Ghost doesn't see a Recovery Point

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1

Before posting I cracked the 203 page pdf Ghost 12 Usersguide for an answer but I'm stuck...

 

On my external USB drive, all in the same folder, I have three drive based backup Recovery Point sets:

 

C_Drive 005.v2i

C_Drive 006.v2i

C_Drive 007.v2i

 

Yet when I open Manage Backup Destination, the C_Drive 006.v2i Recovery Point is not shown in the list and clicking Refresh does not add it. If I open Recovery Point Browser and select C_Drive 006.v2i in the tree panel, the Recovery Point opens fine. I know C_Drive 006.v2i is OK because I restored from it two weeks ago using the Recovery Disk with no problems.

 

How do I get Ghost to list all the *.v2i recovery point sets in the one folder?

 

Using Ghost 12.05.29804

2

Hi Persistent,

 

Welcome back! :smileywink:

 

So it is the one in the middle which it does not have in its history? I have not seen that occur before. Typically this occurs only when Ghost is uninstalled and told not to remember its previous recovery points. But if the one right in the middle is missing that is not the issue.

 

 Is there any chance you inadvertanly deleted this one from the history through Manage Backup Destination?

 

Though this is odd, there is no way to refresh this list to include the missing recovery point. Rest assured that this image is fully usable regardless whether it is in the backup history or not. If you load the Recovery Point Browser in Tools tab and then browse by filename you can load this recovery point. Once loaded then highlight the top entry on the left pane and select Verify.

 

If the recovery point verifies good then you have a fully functional restoral point.

 

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 01-05-2010 06:52 PM
3

Hi Persistent,

 

Actually I had another thought. When you restored your system was the C_Drive 006.v2i the latest one or an earlier restore point?

 

I noticed from another of your posts that you have XP. Is this the same computer or a different one?

 

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 01-05-2010 07:02 PM
4

"Though this is odd, there is no way to refresh this list to include the missing recovery point. Rest assured that this image is fully usable regardless whether it is in the backup history or not. If you load the Recovery Point Browser in Tools tab and then browse by filename you can load this recovery point. Once loaded then highlight the top entry on the left pane and select Verify.

 

If the recovery point verifies good then you have a fully functional restoral point.

 

Allen"

Hi Allen,

 

I know for sure that my "missing" recovery point which is refusing to show up in my Recovery Point Sets list is OK so I was thinking the Refresh button, under View in the Manage Backup Destination would rescan the destination drive and refresh its history. So there is a way to refresh, it just doesn't refresh the history!

 

Anybody know a way to force Ghost to rebuild the history? Maybe a pref file that can be renamed forcing a rebuild?

 

Thanks all

5

Hi Persistent,

 

Understand how you feel. I will look around for some method to force this but in all my time on the forum (and several people have had this same question) there has never been any method forthcoming to accomplish this.

 

By contrast, if we were talking about the same issue with file and folder backups I could tell you exactly how to do it. There actually is an import option to accomplish this. You basically rename a catalog file, do the import and Ghost will re-create the database to include all the file and folder backups currently remaining.

 

I will see if I can look into some sort of hack for this and let you know if I come up with a way.

 

I am pretty sure there is not, however. But hey, this is a challenge so I'm happy to dig a bit further! :smileywink:

 

Allen

6

"Actually I had another thought. When you restored your system was the C_Drive 006.v2i the latest one or an earlier restore point?

I noticed from another of your posts that you have XP. Is this the same computer or a different one?

 

Allen"

 

Hi Allen,

 

When I restored my system, the C_Drive 006.v2i was the latest one. After the restore and an upgrade from XP SP2 to SP3 I backed up the drive creating C_Drive 007.v2i

 

p.s. Yes, this is the same notebook that contracted an infection despite being protected by NIS. Luckily I use Norton Ghost!

 

Persistent

7

Hi Persistent,

 

Ok, I was able to locate where the Ghost history is stored. At least for Ghost 15 and Vista it is located in

Program Data > Symantec > Norton Ghost > History.

