Norton Ghost 10.0

0h No! That was not a good idea or I should not have done that! Can you relate to this situation? I have been down that track numerous times over years of playing with computers. I've done some horrible things with my favourite toy when all of a sudden it stopped working, or the file I was using had gone missing. Wouldn't it be great if everything had been backed up to a point where I could easily reinstall the system if there was a problem? Enter Norton Ghost 10.0 When I first looked at this version, after having used earlier versions, I thought "Ho-Hum. More of the same". What a surprise once I began using this program. Yes, I know that Windows XP has System Restore Points but with Norton Ghost the system can be set to do incremental backups along with a host of other options and functions. What is Norton Ghost 10.0 Norton Ghost 10.0 is a backup program. This may seem a simplistic explanation, however with Norton Ghost 10.0 you can backup your entire system whether your system uses one hard disk or several partitions or drives including removable media such as USB of FireWire removable drives. It will also backup a selection of files, folders or even a single file or folder. If you have digital photos, audio or other data and program files, these can also be backed up. After these backup files have been created, they can be restored, to return your system to an earlier time. You can save your operating system with those programs you always like to have installed such as Windows XP with Microsoft Office, save those to an image, and that image can be used to create a spare hard disk with the full operating system ready for use. It would be possible to have one disk set aside for programming, another for photo editing and retouching, one for your video collection and the other things you've always dreamed of . With Norton Ghost 10.0 this becomes realistic because your operating system can be quickly loaded to a new hard disk. About Norton Ghost 10.0 Norton Ghost is supplied in two versions. If you are running Windows XP or Windows 2000 (SP4 or higher), Norton Ghost 10.0 loads. Should you be running an earlier operating system, eg. an earlier Windows, a second CD containing Norton Ghost 2003 has been included for your benefit. Emergency The Norton Ghost 10.0 CD-ROM is also used in an emergency should you experience an entire system crash or failure. By booting from this CD, you have access to your recovery points for previously backed up files, and from which an earlier, more stable version can be restored. Installing the Software The installation program suggests that the Recovery Environment be checked (see Figure 1) to ensure that all required drivers are available in the event that you need to use the recovery system. When this has been checked (Figure 2 next page), the installation continues. The registration details are required and you are given the options to register now or later (Figure 3 next page), then you are taken into the configuration section. If you choose to register later, Norton Ghost 10.0 allows 15 days grace for you to register or the program will stop working. You can still activate and register after this 15 days period. After the codes have been verified, a new code is sent. You should print this code number for future use (there is a PRINT button on this window). This new code number can be used to reinstall Norton Ghost 10.0 at a later date. Configuration The program searches for devices that are capable of acting as a backup device. I backed up to a 200 GB USB hard disk. The program asks for a location and a file name to create a complete system backup. In my case three hard drives were found to add to an initial backup and to make recovery points for these disks. The initial backup begins and displays the Progress and Performance screen which uses a progress bar (Figure 5) to show the file being backed up. This screen also has a slider control to manage to system resources. This can speed up the backup process but it is at the expense of system resources, which could slow other programs that may be running. How I Tested Norton Ghost 10.0 I loaded Norton Ghost 10.0 onto my desktop computer. This is a Pentium 4 with an internal 60 GB hard disk drive with two partitions (C and D) and another hard disk in a disk caddy (E). I also attached a 200 GB hard disk in a removable USB 2.0 device. The USB disk is to be the target for the backups. After installation, the program runs and requests a location to store the recovery points for the backup files (Figure 4). This enabled me to backup drives C, D and E. The initial backup took about two hours and produced a file with the three drives listed. These can be explored with Window Explorer. This is a backup file and is not used to create a bootable hard disk.	Figure 1. Installation begins suggesting that you test boot from the CD-ROM to check the Recovery Environment
	Figure 2. Driver validation has identified a potential problem
	Figure 3. Product Activation options
	Figure 4. The program asks for a location and its name.
	Figure 5. During backup you see a progress and performance screen.

Making A Bootable Disk

Using Windows XP Pro as my main Operating System, I then tried to create a bootable hard disk using another Operating System.

The usual method would be to go from the current disk to the new disk but I wanted to make a copy of a different operating system. I deliberately made this difficult to see if it could be done. For this I loaded a hard disk with a functioning Windows 98SE into the machine's disk caddy. After several unsuccessful attempts using formatted disks, I succeeded by connecting the target disk (unformatted) as a slave then used the "Copy one hard drive to another" option in Norton Ghost 10.0.

