No love for Norton Ghost?

[Defcon]

I see many threads about ShadowProtect/Acronis/Paragon/IFW etc products for imaging and backup, yet Ghost is hardly mentioned. From looking at the product features of Ghost 14, it seems to supports all kinds of images and backups with a nice UI as well.

At one of my previous jobs we had a huge test lab with thousands of pc's, all of which were imaged and tested with various versions of Ghost, and there was never a problem, and from what I've heard their technology is respected.

Just wondering why so few people seem to use it as I've been considering it.

[demoneye]

-{ Quote: "I see many threads about ShadowProtect/Acronis/Paragon/IFW etc products for imaging and backup, yet Ghost is hardly mentioned. From looking at the product features of Ghost 14, it seems to supports all kinds of images and backups with a nice UI as well.

At one of my previous jobs we had a huge test lab with thousands of pc's, all of which were imaged and tested with various versions of Ghost, and there was never a problem, and from what I've heard their technology is respected.

Just wondering why so few people seem to use it as I've been considering it." }-

i can talkin my name and i am sure some will agree... i use ghost in its DOS mode for years ...the ver 8 i think..... since than they make it run in windows in very bad no polish form.

actuley its "sit" in the os very heavy and behave bad,
since there are so many other exlent products like the one u mention...who give a (bip) on this old papa :argh:

chers:dry:

[ErikAlbert]

Does Norton Ghost have a Recovery CD ?

[sukarof]

I have tried Ghost 12 and 14. I liked them. It was easy interface and I liked the file based backup and the fast incrementals.
The only drawback was that I only managed to restore both successfully 3 respective 4 times, then they gave me some kind of restore error. I cant remember now what it was but that doesnt matter coz I only accept successful restore without any problems - every time. If they fail once then I can not trust them in the future.
Compared to shadowprotect that have restored successfully more than 60 times (I´ve lost count)
I have tried most of the imaging software (except Acronis)
For some reason only Shadowprotect and Image for windows/DOS have never failed when restoring.
So those are the only two imaging software that I can use on my rig.

[sukarof]

-{ Quote: "Does Norton Ghost have a Recovery CD ?" }-
Yes, Windows Vista PE same as Shadowprotect.

[demoneye]

GHOST DROP ITS CROWN

;D

[ErikAlbert]

-{ Quote: "Yes, Windows Vista PE same as Shadowprotect." }-
Thanks. Then I have no comments on Norton Ghost. Just another Image Backup software, that needs to be tested like ShadowProtect, but I already made my choice and I have no plans to change it.

[Brian K]

Defcon,

I've used all of the Ghosts and like them. Ghost 14 is very similar to SP.

I assume Symantec sell a lot of Ghost 14 but you are correct that we don't read much about it. Maybe not many people have problems. I don't really know.

Sukarof, I'm confused. You reported a failed SP recovery here...

http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/p/685/3265.aspx#3265

[ratchet]

I'm probably the last person in the world to comment on this type of software since I still don't exactly know the differences between images, snapshots or whatever. Although I do get the gist between instant recovery and a Ghost type product. Anyway, about a year and a half ago there must have been a rebate on an upgrade to Ghost 10 which made the upgrade free, because quite a few ended up on ebay from people who just wanted to keep "9". I purchased it new for $25. It indeed does make a Recovery CD, that is the first step. I've never had to use it, but I've searched files and recovered them from my external HD several times. I back up about once to twice a month. I did read a review in PC World once and it rated it reasonably high and said it had the easiest and most logical GUI. Point is, I have had zero issues with it. I figure it falls under that mantra of "anything Norton (or MS) can't be good"!

[lodore]

norton ghost 14 does its job very well. the recovery cd is based on vistape and boots very quickly. just like with SP you can do up incermentals up to eery 15minutes if you like. you also setup file backups. if your familer with shadow copys of files on windows where by you right click on a folder.properties and you can browse previous versions of files and restore them. ghost also has that feature if you right click and properties you can look at and restore the previous files. all done with schdules. completely set and forget once setup once. the things that annoyed me was the slow loading of the application at startup, the splash wont go away until its fully loaded and it takes ages. on powerful hardware, quad core Q6600 2.4ghz with 2gb of ram running vista home premium SP1
plus the fact that everytime it starts a backup it has a massive banner in the right hand corner. so its a reliable product but its slow at loading at start up but the banners will annoy you after 5minutes.