 

In here, there is a file called RPAM_History.dat which appears to be key but it is a binary file which cannot be decoded without knowing the structure.

 

In either case as a test I deleted all the files in this directory. All this resulted in was Ghost not having anything in its history. There is no import option for image backups and the refresh option is there so that if you have a removable drive such as USB, it can be refreshed after plugging in the drive to update its list of available recovery points.

 

Unfortunately this was not designed to re-create a new history database.

 

This is not a bad suggestion that perhaps Symantec could do this in a future Ghost update, but at the moment this feature is not there.

 

Over a period of time, this recovery point will be stale and would ultimately be removed from the history anyway along with the recovery point itself.

 

Again Ghost does have this feature for file and folder backups, but not image backups. The idea is that image backups are self-contained images of the entire partition which means that even if it is not in the history it is still fully usable.

 

EDIT: You might try restoring this one directory from your C_Drive 007.v2i backup image just on the chance that your current one got out of step somehow.

 

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 01-05-2010 08:16 PM
8

Hi Allen,

 

Thanks for digging down into this and reporting your findings. It's good to know that I'm not missing something obvious.

 

By the way, In Ghost 12 the history files are located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton Ghost\History

 

To experiment a little myself, before opening Ghost 12, I used Windows Explorer inside the recovery point folder of the destination external USB drive and moved the C_Drive 007.v2i and C_Drive 006.v2i files into a different folder. When I launched Ghost's Manage Backup Destination from Tools, a Ghost window called Clean Up Recovery Point History opened which says:

 

"The following recovery points are missing. They have either been deleted, renamed, or moved by someone. Click Cancel if you want to restore the missing recovery point files to their original name and location manually. or click Remove to clear them from the recovery point history."

 

Only the C_Drive 007.v2i file was listed as missing. I chose Cancel, moved (back) both C_Drive 007.v2i and C_Drive 006.v2i to their original folder on the destination drive. Ghost's Manage Backup Destination's Status for C_Drive 007.v2i immediately changed from Removed to Available. But the C_Drive 006.v2i file was (still) not added to the history.

 

Allen, if you have the inclination I would be curios to know if Ghost 15 behaves any differently if you move (outside of Ghost) a recovery point in the destination drive. Do you still get the Cancel and Remove choices? Is there an option to add to the history a new recovery point that's been manually moved into the recovery point folder?

 

Persistent

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Persistent wrote:

Hi Allen,

 

By the way, In Ghost 12 the history files are located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton Ghost\History

>> Not surprising, however I think that is down to OS differences and not Ghost version differences. Another example is the database catalog for file and folder backups which is different in XP vs Vista and W7.

 

To experiment a little myself, before opening Ghost 12, I used Windows Explorer inside the recovery point folder of the destination external USB drive and moved the C_Drive 007.v2i and C_Drive 006.v2i files into a different folder. When I launched Ghost's Manage Backup Destination from Tools, a Ghost window called Clean Up Recovery Point History opened which says:

 

"The following recovery points are missing. They have either been deleted, renamed, or moved by someone. Click Cancel if you want to restore the missing recovery point files to their original name and location manually. or click Remove to clear them from the recovery point history."

>> Perfectly normal. Ghost monitors the recovery point sets it is aware of (in its history) and when it detects one is suddenly gone it offers this choice. However it is a one way street; e.g., it will remove non-existent recovery points from its history but it has no mechanism to add one back in.

 

Only the C_Drive 007.v2i file was listed as missing. I chose Cancel, moved (back) both C_Drive 007.v2i and C_Drive 006.v2i to their original folder on the destination drive. Ghost's Manage Backup Destination's Status for C_Drive 007.v2i immediately changed from Removed to Available. But the C_Drive 006.v2i file was (still) not added to the history.

>> Again normal because we had already ascertained that for some reason Ghost no longer had this recovery point in its history. Is it possible that at some point this particular recovery point was missing for a period of time and then Ghost popped up the aforementioned dialog and perhaps without thinking about it, you could have answered YES which would then remove it from the history?

