I been suggesting (complaining) about certain updates and additions to Ghost for years.
I'm actually not sure if any suggestions or requests have even reached the Ghost team, I know a lot of the Symantec employees here are extremely knowledgeable with Ghost but I'm not sure if any are the actual developers or product managers for Ghost.
I started to assume that maybe the Symantec versions dictate what the consumer versions will be and I should have started over at the connect site.
Like I said, there is no reason why Symantec couldn't establish themselves as clearly the best.
I personally already think it is the best, I have used or owned almost all the other products, but with a few additions and updates nobody would have any reason to look elsewhere.
I'd like to see sections of the userguide rewritten. I'm thinking particularly about the section on Copy Drive. It hasn't been rewritten since PowerQuest days.
Here are few suggestions that would make Norton Ghost a better imaging tool
Simplified users guide with a screenshots and explanations for each of the features in Ghost as well as the recover environment.
On the Recover Disk I would like to see the following tools added
Compress MFT (option when recovering an image)
Wipe free space
Wipe Partition (option when recovering an image)
Wipe Disk (write zeros to drive)
In Ghost
Replace performance slider with limit cpu usage to xx%
Replace copy my hard drive with a migration tool (cloning tool)
Add whole drive imaging (all partitions on a hard drive)
Add a tool to edit the backup history file.
Set verify recover point after creation "on" by default
NotaCanada
I agree with most of your suggestions, especially the ones that I made bold. You can use command line tool DISKPART to zero fill (wipe) the drive. It is available on the SRD.
DISKPART> HELP CLEAN
Removes any and all partition or volume formatting from the disk with
focus.
Syntax: CLEAN [ALL]
ALL Specifies that each and every byte\sector on the disk is set to
zero, which completely deletes all data contained on the disk.
On master boot record (MBR) disks, only the MBR partitioning information
and hidden sector information are overwritten. On GUID partition table
(GPT) disks, the GPT partitioning information, including the Protective
MBR, is overwritten. If the ALL parameter is not used, the first 1MB
and the last 1MB of the disk are zeroed. This erases any disk formatting
that had been previously applied to the disk. The disk's state after
cleaning the disk is 'UNINITIALIZED'.<BR /> <BR /><BR /></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>
When making a custom recovery disk, it would be nice to be able to add a folder as well and have a shortcut on the main program added to open the users custom folder.
That would be an easy way for a user to be able to add some tools and utilities they may need.
After a restore, sometimes there will be an extra boot menu item that has to be removed manually. I think it mainly happens to Windows 7 and maybe Vista with the BCD type boot file.
After a restore, sometimes there will be an extra boot menu item that has to be removed manually. I think it mainly happens to Windows 7 and maybe Vista with the BCD type boot file.
I see, thank you. )I still haven't upgraded from XP, so I haven't run into this.)
- The instructions haven't been updated in years and are out of date.
- It doesn't copy drives, it copies partitions.
- It should be in able to run from the Ghost SRD, not from within Windows (and be able to copy DRIVES or PARTITIONS).
- People try to use Copy My Hard Drive as a backup method instead of creating images, which is what Ghost is best at.
- After Copy My Hard Drive has run, it should at least instruct the user to shut down the PC, remove the original HDD, and move the cloned drive to the original HDD's position.
- The instructions haven't been updated in years and are out of date.
- It doesn't copy drives, it copies partitions.
- It should be in able to run from the Ghost SRD, not from within Windows (and be able to copy DRIVES or PARTITIONS).
- People try to use Copy My Hard Drive as a backup method instead of creating images, which is what Ghost is best at.
- After Copy My Hard Drive has run, it should at least instruct the user to shut down the PC, remove the original HDD, and move the cloned drive to the original HDD's position.
Wow, this reminds me of the time years ago I decided NEVER to use "Copy My Hard Drive" again.
I wanted to switch to a different (system) hard drive; which I usually do with the normal restore functionality in the SRD.
I wanted to be sure I used the right switches, so I phoned Ghost techsupport (which I can't recall ever helping me). They urged me to use "Copy My Hard Drive". I ended up with the new system drive being "D", and it not booting at all if I removed "C".
So I did it the way I had planned, with the normal restore functionality in the SRD, and of course it worked perfectly.
Wow, this reminds me of the time years ago I decided NEVER to use "Copy My Hard Drive" again.
I wanted to switch to a different (system) hard drive; which I usually do with the normal restore functionality in the SRD.
I wanted to be sure I used the right switches, so I phoned Ghost techsupport (which I can't recall ever helping me). They urged me to use "Copy My Hard Drive". I ended up with the new system drive being "D", and it not booting at all if I removed "C".
So I did it the way I had planned, with the normal restore functionality in the SRD, and of course it worked perfectly.
That was my first experience too. I think with Ghost 9 or 10. I did not find any support anywhere. (Where was Brain K? LOL) I didn't know the golden rule of not letting Windows see the drive. I found a MS KB article about incorrect drive letters and figured that the MOUNTED DEVICES key in the registry needed to be 'corrected'. What I ended up doing was changing the disk signature in the registry before the drive copy. Then when the copy was done, I changed it back. The copied drive then worked fine because Windows was looking for the correct drive at bootup! I wish I knew I could have just deleted that key and let it recreate at startup!
All very good ideas. I've sent along this thread to the decision makers to see what they can do around the items mentioned. I can't promise anything, but we will definitely take this feedback into consideration.
I like Ghost Copy Drive even though I don't use it except for tests. I prefer image/restore.
The main issue with Copy Drive is the userguide. As I've repeatedly pointed out, some decent instructions on how to use Copy Drive are desperately needed. I wonder why the instructions haven't been updated since the Power Quest days of Drive Image? Drive Image was prior to Ghost 9.
I haven't been able to make Copy Drive fail since Ghost SP1 was released.
Not sure why they didn't update that section. I know that they worked on updating other sections though. Out of curiosity, do you know if the BESR guide is the same way?
OK. If the BESR guide is better, it'll make getting the Ghost guide updated easier (find BESR/replace with Ghost edit). If it's just as bad, then will take more effort, but your posts that you've created on "how to" make that a lot easier then starting from scratch.
