Ghost 15.0 copy partition/drive wizard will not take my selections

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1

Hi,

I just bought ghost such that I could upgrade my HD to a larger one. So my new drive is USB attached for now. From the documentation, I decided that the best way to do this is use the disc copy wizard. I would then copy disk 1 (in PS) to disk 2 (USB) and swap the drives.

Disk 1 is partitioned as c:\ and d:\

Disk 2 I partitioned as 500G (to take c:), 10G (to take d:) and then 1000G (for data).

 

I copied disk 1 C: to disk 2 500G partition fine. (Selecting make bootable, copy MBR etc). I then figured that I need to copy d: (disk 1) to disk 2's 10G partition. But, each time I select the destination target, it reverts to the first partition on the second disk. This is what I select, and then this is what the summary says:

ghost1_destination.jpg

       

ghost1_summary.jpg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Which is not what I want. Any help would be appreciated. Why does it simply not take my selection?
 
Thanks in advance.
2

jdoakley,

 

That is weird. Do the partitions on the external HD have drive letters? Did you remove the drive letters? That's good, because if you Copy Drive into a partition with a drive letter, the copied OS will not boot.

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=10418#M10418

 

Which OS are you using?

 

I suggest deleting the 9.8 GB partition on the external HD and Copy Drive the D: drive into the unallocated space. I hope it works.

3

Thanks for the information. I'm using Vista.

 

I made sure that no drive letters were assigned as I read on this forum that if I did pre-assign them, then when I replace the disk it would not boot.

 

I don't want to copy drive D: to the unallocated as I think that it is used as some sort of recovery disk (it was labelled factory_image) created by HP (my computer is an HP Pavillion). Hence I wanted to emulate exactly what I had and then use an additional partition for data.

 

Thanks for confirming the weird behavior BTW. That alone is useful. I swear I'm doing everything right. I'm quite bummed about buying the software just to upgrade a harddrive and not being able to do it!

4
jdoakley wrote:

I made sure that no drive letters were assigned as I read on this forum that if I did pre-assign them, then when I replace the disk it would not boot.

 

I don't want to copy drive D: to the unallocated as I think that it is used as some sort of recovery disk (it was labelled factory_image) created by HP (my computer is an HP Pavillion).


Excellent work with the no drive letters.

 

Copying your D: drive to unallocated space is fine. It will appear as the original when you boot the new HD and it will have a drive letter. If the drive letter is not D: then change it to D:

 

If copying to unallocated space doesn't work we'll have other suggestions.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edit.... I assume your computer is a desktop. Can you fit the new HD internally? Cloning is more reliable if the target HD is internal rather than external. But continue as you are doing. 

Message Edited by Brian_K on 12-05-2009 06:55 AM
5

Thanks again for the help. I'll try your suggestions and report back over the weekend.

 

I must admit, HD upgrading has to be one of the main reasons for buying ghost, so you'd think the manual would give some more details.

 

Ok, I'll report back when I try this out at the weekend. Thanks! 

6
jdoakley wrote: so you'd think the manual would give some more details.

 

I'm stumped as to why the section on Copy Drive is so unhelpful. It is basically unchanged from the PowerQuest Drive Image 7 manual.There has been plenty of time to update the manual.

7

Brian, here's an update.

I decided just to copy the C partition to the unlabeled drive (on the new, externally housed, bigger harddrive). I checked make bootable, copy MBR and so on. Long story short, when I swapped the drives (to try and boot to the new one) it would not boot.

 

I guess after such problems my generic question to the forum is how to upgrade a harddrive? How to clone or image or whatever a disk such that you can upgrade your PC's capacity (where I only have room for one disk)? It was easy with a laptop - I bought EZ upgrade and have now upgraded both SATA and PATA drives using the same s/w and enclosure:

http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?id=1023&type=reg 

 

Is Ghost 15.0 the correct s/w to do this with, or should I now get something else?

 

Thanks all. 

8
jdoakley wrote:

 

I guess after such problems my generic question to the forum is how to upgrade a harddrive? How to clone or image or whatever a disk such that you can upgrade your PC's capacity (where I only have room for one disk)?

jdoakley,

 

See this post....

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=16826#M16826

9

Brian, thanks again for helping. I must say, however, that this year I've twice cloned a laptop disk where the new disk was housed externally with no problems at all. No joy with a PC using Ghost however. I will give Seagate's disk utilities a go first as both drives are Seagate and a byte-copy (clone) should be feasible if both use the same filesystem. I might then try the EZ connect software before attempting the restore-based approach.

 

Thanks. 

