Ghost asks me about using MS DOS instead of PC DOS. Does it matter? How do i install MS DOS as it asks?
And how do i start it! All i see to chose from are Boot Wizard and G. Explorer? Thanks

On some computers (mine, for example), you may have problems using PC-DOS instead of MS-DOS. I was getting intermittent error messages when trying to save an image file. Using MS-DOS solved the problem.

When you create a Ghost boot disk using the Boot Disk Wizard you are given the option to use MS-DOS. You can use your W9x boot disk when it asked for MS-DOS files.

To start Ghost, reboot, making sure you have the boot floppy loaded and your boot menu specifies booting from the floppy drive.

I run XP; do I still need to use a 98 boot disk; is this the start up disk i made from the A drive format screen?

I got into Ghost from the PC DOS boot disk. Selected my C drive from Local-Partition-To Image; I selected the source partition....then it asked for File Name to copy image to; told me i didn't have enough space did i want to compress?...no...span?....no...Error:not enough space 0mb avail. 7100 needed. It never asked for a destination location. What did i do wrong?

What version of Ghost do you have? Have you tried reading the manual?

Shelly

The default location is the floppy drive. You'll have to change the location to the drive you wish to save the image to using the drop down menu.

Have you R(ead) T(he) F(riendly) M(anual)?

My Systemworks came w/ no manual, and no Help is in the software, but i have read Radifieds Guide repeatedly. I don't look to u for my first source. Thanks for the advice that was un-sarcastic.

Yeah, I'll have to admit the Ghost manual leaves a lot to be desired, but a lot of people bypass everything the manual has to offer and just start yelling Help.

If you purchased the OEM version of NSW, you will find the manuals on the CD.

Shelly

There is a user guide available if you installed Ghost Explorer.

Nightly Reader

Who is this Manuel guy?

He's the Spanish waiter from Fawlty Towers

Carl

>He's the Spanish waiter from Fawlty Towers.

"I speak English very well, I learn it from a book".

From the "fire drill" episode I believe.




MY HOME PAGE!
GO LEAFS GO!

http://daterminehtor.blogspot.com/

  

Ah yes! The moose head is on the hotel reception counter - Manuel is crouched down behind the counter tidying up, the Colonel comes along and thinks he's talking to the moose head...

I'll have to get the videos out again - haven't watched them for years...

Carl

Firstly, the Manual is a real pain. I found it almost-not quite, but almost useless.
Having said that, Ghost is really good!!
Here is what i do and it has always worked for me and saved my neck four times in the last two years. By that i mean it saved me hours and hours of work.
You have to have a separate Partition..Ghost only functions on this premises. The idea is to put a complete copy of C: onto a separate Partition.
So you boot with your floppy(for me it's W98) then when the menu appears press Shift plus F5.
A:\ will now appear.
Insert Ghost floppy and type: ghost\ghostpe.exe (it takes a while to appear)
Follow the instructions and place your copy of C onto your extra Partition.
If you ever need to re-install your Ghost back-up, it will do so inside of five minutes. It's the best thing to come along since Cornflakes.

When i get to the "File name to copy image to" screen, the drop down does not include all my drives, only my opticals and A. Radifieds' screenshot shows many. Where are they? Also, i show a primary source drive ID'd as "de" Diagnostic. Is this of need or concern to image? Thanks

Do you have a FAT32 partition/disk to save the image to? Ghost 2002 cannot save an image to a NTFS partition/disk.

Yes i do.

And this partition/disk is not available using the drop down menu?

And are you possibly you using a RAID MB with your FAT32 HD hooked to the Promise IDE connectors? If so it may be a driver issue (or lack of).

Nightly Reader

No RAID MB. My 2nd drive is not visible on any screen. It doesn't have a primary drive, but it should still appear on the early screen as an option to Ghost from, shouldn't it? My only drop down choices as destination are optical drives and Aas local and ghost.

Boot to DOS and see if it is visible.

Nightly Reader

Sorry to have to ask, but how do i do that?

Hi Smile2,

Sounds like you are having fun.

