Using Norton Ghost to clone hard drive

IBM Clone
Mother Board: Elite ECS K7VTA3
AMD Athlon XP
1.35GHz, 1.00 GB of Ram
WD 6GB hard drive
Free Space 600 MB
Windows XP Professional
Version 2002 Service Pack 2

I want to use Nortons Ghost to Clone my old hard drive to my new one which is a WD 20GB.

I set it up as the only device on my Secondary cable, and SET UP recognized it as the Secondary Master.
Windows recognizes it as E:\
I have ran defrag and AVG antivirus on the old drive.

I have used Ghost for this in the past and it always worked with no problems.
Now I get to the step where it is going to re-start my computer and get the dialog that says:
Unable to successfully Defragment the Virtual Partition File. This is Probably due to your Disk being too Fragmented. We recommend that you run the windows disk Defragmenter.

I had already ran the Disk Defragmenter Utility on both the old Hard Drive and the New Hard Drive.
I thought I got a new hard drive, but found files on the "New Hard Drive". there was a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation and other files on it. I guess someone installed things on it and returned it right away without telling the store they installed files on it.
I formated the hard drive from the Control panel, right clicking on it and selecting format.
I then ran Disk Defragmenter on it, and there was nothing to Defragment.

I cannot return the new/used hard drive as it is over a year since I bought it.

Can I get some Ideas here on how to make this Ghost Clone Procedure work? thanks, Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by towjoe42

I want to use Nortons Ghost to Clone my old hard drive to my new one which is a WD 20GB.


I have used Ghost for this in the past and it always worked with no problems.


I cannot return the new/used hard drive as it is over a year since I bought it.

Can I get some Ideas here on how to make this Ghost Clone Procedure work? thanks, Joe

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First, what version of ghost do you have?

Second, on the "new to you" hard drive, is it the same type / speed /capacity?
If it is the same, or newer, you should be o.k.
Norton ghost ver. 8.*.*.* encounters errors when trying to ghost NTFS partitons .They fixed that in version 9.
Sometimes you will still get errors trying to clone FAT32 partitions w/ ver 8.
I have spoken to both Symantec & Microsoft about that, they agree that XP sometimes does some unexpected things after cloning, no matter what the file structure is. The best results I have had was using version 9 on a cd,
Do the clone, remove the source drive, set the bios correctly, Then boot from the XP cd, use the recovery console & run "chkdsk c: /r" on the new drive
(without the quotes). The cd will find & fix the "unamed" errors it finds on your hard drive. You should be fine after that
Let me know how you make out.

The Ghost is from Nortons System Works 2003 CD.
I tried to find it on my Nortons systems works 2005, but could not find it.
The version number is 2003.789
does nortons Ghost come by itself now? If so I will get it tomorrow or so.
The newer hard drive is the same make, western digital and it is way newer than my old one by five or so years.

I am a little confused, you said "Do the clone, remove the source drive, set the bios correctly, Then boot from the XP cd, use the recovery console & run "chkdsk c: /r" on the new drive"

What do you mean, "Do the clone"?
The new drive is the Source Drive, if I remove the source drive and boot from the XP CD, how can I run Chkdisk C:/r on it if it is removed?
I never was good with Algebra and making quantam leaps over steps to the solution.
Can you hit me with the steps, a,b,c etc? thanks, Joe

twojoe42--I may be wrong, but I do not believe Ghost 9 or 10 creates Clones anymore. They only create Backups, which are encrypted and compressed files which you cannot read. They are fine as backups provided you use Ghost to restore.
The old Clones were readable copies of the original image. Ghost 2003 makes both Clones and Backups.
If you buy Ghost 9 or 10 as a separate program, I believe you will get a copy of Ghost 2003 as well. I do not believe the Ghost that comes with NortonSystemWorks includes Ghost 2003.
Ghost 2003 was very slow cloning or backing up my WinXP NTFS hard drive. It copied at only 27-35 MB per minute. Ghost 9 is ten times faster.
I do not know if the newer versions of Ghost will overcome the defrag problem you mention.
Some possibly helpful reading
http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_1.htm

Hi, You don't have to be a math or physics genius to do this.
I'm not. Symantec is pushing Ghost 10, so they have conveniently hidden & broken up documentation about Ghost 9.
So try here:
www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1644438,00.asp