10

Ok, so, finally, I found a solution. Having attempted the disk copy route (with Ghost) and failed, I tried the restore route. Before describing that I should mention that, as a result of the Norton software writing to the SOURCE drive during disk copy (!), I lost the functionality of my TV tuner (and have not since been able to get it working). Ok, this is probably a result of the sheer paucity of the quality of the Vista OS, but why did Ghost 15.0 affect my source HD during a copy?

 

So I tried the restore route. I partitioned my new HD to fit my needs and made a restore point. I then put the new HD in my PC as the first drive, and booted from the norton ghost 15.0 CD that came with the little yellow box and list of promises. I could not restore. It could not copy boot files, and gave me continuous errors on copying, for example, any root *.ini files.

 

Next, leaving the drives in their configuration, I booted to the Seagate (Acronis, I believe?) disk. I then simply selected drive copy: where the source drive was now in the USB device (with Norton's restore image scratched all over it!) and the target, new drive was in the PC. 2 hours later, here I am with my new PC, Vista, and big HD (1.5T) all working! Thank you Seagate!!!!

 

And so thank you Norton for a hopelessly useless piece of s/w. I am going to try very hard to get my money back. Shame on you. The only plus point is that, this weekend, I also removed Norton 360 from our home PCs, and replaced it with the Kapersky stuff. Brian, you should stop trying to support this god-awful software. It's beyond useless, given it actually damages your installation. 

11

jdoakley,

 

I've joined the club too. My source HD failed to boot after a Copy Drive exercise.

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=17494#M17494
12

Brian, thanks for confirming my experience.

 

How on earth can they charge money for this? It's disgraceful. To paraphrase many things I've read, here and elsewhere: "I will never, ever, buy another norton product again." Without exception. Never.

13

Money back denied by newegg.com. Oh well. Anyone want my copy?

14

Hi jdoakley,

 

It is probably too late to find a solution but I would like to understand in order to avoid the same story. It will be great if you can post a print screen of your disk management. You can right click on the icon of your computer, then click on manage and then select disk management (or Start, run and type "diskmgmt.msc). I'm just curious if a hidden partition is present in your configuration. Often used by these manufacturer such as HP.

 

Thank you in advance,

Didier

15

Hi Didier,

 

Yes, you are right, there was a recovery partition, labelled D that was about 10 Gig. See the very first post of this thread it has a screenshot, from Ghost though, but that shows the drives. Clearly this was something that Ghost could not understand (see message in original post too).

 

Actually, I have since removed it as following my recovery from HP's factory disks, Vista could not get its head around the fact that the size had changed. So I just removed it. It was very strange. Vista would run incredibly slowly. Anyway, that's another story.

16

I tried to get a credit by returning it to newegg as I'd then upgrade to Windows 7 seeing as I anyway had to blank my HD and re-install Vista. Here's the customer service log (how nice of them!):

 

8:47:42 :  Cynthia has joined this session!

 08:47:42 :  Connected with Cynthia. Your reference number for this chat session is 1215650.
 08:47:42 :  Hello my name is Cynthia. How may I help you today?
 08:48:44 : JD: Hi, I bought Norton Ghost 15 for Vista, but I had all sorts of problems getting it to clone my disk. I bought a hard disk at the same time and an enclosure. Anyway, I since found out that it is not compatible with Vista, so I would like to return it.
 08:49:06 : JD: The reason it has taken me so long to decide this is because I tried multiple times to get it going. See my posts:
 08:49:18 : JD: http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Ghost-15-0-copy-partition-drive-wizard-will-not-take-my/td-p/179809
 08:49:29 : JD: The after a format and re-install of Vista:
 08:49:30 : JD: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaperformance/thread/ba3eeaf5-4624-4070-a350-226cf205489b/
 08:49:44 : JD: The hard drive and enclosure are fine. Nothing wrong with them
 08:50:30 : JD: And here is a link stating that Vista and Ghost 15 are not compatible:
 08:50:31 : JD: http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Ghost-15-Windows-7-Problem-Copy-Drive-Changes-Boot-Drive/m-p/193293#M18648
 08:50:51 : JD: So, in short, I bought a new hard drive and enclosure to upgrade my PC
 08:52:24 : JD: s hard drive, and the software too. But the software does not work as advertises, and after weeks of trying I would like to get credit for this and return the software. Seeing as I had to re-install Vista as a result, I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 depending on the resolution with Newegg. ie if you let me return the s/w boxed then I'll buy windows 7 from you as I anyway had to wipe my documents etc.
 08:54:27 : Cynthia: Do you have the retail box and all the accessories? Also, can you please confirm your current shipping address?
 08:56:16 : JD: Yes, I have everything it came as. The product key was used at the initial installation, but I had to wipe that, and have since not bothered installing it. So the product key is also free.
 08:56:37 : JD: Shipping address is: xxxxx.
 08:57:28 : Cynthia: Unfortunately if the software has already been opened we are unable to accept the item back. We do apologize.
 08:57:58 : JD: How can I tell if it works by looking at the box? Of course I had to open it.
 08:58:18 : JD: And why to you advertise that it works with Vista when it does not: http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Ghost-15-Windows-7-Problem-Copy-Drive-Changes-Boot-Drive/m-p/193293#M18648
 08:58:58 : Cynthia: You would need to contact the manufacture of the item to confirm whether or not the item is compatible or not.
 08:59:39 : JD: Did you do that before deciding to sell it?
9:00:53 : Cynthia: All of the information that we have listed on the site comes directly from the manufacture. Please note that we do not honor refund RMAs for open software. You can attempt to sell the item; however, we can not take it back.
 09:01:17 : JD: Ok, so on your supported OS information you include: Windows Vista Home Starter / Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
 09:01:28 : Cynthia: It is the customers responsibility to confirm whether or not the item is going to be compatible before purchasing the item and opening the item. We do apologize for any inconvenience.
 09:01:53 : Cynthia: You may want to contact Microsoft to verify why they are listing the item with that information.
 09:02:34 : JD: Your apology is of course worthless. I have recorded this conversation and will take it to next level. It is irresponsible to sell software with no return option when it damages the install of the OS it is supposed to support.  09:03:08 : Cynthia: We do apologize you feel that way. Did you have any other questions for me today?  09:03:35 : JD: That's a nice way to tell me where to go. Thanks. I wish you also a nice day.  