Couple of quick questions.

1.How have you got your drives set up? Is there a second HDD and is it set up as one large extended partition containing some logical drives.

2. Are you using PC DOS or MS DOS?

Jim

Create a DOS boot disk and reboot from the floppy drive with the boot disk in place. You can use W98 to create one or download one from the internet. Also, I believe XP will create a boot disk.

After booting with a boot disk, you should see an "A:\" prompt. Type in the drive letter with a colon (e: for instance) that you want to access and hit "enter". The prompt should have changed to that drive. Now type "dir". You should now see all directories in that drive.


http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm#02

Nightly Reader

Jim...hello again! I have 1 large extended w/ 3 logicals on the 2nd HD, booting up in PC DOS w/ the Ghost boot disk.

Hi,

Set up sounds OK. You could try Nightlyreader's suggestion re accessing the drives/partitions.

What I do suspect though is a problem with PC DOS. I had a similar sounding issue as one of the very first questions I asked in PCQandA(PC911 then). FZbar gave me the solution. Which was to run Ghost using an MS DOS start up disc.

These days I boot the PC using an MS DOS start up disc. Then insert a floppy containing the GHOST .exe file and run Ghost from there.

You can make an MS DOS start up disc in XP.

"To create an MS-DOS startup disk
The MS-DOS startup disk you create will allow you to boot into MS-DOS.

Insert a floppy disk into your computer's floppy drive.
Open My Computer, and then click the floppy disk drive to select it.
On the File menu, point to the name of the floppy drive, and then click Format.
Under Format options, click Create an MS-DOS startup disk.
Click Start.
Important

Creating an MS-DOS startup disk erases all information on the floppy disk.

Notes
To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
The MS-DOS startup disk only allows the system to boot into an MS-DOS prompt. The disk contains no additional tools"

Once you have made your start up disc, you may also be able to copy the Ghost .exe to it as well. If there is not enough room(you will get a prompt if not), just copy it to another formatted floppy. You will find the .exe file on the NSW installation CD.(or in your Program Files) I think in Ghost2002 it is called ghostpe.exe (although it may be called ghost.exe or similar)

Boot the pc using the MS DOS start up disc. Then run the ghost .exe from there. ie at the A:\ prompt, type ghostpe.exe then enter. (if you couldnt fit ghost o0n the start up disc insert the floppy containing Ghost first, and modify the command to reflect the actual file name if necessary). You will have no mouse . I usually dont bother with one running Ghost.

Jim

You'll have mouse functions if you have "mouse.com" in the autoexec.bat and on the floppy.

Nightly Reader

I booted in msdos, ran ghost...when i got to the select partition i couldn't click OK and move on; "enter" hi-lited and un-hi-lited the OK button....but didn't move me fwd, how do i hit OK.....sigh....

Navigating without a mouse
If you have mouse drivers loaded, you can use the mouse to navigate in
Norton Ghost. You can also use the keyboard.

Use arrow keys to navigate the menu.

Press Tab to move from button to button.

Press Enter to activate the selected button.

Press Enter to select an item in a list.

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/ghost/files_ghost.html

Nightly Reader

OK, i get to the destination screen and still only A and optical drives as a choice. Also, when I type C: after my A:\> I get "invalid drive spec"....is that right?

>OK, i get to the destination screen and still only A and
>optical drives as a choice. Also, when I type C: after my
>A:\> I get "invalid drive spec"....is that right?

Is C:\ NTFS or FAT32?
Please list your physical drives, partitions and what file system each is using.

Nightly Reader

I've got 1 HD w/ XP in C and 2 more logical drives w/in an extended, all NTFS. The 2nd drive is 1 big extended w/ 3 logicals, 1 of which is a FAT 32, others NTFS.

Hi smile2,

I am not ignoring you. I work nightshift at the weekend and you replied after I went to work.


I think you need to insert the drive letter for the Fat32 partition at the A:\ prompt. Try that and post what you get.