[sukarof]

-{ Quote: "
Sukarof, I'm confused. You reported a failed SP recovery here...

http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/p/685/3265.aspx#3265" }-

Yes I did. You got me there. I have forgotten about that one since I can not blame SP for it.
I am sorry to have caused you confusion.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "Defcon,

I've used all of the Ghosts and like them. Ghost 14 is very similar to SP.

I assume Symantec sell a lot of Ghost 14 but you are correct that we don't read much about it. Maybe not many people have problems. I don't really know.

Sukarof, I'm confused. You reported a failed SP recovery here...

http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/p/685/3265.aspx#3265" }-
then again nothing is 100percent.

[Defcon]

-{ Quote: "I figure it falls under that mantra of "anything Norton (or MS) can't be good"!" }-

You make a good point. Although in Norton's case it has always been true that their corporate products have been excellent, and the home versions have been screwed over by the bloated UI's. Ghost seems to be the former, now with file backup features.

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: "
I am sorry to have caused you confusion." }-
No problems. Confusion is normal for me.

[farmerlee]

I haven't used it in a while but when i did it used the old recovery cd boot option which i don't like. I moved to trueimage which allows me to boot from an external hdd which for me is far more convenient and quicker.

[Huupi]

Curiously,AFAIK the original developper of Ghost is the same guy now working as a chief architect developper at StorageCraft !:)

Hence the similarities between Ghost and Shadowprotect.

[GES/POR]

-{ Quote: "I see many threads about ShadowProtect/Acronis/Paragon/IFW etc products for imaging and backup, " }-

Wich company/product is IFW?

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "Wich company/product is IFW?" }-
image for windows by terabyte unlimited.

[demoneye]

btw as far as i check image software ...Norton Ghost the only software that required microshit frame work 2 ...which add alots of registry crap on the system for just using norton ghost

[Defcon]

-{ Quote: "btw as far as i check image software ...Norton Ghost the only software that required microshit frame work 2 ...which add alots of registry crap on the system for just using norton ghost" }-

Thats a load of BS. You are biased against Microsoft.

[RAD]

My prejudice against Norton Ghost is just an extension of my prejudice against all Norton/Symantec Products.

In my experience they never just "perform their function". They weasle their way into every nook and cranny of your system, start themselves automatically, nag you with update screens and offers, and are a nightmare to ever get removed thoroughly.

I could also NEVER get an answer to any question when I was a legitimate user of the Semantec Security Suite. They literally just ignore questions.

Ghost probably actually works OK though. I have just vowed to never use Symantec again. I have heard other former customers voice similar complaints.

They do have an agressive marketing dept. though...similar to Acronis. ;D

[Howard Kaikow]

-{ Quote: "I see many threads about ShadowProtect/Acronis/Paragon/IFW etc products for imaging and backup, yet Ghost is hardly mentioned. From looking at the product features of Ghost 14, it seems to supports all kinds of images and backups with a nice UI as well.

At one of my previous jobs we had a huge test lab with thousands of pc's, all of which were imaged and tested with various versions of Ghost, and there was never a problem, and from what I've heard their technology is respected.

Just wondering why so few people seem to use it as I've been considering it." }-

Ghost 10 was just too buggy and intrusive.
Later versions might be better.

Also see Is TI better than Ghost? (http://forums.hardwareguys.com/ikonboard.cgi?s=4492619c5fa1ffff;act=ST;f=13;t=4573)

[eBBox]

I've been using GHost 12 and now 14. Never had any problems with any of these versions. Always been reliable for me :thumb:

[ErikAlbert]

-{ Quote: "I've been using GHost 12 and now 14. Never had any problems with any of these versions. Always been reliable for me :thumb:" }-
I know that Acronis and Paragon can backup an entire disk with all its partitions.
SP can only backup a partition, not a complete disk. What about Norton Ghost ?

[Peter2150]

-{ Quote: "
SP can only backup a partition, not a complete disk. What about Norton Ghost ?" }-

Not quite true. SP can back up the whole disk, but it puts each partition in a separate image. Now on restore it's only one partition at a time.