 

Allen, if you have the inclination I would be curios to know if Ghost 15 behaves any differently if you move (outside of Ghost) a recovery point in the destination drive. Do you still get the Cancel and Remove choices? Is there an option to add to the history a new recovery point that's been manually moved into the recovery point folder?

>> Yes to the former and no to the latter. In other words if you manually remove a recovery point you will get the same cancel and remove choices but there is no mechanism to add it back in.

 

Persistent

Hi Persistent,

 

See above responses inline. Even though I know it is a bit annoying not to have a valid recovery point in Ghost history, it is good to remember that functionally this does not affect your ability to use said recovery point for restoral if it were ever needed. It will at some point as I mentioned before also become stale and be removed anyway.

 

It would be nice if they had such a feature to add recovery points back into Ghost history but at the end of the day it really does not affect functionality.

 

Thanks

Allen

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Hello - I am new to this discussion.

 

Note:  I backup on the first of each month and have restored the OS & programs on two occasions.

I  have experienced the same problem where the backup I have restored is no longer in Ghost's history.

After much deliberation I think I have the answer - I hope it is this simple!

 

Ghost updates it's history file after the backup is complete - therefore if you restore this backup file you are also restoring the old history file.  Ghost now has no record of the last backup.

 

What we need is a Norton Ghost update that lets you manually add backup files to the history.

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Ha, that's why I couldn't figure out how to add some images back into the history.

Because it can't be done.

 

AllenM-

I saw on another thread how you explained how to resync the history of file and folder backups and I assumed I could do something similar with images.

Not that I shouldn't have assumed anything, makes perfect sense to me that you should be able to, why would they possibly allow it for folder and files but not images?

 

Yes, it may seem like a minor thing but the bottom line is the backup history will not be accurate in some cases and when you talking about backing up your important data Symantec really should strive for accuracy.

I thought thats what Ghost was doing when it's "scanning the drives", it sure takes it a long time to do whatever it does.

 

Your correct that sooner or later the backups become "stale" and need to be removed anyway, but the same could be said for folders and files.

Your also correct that it doesn't matter as much since the images are self contained.  Yes, you and I may know that and we might look through all our images to find one that is not listed, but what about the adverage user?

How would you feel if someone lost important data because a backup wasn't listed in the history?

 

Personally I think it's silly there is no way to edit or add something back to the history.

I think Symantec should always strive for perfection, I imagine they will have to make an update for Ghost sooner or later (I see several problems here that really need to be corrected). So why not make another quick fix to make the product better and give the users a little more flexibility.

 

Thanks,

Dave

12

HI Dave and Alan,

 

I completely agree that having Ghost have a facility for adding a backup into the history would be a good thing.

 

Might I suggest that one of you start a new thread to suggest this. What I've done a couple of times is to add something like (Product Suggestion) at the end of the title so it kind of draws attention a bit more as to its intent.

 

Thanks

Allen

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Hi,

 

I've just encountered the same situation and i would like to know if is possible, what are the conditions when backup history are being lost. I'm a little bit confused about this because i didn't do anything unusual that could affect Ghost to lose his history.

 

Because of a hardware failure, i was needed to restore a backup for all my partitions.

 

So here is what i've done:

 

1.Enter Windows, open Ghost application and check if previous backups are in place. And they are. They can be seen in backup history, also in Manage Backup Destination. So far so good.

2. Restart Windows and boot from SRD

3. After booting, i've checked if SRD sees my backups and it does.

4.Select Recover my computer and then for each partition, select the last backup file and restore all of them in one single step. All went ok, checked with Explore my computer.

5. Exit from SRD, boot into Windows from HDD and open Ghost application again.

6. Surprise! From the backup history and Manage Backup Destination is missing the last backup, the one that i've just restored. The last backup reported by Ghost is the one before last one, which is one month old.

 

Normally, since i've restored the last backup (and i'm sure that's the last one), i should be able to see it in backup history and Manage Backup Destination, but i don't. I don't know why, but before restoring images i was able to see last backup in history (step 1).

 

Am I missing something?

I'm using Ghost 12 on WinXP SP3.

 

Thanks for help!