I need to get some sleep. I will look in again later,

Jim

I enter the FAT 32 drive letter, and others, and I get the same invalid drive specification

Hi smile2

Edit

Since I posted this morning(UK Time) I have had a thought. Before you try what I suggested below. Have a look see if Ghost would allow you to make a Partition to Partition clone to the partition(or any partition) on the second HDD. Dont actually go through with it select NO on the Proceed with Dump Screen. Post back with the outcome.

End of Edit

This is going to sound a bit drastic. I hope you havent got any data on the 2cnd Hdd yet.

Boot into XP and go into DiskManagement. Delete and recreate the partition set up on the 2cnd Hdd. If you have a lot of data which cannnot be moved, only delete and recreate the Fat32 partition.

Then try Ghost using the MS DOS start up disk.

Jim

It still did not recognize any HD #2 partitions. I tried clone partition to partition and i reformated and repartitioned the 2nd HD. At A:\>C: shouldn't it recognize at least C, on the same drive, and obviously there since ghostpe.exe will load from the floppy?

Hello again,

No you wont be able to access the C partition as it is formatted in NTFS.

Odd that you cant clone partition to partition, as formatting doesnt come in to play then.

When you installed the second HDD did you, perchance use any of the manufacturer's software? If so which?

Edit Should have asked before - Will Ghost allow you to clone partition to partition on the same HDD? (I am not suggesting that you actually do it ). If the other partitions on the drive are smaller than the one you wish to clone, use the -or switch. ie type ghostpe.exe -or substitute the correct name for your version of Ghost

Jim

Ghost and DOS don't know the other HDD exists! It's a Seagate; I plugged it in, turned it on and Disk Mgmt saw it. No other software.

Hi Again,


How big is the partition you are trying to image/clone?Also how much data is there in the partition?
And how big are the partitions on the second HDD? -

(all along I have been assuming you had got hold of PM7 or PM8 and had shrunk the OS partition on your original 120GB HDD)

Jim

You are correct, i bought pm8. The C drive w/ OS i want to mirror is 5g of data in a 12 g NTSF partition. Partitions on the 2nd HDD are 12g (FAT 32), 15g and ~47g.

Hello,

There is something very strange going on here.

Did you try Partition to Partition on first hard drive. ie cloning the OS partition to another partition on the same drive. (abort at the confirmation screen if you get that far)

Jim

Yes, i can clone to a different partition on the same drive

Hello Again,

Have you got a W98SE start up disk handy? Try booting with that, and then running Ghost. If you havent got one you can get one from here http://bootdisk.com/original.htm (Save to your HDD, put a formatted floppy in the drive, then click on the file).

(My next suggestion would involve putting a primary partition on the 2cnd HDD just to see if Ghost/MS DOS can see it.)

Jim

Computer would not boot w/ the 98se disk, and a primary partition on the 2nd HDD goes, as well, unnoticed, to A> or ghost

Hi,

This is getting silly.

Was the 98SE start up disk one you had already? If so could you try downloading one from the link above and see if that works? If you have a brand new, previously unused floppy so much the better.

Jim

Hello Again smile2,

Looking back through some of your threads over the last couple of weeks for clues, I see a couple of things might be relevant.

1."Drive A Error Message"
(http://www.pcqanda.com/dcforum/computer/54427.html Jan 25)

Did you resolve this problem? It is unlikely be relevant but...

2."Renaming Drive Problem"
(http://www.pcqanda.com/dcforum/computer/54788.html Feb 01)

This sounds the more likely of the of the two. I am assuming you still have the NTFS partitions on this drive labeled with a colon in the name, this may be causing the problem.
If so, could you try renaming the drives? Doing this by right clicking on the partition in DiskManagement would probably be OK, but it might be better to take a "belt and braces" approach and delete all the partitions on the 2cnd drive and start again. Label/name the drives very simply, eg GhostImages, Video, Data or whatever.(If I recall correctly the max. permitted length is 11 characters).

After renaming try Ghost again. Fingers crossed!

(Note:- I am going to work at 2:00pm GMT and wont return until 3:00pm GMT tomorrow. When I am at work, I can view the forum but can't post. If I need to get in touch I will e-mail you direct.)

