I need to be able to Ghost C to D using Ghost v15.0.1.36526 from a command line (vbscript or command line batch) with the following settings:
Source C:\
Destination D:\ or *:\
Resize Drive
Set Drive as Active
Copy MBR
Drive Letter D:\
As far as I can tell there is no way to do this without using the GUI and this is not an option as this task needs to be repeated multiple times at 1500 locations. When my company has the primary drive fail or gets corrupted we use D as a bootable backup to get the systems back up and running with minimal downtime.
Are there any options like there with ghost32.exe -clone,mode=copy,src=1,dst=2,SZEF, -sure
It has been a long time since I have used ghost from command line but in the old days if you used a command like that you could use a bootable CD and have the system automatically clone. Note this is before the days of VSS integration so one could not be booted into windows.
In regards to the number of licenses I would need. Those licenses are purchased and in production at this time.
I misunderstood. You have Ghost 15 and not ghost32.exe.
Do you want to have two bootable HDs for each computer? That is, an extra bootable HD in case the first one fails? Approximately how much data is on a primary HD?
Yes both drives need to be bootable. The drives are SATA and will be between 80 and 500GB in size. The secondary D Drive has a clone of the primary C drive and becomes the primary if C fails and is removed (removable drive bay). Only certain files are replicated to D which is why I need to make cloning easier without connecting to each server and manually clicking through the Ghost 15 GUI.
Typically there is between 50GB and 250GB of data on the primary drive.
Only certain files are replicated to D which is why I need to make cloning easier without connecting to each server and manually clicking through the Ghost 15 GUI.
Sorry, I don't understand. Do you have extra files on the second HD or is the second HD an exact copy of the first HD?
Do you keep the second HD disconnected from the computer so neither OS can corrupt the other? None of the regulars here keep a copied HD. We use images. Images can be kept up to date easily without manual intervention. Copied HDs can't be updated easily.
I need to be able to Ghost C to D using Ghost v15.0.1.36526 from a command line (vbscript or command line batch) with the following settings:
Source C:\
Destination D:\ or *:\
Resize Drive
Set Drive as Active
Copy MBR
Drive Letter D:\
As far as I can tell there is no way to do this without using the GUI and this is not an option as this task needs to be repeated multiple times at 1500 locations. When my company has the primary drive fail or gets corrupted we use D as a bootable backup to get the systems back up and running with minimal downtime.
Are there any options like there with ghost32.exe -clone,mode=copy,src=1,dst=2,SZEF, -sure
To be specific. The D drive needs to be a bootable clone of C - the files on it do not matter nor does what has been replicated to it previous to it being ghosted. This clone has to be able to be created without a GUI so it is scriptable and can be done as needed. I can write and will control any factors that are necessary, up to and including, writing a program to check the hard drive states, sizes and anything else.
Currently my challenge is that I must make whatever script/program I make reliable and easily repeatable while using Ghost 15. I am not a cloning guru (though I am familiar with it and have some experience with VSS and using FSOs) and do appreciate any assistance.
Last thought for the night. I can see that backups can be scheduled but have not found a way to restore backups to a drive automatically.
If Ghost HDD clones cannot be created automatically is there a way to schedule restoring a backup of C to D and then setting the drive to be D (so Disk Management will see it as D) without needing to exit windows. Reboots are fine AFTER the process has completed?
Just to roll everything into one post:here is what I'm trying to do:
In Wndows 7
I need to create a script that, without leaving windows, creates a Ghost CLONE of C: on D: with the following settings:
Source C:\
Destination D:\ or *:\
Resize Drive
Set Drive as Active
Copy MBR
Drive Letter D:\
This drive will then be bootable if the primary drive fails without requiring a windows repair. Currently this can be done through the GUI of VProconsole but not through batches, vbscript or any other langauge that I am aware of. The end goal is to take the manual process (GUI) and make it automatic (batch). It is understood the D (secondary) drive will be over-written in this process.
The problems you face are going to be dificult to overcome.
2 of the golden rules of cloning are:
You can't clone into a partition that has an existing drive letter.
And you can't let the new drive "see" the old drive, or let the old drive "see" the new drive until the new drive has been booted by it'self at least once.
So even if you had it scripted, you can't script a "shut down the system and remove the cloned drive".
Nor could you script a "unplug the old drive so the new one can boot by it'self".
