Symantec Ghost for creating an image

How to create and restore an image with Symantec Ghost?

Symantec Ghost is a program of Symantec Corporation. It is a disk cloning program. It backs up all data and system settings. When a backup is made the backup is stored as an image. So what this program actually does is, making an exact copy of your computer.

This program is usually used by IT- or system administrators to make an exact copy of a system easily. It is a program which will be used less in home situations

For home situations Symantec developed a more user friendly program called Norton Ghost.

Create an image

Restore an image

Create a boot disk
If you want to create an image of your hard disk it can be done in several ways. A way to do this is to boot the computer from a Ghost floppy disk and to create the image by multicasting, unicasting, disk to disk or peer to peer.

So if you want to create an image the first thing you have to do is to create a Ghost boot disk. This boot disk lets the computer not boot to Windows but boots the Symantec Ghost utility in DOS.

But how to create a Ghost boot disk?

I will help you creating one by the next steps. I used Symantec Ghost 7.5 in this example.

Step 1:
After you have installed Symantec Ghost there is a menu of it in the Start menu.
Click Start -> Programs -> Symantec Ghost -> Ghost Boot Wizard.The next screen is shown.

Step 2:
In this screen you can choose what type of boot disk you want to create. A description of each type is given.
Select 'Network Boot Disk' and click 'Next'.
The next screen is shown.

Step 3:
In this screen you can choose which type of network card is in your computer. Select the right network card driver from the list and click 'Next'. If the driver for your network card isn't in the list you can download that driver somewhere from the internet and you can manually add this driver to the list by clicking the 'Add' button.
If you have selected the right driver and you clicked the 'Next' button then the next screen is shown.

Step 4:
In this screen you choose to use the PC-DOS version and click 'Next'.
The next screen is shown.

Step 5:
Here you simply click the 'Next' button.
The next screen is shown.

Step 6:
A
If you want to create the image by placing two computers next to each other and using a cross cable to create the image from the one computer and store it on the other, you have to give up a static IP address and subnet mask. You select the option 'The IP settings will be statically defined' and you give up an IP address and subnet mask. You need to do this also for the other computer.

B
If you want to create the image by using Symantec GhostCast Server you select the option 'DHCP will assign the IP settings'. (I have chosen for the option B because I will describe how to make an image using Symantec GhostCast Server.)
Click 'Next' and the next screen is shown.

Step 7:
Now you have to place a floppy disk in the floppy disk drive. Make sure that the options 'Format disk(s) first (recommended)' and 'Quick Format' are checked and click next.
The next screen is shown.

Step 8:
In this screen a summary is given op the options you have chosen and the wizard will start creating the boot disk after you clicked the 'Next' button.
So if everything is ok in this summary you click 'Next'.

Now the floppy disk which is in the floppy disk drive will be formatted and then the necessary Ghost files and the network drivers will be created on the floppy.

When the boot disk is made you restart your computer with the floppy disk in the computer. Make sure in the BIOS that the floppy disk boots earlier then the hard disk.

Now Ghost will start and you can choose how you want to make an image of your computer.

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