Norton Ghost is part of System Works 2003. ( retail version)
Yoy can see from PC Mag's scrrenshots as where to select cloning.
it is under the "new" heading of "Upgrade your hard drive".
I t is fairly easy to create the Ghost boot cd. Then shutdown , hook the second drive to your computer , restart & go into the bios. All your drives should be listed on the main page, unless the bios has only listings for seperate pages.
If so, use the arrow buttons & select the page for "main" ( most bioses have that)... You just want to be sure they are listed.I haven't used ghost for some time, but I know ghost 9 can be run from boot (quickest) to Clone ( Identical copy) one drive to another. just write down the size & number of the source drive on a ppiece of paper beforehand as a quick reference.
Select "local -> Disk -> to -> Disk "copy & choose the source( Copy from)
to destination ( new drive) . You will get confirmation boxes. Go through the boxes, make the appropiate choices, click yes to overwrite.
When it is done, shutdown & un-plug both the data cable ( usually a wide ribbon cable) & the power cable for the old drive.

Most BIOS's are fairly easy to access, alot of the newer ones you tap the delete key (del ) before it boots up. others are F1 , or F2 , sometimes a combination of them. Your motherboard manual should tell you, also alot say
hit "Del" to enter setup.

The two attachments are Two digital pictures I took of the Bios Set up Screen on my computer.
I now have goost 203.
I installed the new hard drive and jumpered as secondary master, (nothing else on the cable)
I shut down and re-start and hit DEL to enter Bios Setup to recognize the hard drive.
I get a real weird Bios Set up screen. All the headings and words are miss spelled, and real hard to figure out which item to select.
I figured it out even though the headings and words are completely un-readable.
It looked like the Secondary master was recognized so I saved and exited.

The next screen at Start up also is garbled, but once it gets past that and windows starts up there does not seem to be any thing misspelled in windows.

I then went to my computer, and windows does not show the Secondary Master hard drive.
Without seeing the secondary master, I cannot go into ghost to try and clone the Primary Master hard drive to the Secondary Master.
I bought a new 40Gig hard drive.
I installed it and jumpered it as a secondary master.
turned the pc on and hit delete to have Bios recognize it. I got this real funny Set up screen. it has been this way for quite a while.
it is real hard to select options in setup with all the headings missspelled.
I know where the things are that I am looking for so I got through it.
when I saved and exited, the first start up screen also had everything missspelled.

I notice for some time, that at start up I do not see the AVG Boot Up virus scanner come up and run its scan. I have over 1Meg of Memory now So I don't know if it is happening so fast that I cannot see it occure?

Could I have a Boot sector Virus?

I also noticed another symptom awhile ago. Before I got DSL, everything associated with being on the internet was slow as dirt, taking 1-2 minuets or
longer to connect to web pages.
Now with the DSL everything is so fast you cannot tell any slowdown problems, but they are probably still slower but cannot tell with DSL.
I cannot detect any other malfunctions, though there may be some I cannot see.

My Zone alarm is functional.
My AVG Anti Virus is functional and up to date, and
every function shows it is working.
I run AVG every day automatically and never show any virus.
My Microsoft BETA anti spyware runs automatically and
does not find any thing.
I go to www.trendmicro.com frequently and run their online anti
virus and spyware checker and do not find anything.
I run my AD Aware and Spyware checker and do not find
any problems.
I also run my Yahoo anti-spy and do not find any
problems.

So before I get any farther trying to clone my Primary Hard Drive, I need to see what other problems I may have. Do not want to clone problems to the new hard drive.

It would appaer that your bios is corrupt....unless someone changed the input language of the bios.I would suggest I.D.'ing the motherboard; go to their site & download the latest bios file.
Stat by getting a driver free disk for bios flashing frome here:
http://www.bootdisk.com
Take a few minutes to read what Ed has put up there.
I don't recognize the language the screenshots display; the characters seem to be in a proper sequential display on the screen ( I have had corrupt bioses display gibberish)
Be very *CAREFUL* when attempting to flash your bios.
A bad flash can render your board unsuable.If you are uncomfortable doing it yourself, have a geek friend or reputable computer repair shop do it.
Two things should happen---the bios will now correctly i.d. your devices, and you will be able to read what the bios displays. :D .
Windows should now be able to recognize the drive, you'll be ready to go ahead with cloning the drive.
Let me know what happens

I downloaded the driver free disk for bios flashing from Bootdisk. com
What is the procedure and order for using it? I am not afraid to flash the bios if i get the order of steps on how to use the floppy.
Bootdisk. com has lots of neat and beneficial tools, but I could not see any instructions on how to use the floppy. I am assuming I put in the floppy and turn on the computer if this is happening at the CMOS Bios set up level?