 

17

 

To start -- Norton Ghost has been a stable program for years (The only Norton product that I like.)

 --  Ghost had been the saving grace for upgrading Laptop HDs to larger ones (via USB enclosure)

 -- the only reliable method I used to upgrade boot/system Hard Drives with multiple partitions

to larger HDs with a simple clone operation (This has worked great up to Windows XP)

This cloning could be done internally, or externally with USB enclosures.

 -- This had worked perfectly with Windows 2000 or XP. -------

 

I just upgraded my laptop from Vista-64bit to Windows 7 64bit.

2 reasons -  Vista sucks and 

  Norton Ghost 14.0 would not clone a HD with Vista 64bt. -- although package info is misleading.

 

Now I purchased Norton Ghost 15.0 because it appeared that Norton fixed this problem.

This week I installed Ghost 15 on the laptop to allow my HD upgrade.

However, this may have been a waste of my $$$$$.

 

My QUESTION:

Now on my laptop (One HD and 2 partitions C: and D:)

Can this be cloned--- simply to upgrade the size of my bootable internal HD on the laptop.????

 

To date, my attempts with Ghost 15 indicate that Ghost can copy a HD, but not with multiple

partitions to another HD to become the exact copy --- i.e. clone.

The COPY option does not allow selection of more than one letter drive.

I can copy the bootable/OS/system C: drive (partition) to a larger USB enclosure drive.

BUT when I try to copy the second D: drive (partition) then Ghost wants to wipe the copy of C:

------

IS THERE A SOLUTION to let Norton Ghost 15 do what Ghost has always done well ????

  i.e. can I use Ghost 15 with Windows 7 to CLONE and upgrade my laptop Hard Drive????

 

Does anyone at Norton  or on the Forum know if this is possible ---- Or must I look to other software.

If that is the case, does anyone have a good recommendation.....

Thanks for your input..... CSM

 

 

 

18

I would advise against doing this with Ghost 15. You describe the exact same scenario as mine and it did not work. I think the issue is twofold:

- Vista (as you acknowledged) is a big issue.

- two partitions confused ghost for me.

 

I tried the clone and it did something to my boot partition on C. I had to recover the drive (actually ghost managed this using the CD), but it had done something very odd as my video card was no longer recognized. I was on-line with HP rolling back installs, even Vista SP2 but never got it working. So I ended up recovering the original install from HP's recover disks and then using SEgate's diskwizard to clone my drive.

 

In short though, I cannot help. I've cloned laptop drives under XP no problems using:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11379_7-6445033-1.html

using the same EZ enclosure and s/w for PATA and SATA drives.

 

No idea for Vista though. I did see that Paragon had some software that does this and my experience with their back up software was good. I wonder if anyone has experience with that?

 

Good luck though.

19

This is a very disappointing thread. I purchased Norton to replace my hard drive in my laptop. I am familiar with the old Norton Ghost product but sounds like Norton Ghost 15 is useless.  This is good to know so I dont waste more of my time and just work on getting my money back from Norton.  What a disappointment.

 

20

davidds,

 

I think you guys are a little harsh with Ghost 15. I can get it to work.