Marius

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When you create a backup, it's not in the history yet is it?

If I look in my history now, it will show the last backup as the most current.  If I image my system right now the image would contain the same history.  It won't be until after the backup is finished that it will become my new most recent backup.  So if I restore the image I just made, it brings it back to the point in time when the image was made, with the most recent image in the history being the one made before the restored image.

 

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Hi Folks,

 

What Dave is saying makes perfect sense. Ghost would not add the current backup into it's history until it is truly completed and once that is done then it would be too late for that backup to be included in the backup just completed.

 

If you are restoring an image and are affected by this, understand it is just the way it is. This is actually a very small price to pay for having just restored your system.

 

Also, in case there is any misunderstanding I would like to mention one other thing.

 

All backup images, whether seen in Ghost history or not are 100% available and usable for restoral. E.g., the backup does not need to be in the history for you to use it when needed.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Allen

16

~DaveH:

 

I believe you are right, it makes perfect sense.

 

I've searched a little bit for Ghost history and found in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton Ghost\History some pqh files, which seems to keep backup history. I just made a test and if i move that files to another location, Ghost doesn't see it's history anymore, at all. So probably from here it takes history, but i'm not 100% sure. Maybe if i was copied that files on a memory stick before restoring and after the restore copy them again on their original place, maybe in this case the history would be as before, but it's just a guess.

 

~AllenM:

 

You are right, it's just a small price to pay for having the system back online again, so we have to live with that. But we must remember that in situations like this, we have backups that are not shown in history :) and the most important thing, the backups are available for restore if needed.

 

Thank you for your input!

Marius

17

Hi Marius,

 

You can delete all the files in the History directory including the .pqh files and it will indeed wipe out the Ghost history. Unfortunately there is not a facility for rebuilding the history for image backups. However you can do this for file and folder backups.

 

You can even do this test. Stop the Ghost service. You can do this by typing services.msc (XP run box) or services (start menu search box for Vista/Win 7). Scroll down to the Norton Ghost service and click Stop. Then move the files in the history folder to another location. Start Ghost service back up. Run Ghost, go into Tools > Manage Backup Destination.

 

You will now see nothing in Ghost history. The image backups themselves are still there to use but Ghost now knows nothing about them. You will also notice that Ghost recreates files in this directory with essentially an empty history.

 

You can restore the history by again stopping the Ghost service and copy the files back to the normal History folder and starting Ghost service again.

 

As I have done before I just did this process on my computer as well. Once you restore the original history files, Ghost history will be back to where it was to begin with.

 

FYI: I have a started a new thread here as a Product Suggestion for Symantec to add this capability. You can track this thread to see if they plan to follow through on this suggestion.

 

Allen

 

18
opmdsm wrote:

~DaveH:

 

I believe you are right, it makes perfect sense.

 

I've searched a little bit for Ghost history and found in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton Ghost\History some pqh files, which seems to keep backup history. I just made a test and if i move that files to another location, Ghost doesn't see it's history anymore, at all. So probably from here it takes history, but i'm not 100% sure. Maybe if i was copied that files on a memory stick before restoring and after the restore copy them again on their original place, maybe in this case the history would be as before, but it's just a guess.

>> You are absolutely correct on this. If after a successful backup, you copy all of the files in the History directory and then manually restore those after you restore the system drive image, Ghost will then have that last backup in history. This folder is (in its entirety) where Ghost derives it's history of image backups.

 

Marius

Hi Marius,

 

Missed part of your response before. See response above.

 

Thanks

Allen

19

Hi Allen,

 

I already performed this test with moving pqh files to another location and i've seen that history & jobs are lost.

Also i've tried to add manually the last backup file to the history by modifying one pqh file for a specified partition, but no luck, so i must be carefully with that.

 

However, if someday i will need to restore again a previously made Ghost image backup, i will keep in mind to copy the files from history to a temporary location (memory stick or something else) and after the restore to copy them on their original location, hoping that history will be as before.

 

But let's hope that this situation will not occur very often :).

 

Thank you again for your info,

Marius.