I just had the same or close problem with using Ghost 2003. I used western Digtals copy drive , It is part of their utility pkg avabile from their web site. I got along fine with it, I only had a couple programs that had to be reloaded. It evidently isnt a complete clone as Ghost is but worked well in my case

Quote:

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Originally Posted by towjoe42

I downloaded the driver free disk for bios flashing from Bootdisk. com
What is the procedure and order for using it? I am not afraid to flash the bios if i get the order of steps on how to use the floppy.
Bootdisk. com has lots of neat and beneficial tools, but I could not see any instructions on how to use the floppy. I am assuming I put in the floppy and turn on the computer if this is happening at the CMOS Bios set up level?

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Hi, sorry for the delay getting back...been waitng for a new hdd.
Go to the manufaturer's site, & download the latest bios file, and the flash program from them.

Start by creating the bios disk from bootdisk.com, then copy either "awd_flash.exe" , or what ever the flash program's name is ( probably awdflash, or aminf000, zeroes being whatever version) , and the new bios file to the floppy.
boot from the floppy, and go through the steps. Do Not turn off the computer, or re-start during the flashing process.That will leave the motherboard in a state not being able to boot up.(spelled dead). :eek:
I could post a specific way here, but it is better to go to the manufacturer's site;follow their instructions for flashing the bios for your board.

For your board, go here:
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Product...etailName=BIOS

get the manual while you are there....
Just make sure you write the name of the new bios rom file down on a peice of paper before you flash your bios.You will have to type in specific entries according to the flash program, as well as the rom filename.
Here is a very good place to start :
http://www.wimsbios.com/

Hi,

Similar issues recently when I replaced both SATA drives in my Dell p4 2.8 I was getting odd errors and messages and decided to replace both SATA drives with larger and faster drives and not risk a hard drive failure.

C: drive properties had said the running XP Home CL drive was blank ????
Partition Magic 7 said the running c: drive was blank and had a BAD sile system not NTFS.


I initially used the Western Digital Lideguard tools to clone my old Maxtor SATA drive to new SATA drive. Seemed to be very successful.

Swapped drives and was able to boot normally from the new SATA drive.

Two minor issues though

System Resore now didn't work and I had errors in Office XP. I was able to solve the System Restore issue but not the Office XP. Couldn't repair the Office XP or run the Office XP CD's

System Restore problem was easy, re-installed sr.inf to get this working.

I then used Ghost 2003 from a Ghost bootable floppy disk on a disk to disk copy to clone the image on my old but still working SATA drive back over the new and working XP Home on the new SATA drive.

This resolved everything and all programs ran as normal. I didn't have any errors. I had expected I might have to re-activate Windows XP Home but this was not necessary.

From what I've read on various forums, the newer versions of Ghost also include Ghost 2003. This seems to be the better version to use.

hth

Ceri

I went to the manufactures site, downloaded the correct Bios Flash upgrade to my desktop for my motherboard after talking personally with the tech support.
I then went to www.esupport.com and downloaded the bootdisk.exe file to my floppy disk.
I went to the desktop and unziped the Bios upgrade to the bootable floppy disk.
I then restarted the pc and waited to follow the instructions.
Guess what, all the instructions for the Bios were ureadable on my monitor.
this is the same as I mentioned in the beginning.
I was able to barely extrapolate, (read "guess") the correct number key to press and I think I saved my orig bios.
the procedure proceeded to install and when it finished I popped out the floppy disk, and re-started the computer.

The computer started up and everything looks normal as usual when win xp starts up.
But back to the orig problem again. In "my computer" it does not show the secondary master hard drive.
It is shown corrrctly in the Bios Setup. One time the Bios Setup screen was actually readable for a few minuets before it began to degrade into an unreadable mess.

Did the Bios Flash Upgrade work? I don't know. guess I will see if I can see the Bios information long enough to see what it is.

My wife said, Joe we can afford a new computer just go get one. I said Honey, I know that. Problem is how are we going to get seven years of Our Genealogy family history research and all the rest off the old hard drive and onto the new computer?
Thats where it stands now. Joe

Problem is how are we going to get seven years of Our Genealogy family history research and all the rest off the old hard drive and onto the new computer?


Place old hard drive into new working computer as a slave.

In windows explorer navigate old hard drive and find data, drag to new computers drive.

Repeat for all the data you need saved.