I'm also assuming your actually using one hard drive with 2 partitions on it for the C and D. Thats even harder to do.
I have done it for kicks but it entails reparing the windows 7 boot loader and fixing the drive letters in the registry from "outside" of that current version of windows.
These limitations are not imposed by Ghost, any other imaging or cloning program will also have them. It has to do with how recent versions of Windows boot and handle drive letter assignments.
Thats why Brian mentioned that none of the regulars here keep a copied or cloned drive as a backup.
It really is a terrible idea for a backup and your making an assumption that the system did not have problems or an infection at the time the clone was made. You clone a broken system and you end up with two broken systems.
I'm also not sure if backups can be run from the command line.
@redk9258 has posted a screen shot of command line switches before but I can't seem to find it now.
I'm afraid Ghost clones (copies) have to be done manually from the GUI. You have to copy into unallocated space on HD1 and not assign a drive letter to the copy. The copied partition will not be able to be explored from Win7 on HDO as the copy doesn't have a drive letter. When you remove the old HD and boot from the new HD the new OS will assign C: drive to itself. There is no D: drive at any time.
Are you concerned that if HD0 fails in a years time that the OS on the copied HD will be one year old and one year behind in Windows updates, etc?
With images, they can be created on a schedule (no manual input) and can be up to date. If the HD fails it is a manual process to replace the failed HD with a new one and restore the latest image. This entails booting from the Ghost CD and restoring the image manually. But the total workload with this method is less than the copying method. However, the restore process might take half an hour. Does that matter? You are getting an up to date OS on the new HD.
Thank you everyone has replied however the issue is NOT that the current process of occassionally creating a Clone of the C drive on the D drive. This process using the VProConsole.exe works and gives a drive that once ghosted can be used just like any other drive - WITHOUT A REBOOT (due to VSS).
To simplify proposed solutions:
There are two seperate hard drives in each server with ONE full sized partition formated with NTFS on each. The D Drive is used for backup purposes ONLY and is a bootable clone of the C drive.
I want to take restoring backups from a V2I out of the picture for this thread unless there is a way to automatically recover from a backup made for a specific drive (which could be used as a replacement process for copying C to D).
Though any suggestions made are read ,considered and appreciated the process that I currently have to use is standard for many locations (around 1500) and allows locations that have a catastrophic failure of the primary drive to be back up and running in as little as 5 min. Fixes to restore both hard drives to full functionality takes place after business close.
The reason I'm trying to find a way to ghost C to D with a process that does not require a person to click on each selection is that I want to change how often ghosts Clones of C are made to decrease the likelyhood of new software updates not being active on the secondary system. Currently the ghosting process requires someone to physicallylog into the site and manually ghost C to D through the GUI. This is time consuming when compared to having a script triggered by a sceduled task on demand or one of several other options that I have (especially when the setup of the drives are the same in each location). Transactional data is backed up through other methods and should not be considered a part of this discussion.
Currently the ghosting process requires someone to physicallylog into the site and manually ghost C to D through the GUI. This is time consuming when compared to having a script triggered by a sceduled task on demand or one of several other options that I have (especially when the setup of the drives are the same in each location). Transactional data is backed up through other methods and should not be considered a part of this discussion.
If your currently doing this, can you please try it on one of them and see what happens?
Use a test system or a non-critical one because like I said, it's not going to work without some repairs and it may even cause the source drive to becoe unbootable.
I agree with Dave. This forum is full of threads where an OS was copied to D: on the second HD and the new OS wouldn't load into Windows. So what are your folks really doing if they can make the new OS work? Certainly not copying C: to D:
Actually I wrote the our documentation on the process for manually ghosting C to D through the GUI and it works and it works without a repair if the C drive is removed or fails. The process has been tested at least 100 times.
The only thing that has be done is as part of our ghost process after ghost COMPLETES is that the D:\Windows\system32\config\system needs to be loaded as a key and the HKLM\MountededDevices deleted (or the drive will not be bootable). Please see the settings listed above as what I need for a script. See the settings that I select via the manual process using the GUI. What I need is a way of scripting the GUI piece and that is all.
I actually think you could do it an easier way by changing the disk signature through a script using diskpart but thats something you can try later if you find a way to automate the clone.
A repair is NOT needed after ghost if that registry key is deleted. The D drive is fully bootable after that one change is made as part of the process and since VProconsole is opened using a batch file that does exactly that after VPConsole is closed there are no manual steps.