Hello everyone, I'm new in the forum. Excuse me if my English is not correct, this is not my first language...
Well, I'm NOT interested in using Norton Ghost just to back up my photos, videos, music... if I finally buy this program, maybe I use it to do that, but is not my priority, as I can also do it with my pendrives, my external hard disk and my DVD burner, without spending 70 euros in this program...
For me, there are 2 main reasons to think of NG as my solution, but I have some doubts...
My case is the following: I have an Acer laptop which of course came with Windows (XP Home) from factory. You all know that Windows needs to be formatted from time to time in order to keep it working properly, but the computer didn't come with a Windows CD, but with a program by Acer to create my own recovery disk burning a blank DVD instead. So I have never formatted my PC, first because I have used it few times so its Windows is still working more or less well, and second, because I'm afraid of doing anything wrong and having my PC messed up. Besides, my computer brought not only some programs by Acer (that I take for granted have been burnt to my recovery DVD), but also a few programs from other brands, for example a NTI burning utility, or some Cyberlink programs to edit videos and photos, and I don't know whether they have also been backed up to the recovery DVD (allowing me to reinstall them after formatting) or not...
Besides, I have a second partition in my hard disk with Ubuntu installed in it, and I have been told that when you reinstall Windows, it messes your Ubuntu's boot record...
So here comes my first reason to think about Ghost: I would create an image of my current PC and, if I fail reinstalling Windows, or fixing my Ubuntu, or simply I cannot recover those programs I mentioned, I could return my PC to the previous state, despite of not being working as smoothly as when you have Windows just installed, but at least is not very corrupted.
And my second reason is that if the format and reinstallation are a success, then I would create a second image, so in the following formats it would be much easier and faster.
My doubts are:
- Can I create an image of my Ubuntu partition, or Ghost works only with Windows?
- What about if when formatting, I change the size or the number of partitions? now it has 2, each one with the half space of the disk, but if I formatted it, I would create one for Windows, another for Ubuntu (both with a few gigas each one), maybe another for the swap file, and the rest for programs and documents. Could I restore the previous image after changing the partitions?
- I would store the image files in 2 places: in DVD's (so they are not erasable) and in my external hard disk (to improve speed). My DVD's are of 4,7 Gb each one, can I split the files to burn they into several DVD's?
- And maybe one of my biggest doubts is about the license: it says one per computer, but if I uninstall it from my PC, can I install it to another? For example, imagine that tomorrow I buy a new computer and get rid of my current one, would I have to pay another license for the new computer? or could I bring it from the old PC to the new? I live in Europe, are there any differences between the eula in my country and in USA?
- Is 14.0 the last release? could I update it free, as you do with your operating system, or would I have to buy the next version if I wanted to have always the last one?
Thanks to you all.