This took around 22 minutes and I ended up with two bootable Windows 98SE hard disks with the same programs on each.

To make the drive a bootable disk, the "Set drive active (for starting OS)" switch must be set when copying. There is an option to resize the disk to fill up the new disk therefore copying a 20 GB disk to your new 200 GB will duplicate the drive and expand its size to use the entire 200 GB disk.

It is recommended that bootable hard disks be used in the same computer as the drivers and devices can vary if the copy is run in another machine. However, to overcome this problem the drivers for another machine can be loaded. The manual has a comprehensive section showing the setting up of the second hard disk. This explains how to set the jumpers and connect the cables on the hard drives so it holds-the-hand for a novice.

Restarting From the CD After a Crash

The Norton Ghost 10.0 CD is bootable, and it's used in the event of a system crash.

Restarting the computer with the BIOS set to boot from CD opens up the Norton Ghost 10.0 CD which goes through a boot-up process similar to that of Windows XP, allowing for RAID or SCSI drivers etc to be loaded.

The CD takes you through the steps to locate your Norton Ghost 10.0 backup files. It gives a number of options for recovering your computer's entire contents to recovering a number of files, checking for errors on the hard disk, connecting over networks or the Internet and many more (see Table 1 below).

As you can see, there is a lot available to help you get out of that "sticky" situation and hopefully not lose those important files.

Of course, any changes made to your system after the recovery point was made will be lost.

Recovery Points

Over time, the recovery points will increase in number. There is a range of functions supplied in Norton Ghost 10.0 to help manage these points.
Recovery points can be "independent" or as part of a "recovery point set" which is an incremental point added to the base recovery point.

Independent points backup the entire hard disk each time and take up far more storage space.

When created, each recovery point takes a "snap shot" of your hard drive.

This can be set to automatic or manual. Automatic can also be set to make a recovery point every time new software is installed into the machine.

Recovery points can be optimised for more efficient use of the storage hard disk. Old recovery points can be cleaned up. The program will suggest which points may be safely removed and these, if permitted, will be deleted from the hard disk.

Recovery point sets can be deleted too. When the Delete Points option is used, all recovery points between the first and last points are deleted.

Obviously care needs to be taken as a document which was created and then deleted over incremental recovery points will be lost. The program can be set to automatically monitor recovery points and will clean up old points or set to issue a warning.

Recovery points can be archived to another hard disk or computer on a network or to removable media such as CDs or DVDs. These can be stored elsewhere for safe keeping.

There are a number of options when archiving. If you are archiving to a hard disk but plan to save these to CDs or DVDs at a later stage, the "Divide into smaller files for archiving" function may be used to set the size of the archives to a size in megabytes.

For safety, a password can be entered and the information may be encrypted as well.

Compression of Recovery Points

Another option with a collection of recovery points is to compress these files.

Depending upon the types of information, the average amount of compression is:

Recovery Of a File

Files can be recovered from the Recover Items window. This window enables you to navigate to the drive where the item has been stored (see Figure 7 adjacent). When you have located the item or items, the Recover button starts the recovery process (see Figure 8).

Conclusion

Having previously used Nortons Ghost to store the information from hard drives, I always found it to be an extremely useful tool. However, while using Nortons Ghost 10.0 I discovered completely new ways of looking at this program.

It is relatively easy to use but retains its powerful features and functions.

With the price of large hard disk drives being low in today's market place, one has a good incentive to use Nortons Ghost 10.0. Hopefully you never again have the problem of losing either individual files or entire systems.

In my opinion, Nortons Ghost 10.0 scores very highly.

Minimum System Requirements

Norton Ghost 10.0

A Google search brings up a big variation in prices so check for the best street price. The boxed version comes with the Norton Ghost 10.0 manual and two CDs for Norton Ghost 10.0 and Norton Ghost 2003 for earlier Windows versions.

About the Author
Alan McNamara has been in the Printing Industry for most of his working life and seen evolutionary changes in that industry.
He began using computers in 1975 involved in early CRT typesetting systems and worked in many areas since then including establishing precision laser cutting of timber for dies for a sector of the printing industry.
Alan has been a Melb PC member for many years and deeply interested in most aspects of computing and is married to a computer widow.

Reprinted from the May 2006 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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