Jim

Disk Managed new HDD and put in 1 FAT32 primary drive, left rest free and left as computer named it NEW VOLUME ( . Still, no visibility to Ghost....or A:\>G:

Hi,

I didnt see your post until this morning.

One more thing to try. I am really puzzled as to why you cant see this drive in DOS.

Boot up with a W98SE start up disk. Go into fdisk and see if you can see the 2cnd HDD. I will keep my eyes open for your post.

(If you are up for it and you can see the drive using fdisk you could try partitioning from there.)

Jim

Also go into Disk Management and post back what "type" each partition is.

Nightly Reader

All drives are "basic". The 98SE boot disk I downloaded would not boot my system.

smile2,

Ok.

When you run PM* are there any "hidden" partitions on your original HDD? Dell sometimes use one for storing restore information and the like.


Also if you go back to the link where you downloaded the W98SE boot disk, and download the updated fdisk file (further down the page). Unzip it and copy it to your MS DOS boot disk. Use this to boot up and then try fdisk.

I am really sorry we seem to be getting nowhere with this. I sent a PM to Grogan asking if he could have a look to see if I was missing something basic here. Perhaps he will spot something.

Jim

There is a primary partition called Diagnostics. Thanks for sticking w/ me.

No problems - I would like to see you get this sorted.

I wonder if this diagnostic partition is the "fly-in-the-ointment".

Can you have a look at using the updated fdisk on your MS DOS boot disk?

Jim

Having read through this thread, I am more than ever aware of just how good this Forum is! I hope you eventually get a result Smile2, where would we be without PCQandA? I had assistance when I started with Ghost and have not looked back since - stick with it, LOL

I take the point re reading the manuals, and hope I have not been guilty of this in the past.

Best wishes to all.

Roger

Melbourne, Australia

OK, got 98SE running and fdisk. Itsays I have a HD greater than 512mg (well, yea) do I want to "enable large disk support"? Do I; what's next; what am I doing?

Say Y to that, so it will use FAT32. If you say N to that, you can't create partitions greater than 2 Gb, for it will use FAT16.

Say Y, even if you're just going to view partition info.

>OK, got 98SE running and fdisk. Itsays I have a HD greater
>than 512mg (well, yea) do I want to "enable large disk
>support"? Do I; what's next; what am I doing?

Grogan

Good. Yes.

http://fdisk.radified.com/

Essentially, just see if you see the 2cnd HDD at the moment. The screens are fairly straight forward. You should see the option for changing the current fixed drive fairly easily. Just have a little look round and see if you get access to the 2cnd HDD. press esc. to leave any screen or back out of areas you are not sure of.

Jim

It shows only 1 HD.

Well I just dont know.The drive exists as far as XP is concerned.

Presumably it is showing up in the bios. You could have a look. Use the "delete" key during boot to get access.

The only thing you havent tried yet is partitioning and formatting with Partition Magic.. It is worth trying. I would delete any existing partitions then recreate with PM. Then try Ghost again or have another look with fdisk.

(I really have to get some sleep now. Lesley, my workmate, will have to keep kicking me to keep me awake tomorrow night. Will look in again, once I sort the children out in the morning)

Jim

Hello Again,

EDITIf you have no joy with PM8, have a look below

Do you have a "System Diskette" that came with your PC? If you do when you boot from it there menu with some options on it. (There will be a countdown but you should have time to read and select).

Initially look for the "Set Up" option. This should take you into the BIOS. If you get there have a look round to see how/if the new drive is recognised. Make a note of any queries you have? Exit the BIOS, there may be a "ignore changes and exit option" select that if available. If not just follow the on screen directions to exit.

If you have no problems/queries, reboot your PC with the System Diskette. This time look for an option that will take you to a DOS prompt. If you cant see one, exit and post back with the options you do see. (there may be an Icon)

If you can get to a DOS prompt A:\> . type and enter fdisk Once in fdisk, try and access the partition info for your 2ncd HDD.

