Symantec Ghost

[vanselus]

Has anyone had experience with Symantec Ghost or a similar product? I was wondering if it would be a good catch-all for a seamless recovery in event of a disaster.... or just a hd failure.

[Tammy]

I use Powerquest Drive Image, good to have a way to do backups. Easy to use and they are improving the software all the time.

[Viper007Bond]

Does it just make a copy of your drive?

I prefer to do that manually using DVD+R's or whatever's the best for backups.

I don't really need all the files on my computer, plus 200 GB is a lot to back up.

I can see it being helpful, but it'd back up too much crap in my case.

[vanselus]

Yeah there's a lot of crap on here, but it sure would be serious piece of mind to know that just in case, it could be retreived.

But regular backups are probably safer.

[Tammy]

You can make the backups on a DVD+R, on CD-R's, or on a separate partition of your hard drive. Different software gives you different options. You have to boot out of Windows to make the backup.

[SnakEyez]

I did use Ghost for awhile. It is a good backup program but you have to be familiar with DOS because it is a DOS program. I had one crash with my computer and had a Ghost restore but you have to launch Ghost in DOS without booting into Windows to get stuff running. Now this was the 2001 version so I don't know if there has been improvement since then because I haven't upgraded it past the 1st year because I felt the only thing worth paying for was the AV (I use BlackICE for a firewall otherwise I would pay for firewall upgrades too).

Personally I recommend going with XP Pro, or any Windows OS that is the professional version. Those have the tools necessary to restore your system that make programs like Ghost obselete. However, if you insist on using the Home versions, you may want to consider having it just in case, but I wouldn't pay for it to be upgraded once the first year is done.

[vanselus]

I was under the impression that the built-in backup tools for windows worked marginally at best?

[Tammy]

I have had problems with my Windows XP Professional and tried to use one of those "Restore Points." After several tries, to this day I have never gotten that function to work. I have never been able to "restore" my system to a previous status - and believe me, it would have been good at the time if I could.

[vanselus]

That's what I thought. I'm sticking to aftermarket backup software. I can't imagine why I'd have doubts about windows :D

[KLH]

I've gotten MS System Restore feature to work before. Wasn't to hard to do. It was on an older OS. Maybe Win ME? Does ME even have system restore? If it wasn't ME, it was Win 2k.

I had screwed up the network settings on the computer and had to use it.

[Tammy]

Originally posted by KLH
I've gotten MS System Restore feature to work before. Wasn't to hard to do. It was on an older OS. Maybe Win ME? Does ME even have system restore? If it wasn't ME, it was Win 2k.

I had screwed up the network settings on the computer and had to use it.

Cool, that must have been some kind of a trick, the system restore function was only introduced in Windows XP.

[Vladdrac]

system restore was first introduced , i think in ME.....that is funny considering that (in my opinion) that OS was designed by 6 people, in like 3 hours

[Viper007Bond]

Yes, it was introduced in ME and has worked fine for both my dad me (him on ME, me on XP Pro).

[vanselus]

Somebody actually uses Windows ME? Does it crash every 3 minutes or did you get lucky..... and it crashes every 5 minutes?

[Tammy]

I skipped ME, figured it was actually a downgrade from 98 SE. Know some folks who still use 98, in fact, that was a great OS for its time.

[vanselus]

I have 2000 pro at work, but at home I run 98 SE on my workhorse, and the laptop has XP.

Out of all of them, the 2k Pro works the best...

[Tammy]

I may not upgrade to longhorn when it comes out, I learned my lesson when I had trouble getting drivers for XP when it came out. XP does what it needs to do, I'll wait until they iron out all the bugs this time.

[Viper007Bond]

van - it crashes on boot - seriously, locks up when you first start up the computer for 60 seconds or so. lol

Anyway, yeah, I agree, 2000 is probably the most stable OS, but actually, I prefer XP for a few reasons. First, it's next to impossible to crash - it'll just reboot explorer when it crashes and with no data loss and second - it's a lot prettier than 2000. It uses more RAM, I know, but I like my computer to look good. :)

http://www.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Viper007Bond/desktops/2004.01.26_medium.jpg

[vanselus]

You have a Mac recycle bin! (or is that what all XP bins look like, i forget...)

[Vladdrac]

nice desktop dude! I wish I could get that resolution on my computer, I can only get up to 1024x768 true on my flat screen........blech!

[KLH]

Originally posted by vanselus
Somebody actually uses Windows ME? Does it crash every 3 minutes or did you get lucky..... and it crashes every 5 minutes?

I used it for a little while.. Until I got Win 2k Pro..

I must say, it was horrible OS to use.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally posted by vanselus
You have a Mac recycle bin! (or is that what all XP bins look like, i forget...)
Probably, it's from some nice icon pack I got. :)

[Viper007Bond]

Originally posted by Vladdrac
nice desktop dude! I wish I could get that resolution on my computer, I can only get up to 1024x768 true on my flat screen........blech!
And I wish I could run 1600x1200, but I can only run 1280x1024 on this 17" CRT. :(

[Vladdrac]

I want a resolution so small that you need a magnifying glass just to read what the icons say

[Viper007Bond]

Well my card can go up to like 2200 or something - that small enough?

[Vladdrac]

yikes, i don't beleive i have ever seen that small of a resolution before

[Viper007Bond]

Didn't say I could find a monitor that was actually affordable that could run that though... ;)

[-rAz-]

i run 1600x1200 hehe :p

[ontopic] Ghost is just amazing these days. You make a compressed image of a partition or yer whole drive. You start it in Windows, then it reboots in the dos client automatically where you can either backup or restore an image. You can backup to other drive, other partition, write to cd or DVD. In case you choose CD you get an autoboot CD with ghost so you can resote the image in a matter of minutes. And its fast, amazing

I always take an image after i installed my pc from scratch
then work till my PC gets fking slow - restore the image - download newest patches - drivers etc - make a new image.
install not so common proggies and im off again for a long time.

I would try ghost if i were you - saves you lotsa time in case of either normal reinstall or crash

[vanselus]

Hey I like that idea Raz - to be able to reformat and clean up the grime without the hassle of reinstalling everything. Doesn't that kinda ruin the point of the format though? I guess it would all depend on how Ghost does its work.

And I run 1600x1200 too :D

[Tammy]

Originally posted by -rAz-
I always take an image after i installed my pc from scratch
then work till my PC gets fking slow - restore the image - download newest patches - drivers etc - make a new image.
install not so common proggies and im off again for a long time.

That's a smart way to do it. May try that myself. Thanks for the advice. :)

[Viper007Bond]

I'd do that too, but 15 DVD's or so is like $20 and a ton of time spent burning them.

Still sounds like I might want to do that...

[vanselus]

slickdeals.net has some GREAT DVDR deals sometimes... you should keep an eye open.