I tried to go back to basics or installing hard drives.
I remembered some hard drives did not like to be used with different makes.
My orig HDD is a Western digital. The new one I was attempting to use to clone to, was a Maxtor. The store assured me that they were compatible.
I pulled it out and installed a new Western digital as master.
Restarted and the Bios was readable this time, and recognized the new Western Digital HDD.
I saved and exited and now the new HDD shows up in MY computer as Drive E:\
This is a good start.
I then went and opened my Ghoost 2003 and tried to proceed with the Clone Procedure.
It came up and said the Hard drive needed to be Defragmented.
It did not say which one. So I found out it was my orig HDD that needed defragmenting.
So, I am letting that slow cook now, and will check later this afternoon to see if it is done.
Do I need to format the new hard drive? And if so, how do you format a secondary hard drive in Win XP?
Can I just go to MY COMPUTER, right click on the E:\ and select FORMAT from the drop down menu?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by towjoe42

Can I just go to MY COMPUTER, right click on the E:\ and select FORMAT from the drop down menu?

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Yes, or to be safe, Right click on 'My Computer' > 'manage' , then disk management. Make sure You have copied all data you want to the new drive, then right click on the old drive, select 'delete partion', then create & format a new partition...use all the default settings for cluster size just to be sure.
Sometimes XP doesn't like cluster sizes to be setup different than the default size.

It would appear that this original problem is fixed.
I gave up and took it to a local store/shop where I buy all my stuff.
They had to copy some larger programs to a DVD disk to make room on the old hard drive to operate.
Said Windows needs a min of 15% freee hard drive space to operate, and with only 180 MB free space, it was not working too good.
The Ghoost 2003 Error telling me the hard drive needed to be defraged also was due to no available space on the old hard drive.

The Un-readable Bios Setup screen was due to my Video card starting to go bad.

they made enough room on the old C:\ hard drive to make Ghoost 2003 work and they transfered my old hard drive to the new one.

But there in lies another challange.
the computer had the following drives:
a. C:\
b. CD rom drive=D:\
c. DVD RW drive=E:\
d. new hard drive = F:\
When complete it could boot from either the Old C:\ or the new F:\ depending which you selected in start up.

Before I took the computer from the shop, I had them remove the old C:\ hard drive and restart the PC to le the CMOS recognize it as the Primary HD which it did.
but windows still recognizes it as the F:\ drive.
Everything on the hard drive as far as programs and my attempts to download updates will not work as everything wants to find the old C:\

My AVG, Zone alarm does not start up, and everything else including Microsoft word cannot work or start up cause the Bios does not recognize the F:\, everything is looking for the C:\

How do I change the Designation of the F:\ drive back to the C:\ drive designation?
I am in Win XP Pro.

Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management. Right click on the old drive (which is named C) and change the drive letter to any designation except D, E, or F.. Then right-click on F and make it C. Reboot after making changes. Make sure your BIOS Boot Sequence is set to boot from C.

TBH, I would ditch Ghost and switch to Acronis, Ive just used it to clone 2 hd's in 2 PC's.

It works like a charm

Eg, adding a new hardisk is easy, install the HD
boot the PC, run acronis and choose clone drive.

It will then reboot and copy everything to the new harddisk
even giving you the option to increase partition sizes if the
new harddisk is bigger, as no doubt the new hd will be bigger.

Ive just bought Acronis True Image 9 Home version, i can
recomend this over ghost.

www.acronis.com

I did not have the time to mess with this anymore. I gave up and took it to a shop where I buy my computer stuff.
Told them I was trying to clone my old small hard drive to the new one I bought from them and gave up.
The shop did the clone with Ghost 2003 and when I picked it up they had the new drive as Primary Master, and put the old drive as Primary Slave.
I also had a CD Rom Drive and a DVD RW drive on the Secondary cable.
The tech said either Windows assigned the Drive letter to the new hard drive as F:\ or he did, not sure.
Anyway it started up and seemed to run fine.
When I got it home and tried to use it, it seemed not much would work right.
I cannot download and and save to the normal MY Download folder.
Seems windows cannot find F:\
I tried to save a word document and same problem.
My Zone alarm, and AVG antivirus do not load up, and if I go to the desktop icon or start menu they fail to open.
So it would seem that even though they or windows assigned the F:\ drive desigation to the new drive, the tech did not associate everything that was under the old C:\ to the new F:\.
Is there a simple way to change the new drive from F:\ back to the C:\ so everything will work? Thanks, Joe