I have been digging around in the Dell tech support pages and user forums but no luck as yet.

Jim

I didn't find a disk to take me to setup, but i hit f2 on start up and got into BIOS (i think). "Primary Drive 0: Hard Drive, Primary Drive 1: Off". As best i read that it isn't seeing the 2nd HD in BIOS (is that possible, it works fine otherwise)?

Hi,

This looks promising.

Go back into the BIOS and change the setting to Primary Drive 1: Hard drive. Then see if your PC will boot normally into XP.

Then fingers crossed, try Ghost.

(I am hoping that setting is not the boot order. It wont do any damage though, just mean resetting the BIOS back)


Edit - Good find BTW

Jim

Promising indeed! I changed to Unknown Device and now Ghost sees the drive. I've got to run to work now so I'll try to Ghost tonite and let you know. Thanks

Hi Smile2,

Great.

This is one for the notebook. I asked myself several days ago about the BIOS settings, but because the drive was accessible in Windows, dismissed it from my head. That will teach me!

BTW are there no other settings available? Hard Drive would be better.

Well done smile2,



ps I will be at work after 9:30 pm GMT but will still be able to read any posts.

Jim

That was the only choice. Last nite I was afraid we were'nt going to get here.

So was I. Actually I thought you were going to get fed up with all the messing about. I don't think either of us will ever forget to check the BIOS again!

Later on you will be able to check it out for sure, set up your partitions and then get on with why you started all this business with Ghost in the first place.

One innocent question and three weeks plus a fair bit of cash later!

Edit - Really must start using the spellchecker I installed.

Jim

That's starting to make sense. Once you get XP booted, it doesn't rely on bios calls, whereas DOS does all the way. Since that's a second disk, XP can initialize it even though it's disabled in the bios. It can also get around size limitations too.

Only, don't set it to "unknown" device in the bios, set it to Auto

Grogan

Thanks for the explanation Grogan,

Jim

So simple

Nightly Reader

Well done, Jim.

Superb display of tenacity!

Now if Pompey can just do the same............!!

Mitch

Hi Mitch,

Thanks.

smile2 has put a lot of effort in to this and his other threads too. I have seen others give up when the answers don't appear by magic.

>>Now if Pompey can just do the same............!!

I hope so, we have got Derby at home tomorrow. I see you are up against Steve's Liverpool away tomorrow. Trying to be impartial here, may the best team win.

Jim

Wait till you meet Aus United! Goalkeeper: Gilchrist. Strikers: McGrath and Lee. Wingers: Warne and Gillespie. But the midfield! Ponting, Hayden, Martyn, Bevan.....surely contenders for the FA (Flatten All) Cup.

clover
(couldn't resist)

When you know,

Jim

Trying to be careful here....drop down box: File Name to Copy To, lists A..., C <2 Ghost>, which is what I named partition, but is actually drive G, and then opticals. The drive letter confuses me; why is it listed as C thou it is actually G, and lists G's name? I'm trying to image the real C. Worry?

To Ghost, the first partition it sees that it can create the image on is C: no matter what it is in Windows. If you had 2 FAT32 partitions, it should show both as C & D. Ghost will not let the source and destination be the same partition. Now that you've gotten this far, have a look here:

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/image1.html
and
http://ghost.radified.com/

Nightly Reader

I made my image and it Checked out OK. But it spanned to 4 divisions even thou it wrote to a single HD partition bigger than the file.???? What now, is all cool, or do I need to try to use it to be sure?

2 gig is the file size limit for a Ghost image file. When that limit is reached, another file is created.

Nightly Reader

Hi smile2,

Bit puzzled? Can you post a screenshot of what is showing in Windows Explorer for your Ghost partition?

Did you set any switches prior to imaging? eg -split or similar

Edit see Nightly Reader above

Jim

I don't know if there's a record for most perseverance on a single post, but I nominate Jim. Thanks for hanging w/ me thru this problem....I wouldn't be using Ghost now, and would be mighty frustrated after investing in a HD and hours of time. I appreciate you.