been recommended Norton Ghost for system & personal data backup;
but before I go for it, I have a little concern:

Let's say that Norton Ghost will backup every change I make in the system, that mean it would actually DELETE a file or folder from the image if I do it in the system right?
So, is there an option in Ghost to tell it ONLY keep track of what I ADD or MOVE, but ignore what I DELETE ?

I'm concerned with this because I'm afraid that it is similar to the Itunes's 'synchronize' function... which makes you lose your music when you accidentally delete a file from your computer's hard drive.

Finally, another question that might sound stupid: is the image Ghost creates is 'compressed'? Or it will take up as much storage space (in my external HD) as in the computer HD.

Thankksssssssssssss

[bohdank]

If you make "images" of your drives it will keep the base image, with everything and then incremental images. If you delete a file it will not go back and update any previous inages or incrementals so everything is safe.

You can decide whether you want compressed or not. If you are backing up mostly JPG's, they are alrwady compressed so you won't gain much ir anything buy telling Ghost to compress.

If you want an easy solution and don't require imaging your drives, then I highly recommend SyncToy 2.0 from Microsoft. It's free and can be set up to be uni directional, bi directional, delete or not delete...etc...

I use Ghost weekly and ST almost daily to backup specific directories.

[Faolan]

Avoid Ghost, I've have had mixed results using this on various systems. I prefer TrueImage for doing back ups.

It's also got pretty good compression. A 36Gb OS drive compressed down to I think 21Gb. Restore times are around 10-15min over a LAN, and it's a snapshot of when you last imaged so all settings and data from that point is restored. However anything on the drive after that image will be wiped.

I use TrueImage (which restores the image of an HDs via a PXE server) and also Second Copy for a versioning control system.

[CyberDyneSystems]

A program like Ghot is best used for system restores..

Using an incremental back up program is a far better solution for your data... best when using a data back up that does not create a unique compressed file system, but simply copies the data to give you immediate access to your data in case of disaster.

Best methodology includes keeping all your data on separate physical hard drive from your OS and program install.
Use programs like Ghost or True Image on the C: Drive for system restore, and use a program like SynchBack for your Data back ups.

[Zephyrize]

Thanks guys for the reponses.

And CyberDyne, I think that's a good idea..

I'll try SyncToy for my data partition and Ghost for the C drive.. and send everything to the external HD

[Titus213]

A program like Ghot is best used for system restores..

Using an incremental back up program is a far better solution for your data... best when using a data back up that does not create a unique compressed file system, but simply copies the data to give you immediate access to your data in case of disaster.

Best methodology includes keeping all your data on separate physical hard drive from your OS and program install.
Use programs like Ghost or True Image on the C: Drive for system restore, and use a program like SynchBack for your Data back ups.

+1

Although I've recently discovered (thanks to this forum) that True Image will allow access to individual files within its compressed file. SyncBack just lets me get to my data with the program that will use it - no intervening application/operation needed. And it's free.

[tim]

Ghost Explorer (comes with Ghost) lets you access individual files inside an image, but it's not a backup program - it's really only for full system restores.

I don't use incremental backups, I just mirror my drives, but I don't delete removed files. Occasionally I prune the backup drive if there's anything big been deleted on the source drives.

DriveimageXML is an open source version of ghost, i've never used it but it looks good.

[joeseph]

DriveimageXML is an open source version of ghost, i've never used it but it looks good.

I've done a couple of tests using DriveimageXML lately and it seems to do exactly what it is supposed to. One of the useful features is that it (and the newer versions of Ghost & Trueimage) permits you to backup files that are in use, which means you can back up your operating system and applications while the machine is on - so you can easily do a snapshot backup of a known good point in time.

Apps like Karen's replicator & MS Synctoy work fine for data that isn't in use, like photo storage, but they can't copy open files.

The thing with DriveimageXML when (not "if"...) you need to do a recovery from a failed hard drive, is that you'll need to boot the machine and be able to see the drives. So making a bootable CD with all the right drivers (especially SATA or RAID) on it before you need it is part & parcel of preparing for a recovery.

[Zephyrize]

Alright, thanks to you guys,
I've got a basic backup system set up :)

I downloaded SyncToy and it works like a charm!
I've got my important data backup up in the terabyte external HD and I'll update them once a week.

Now I only need Ghost to image my C drive so I don't need to reinstall everything next time I format my computer (I dread this day)

Just to clear things up..Ghost basically do an image of my C drive as it currently is. If I ever change anything (uninstall, install or update), it will create a SECOND more up-to-date image of my drive.
So when everything crashes, I get to choose WHICH image I want to restart with.
Ghost basically works as the windows' 'system restore' ?

anyway, thanks for ur heeeelp :) :)

[MaxxuM]

Alright, thanks to you guys,
I've got a basic backup system set up :)

I downloaded SyncToy and it works like a charm!
I've got my important data backup up in the terabyte external HD and I'll update them once a week.

Now I only need Ghost to image my C drive so I don't need to reinstall everything next time I format my computer (I dread this day)

Just to clear things up..Ghost basically do an image of my C drive as it currently is. If I ever change anything (uninstall, install or update), it will create a SECOND more up-to-date image of my drive.
So when everything crashes, I get to choose WHICH image I want to restart with.
Ghost basically works as the windows' 'system restore' ?

anyway, thanks for ur heeeelp :) :)

Ghost is an exact copy of your hard drive - not just the data. It is a sector by sector copy of everything on your drive. Think of it like a Xerox copy of a piece of paper. It will even copy the stray marks on the paper. Later, if you write some more information then you'll have to make another copy.

Ghost is not a system restore. It is an exact copy of your entire drive whereas system restore are basically saved points that you can go back to.

Norton Ghost was never meant to be a day to day or even month to month backup system. Ghost was meant to be a tool (mainly for businesses) to bring computers to a working point quickly. To take real advantage of Ghost this is the usual procedure.

1. Start with fresh uninstalled system (empty HDD).
2. Install OS and all the newest drivers (from online).
3. Install all Programs.
4. View all error logs and take care of any persistent problems (misconfiguration).
5. Defrag
6. Ghost system and set image aside.

A Ghost image will be used to bring that computer back to a starting point. It makes reinstalling the OS easy. Ghost was never really meant to make backups of data - that was left to other much better tools. That is why you should never have data on your OS drive because that pretty much negates Ghost being a good reinstall tool.