Pete

[bigc73542]

All I can add is that I have used ghost for years and it has never failed me. :thumb:

[The Hammer]

I see in the PCmag review of Ghost, Paragon ,and Shadow Protect that Paragons Emergency Boot CD is linux and command line driven as opposed to GUI. Would I have to have an understanding of linux or typing in commands to use it? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2259168,00.asp Also the article states Symantec doesn't sponsor a user forum. Do the other two Shadow Protect and Paragon sponsor one with staff input?

[Howard Kaikow]

-{ Quote: "I see in the PCmag review of Ghost, Paragon ,and Shadow Protect that Paragons Emergency Boot CD is linux and command line driven as opposed to GUI. Would I have to have an understanding of linux or typing in commands to use it? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2259168,00.asp Also the article states Symantec doesn't sponsor a user forum. Do the other two Shadow Protect and Paragon sponsor one with staff input?" }-

Shadow Protect haas a user forum in which StorageCraft's employees actually respond, at least that was true as of a few month's ago.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "I see in the PCmag review of Ghost, Paragon ,and Shadow Protect that Paragons Emergency Boot CD is linux and command line driven as opposed to GUI. Would I have to have an understanding of linux or typing in commands to use it? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2259168,00.asp Also the article states Symantec doesn't sponsor a user forum. Do the other two Shadow Protect and Paragon sponsor one with staff input?" }-
Hello the hammer,
the standard linux recovery cd does have a GUI.
paragon have three different recovery environments, bartpe,linux and vistape.
9/10 i can use the installed version to restore my system partition, it will reboot and restore before windows loads fully. for the rest of the time i use the vistape recovery cd paragon support made for me.
by the sounds of it the new paragon drive backup 9.0 pro has the vistape cd as standard but i dont know. i will tell you later once ive ordered it with my 50percent discount code.


oh ye before i forget the paragon forum isnt very good.
but there staff are very good at answering questions.
yoiu will normally get the reply the next day.
link (http://kb.paragon-software.com/paragon/templ/221.jsp)
you can use the link above to create an account and ask questions.
cant really get better support.

[midway40]

lodore, are you talking about the Recovery CD you make when you first get Drive Backup? I do know it is not CLI. I took this pic of the Recovery CD screen shown below:

[The Hammer]

-{ Quote: "All I can add is that I have used ghost for years and it has never failed me. :thumb:" }-Are you running the latest version?

[Brian K]

-{ Quote: "Are you running the latest version?" }-
The Hammer,

I am, on one of the kid's computers. It's "Set it and forget it." Very easy and reliable.

There is a Ghost Forum at..

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

[bigc73542]

-{ Quote: "Are you running the latest version?" }-


yes I am.

[The Hammer]

Norton does seem to have the best interface for a new user from what I've been able to see.

[Brian K]

It's almost identical to the SP interface. Nice.

[Coldmoon]

Will be interesting to hear some more discussion about Ghost. I used and liked it in the past with Win 2K but stopped using it when I went to Win XP in 2003.

Mike

[chris2busy]

-{ Quote: "btw as far as i check image software ...Norton Ghost the only software that required microshit frame work 2 ...which add alots of registry crap on the system for just using norton ghost" }-
lol..wake up maaaaaaaaannn...even ATI gpu cards need framework..stop spreading nonsenses..

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "lol..wake up maaaaaaaaannn...even ATI gpu cards need framework..stop spreading nonsenses.." }-
only if you want the full catalyst control centre. for the basic driver you dont.

[Defcon]

The Ghost recovery cd is interesting - there is a wizard to create your own customized recovery cd. It asks you to turn on all needed devices like external disks, and it puts all drivers found on your pc on the recovery cd. Does any other program let you do this?

This combined with the fact that its based on Vista PE makes it the best in terms of hardware support IMO. I've tried some linux rescue cd's and they failed to recognize my disks.

[chris2busy]

-{ Quote: "only if you want the full catalyst control centre. for the basic driver you dont." }-
come on :D ATI's drivers are bad enough as they are,you dun wanna cripple them even more by depriving anti alliance custimasablity and the rest of features...