Has Anyone Tried Norton Ghost 12?

Hi Folks,

I'm currently looking at disk imaging/backup/snapshot software. So, I was wondering if anyone has tried, or currently uses, Norton (Symantec) Ghost 12? If so, how would you rate it?

Thanks,

JPC

 

Excellent. I've found no faults. Imaging and restoring is fast. Scheduled backups work. An incremental image size is about 1.5 to 2% of the baseline image size. Boot CD is WinPE 2.0 based and loads quickly.

Norton Save and Restore 2 is about $20 cheaper than Ghost 12 but doesn't have the following.

I doubt most people would use these features and NSR 2 would be quite suitable.

I don't have Vista if that makes a difference. I understand Ghost 12 works fine with Vista. Both with imaging and restoring.

 

i use it and love it, never ever have a single problem, no coruction image never and thas what make me trust this software, when i create a image i know for sure i will be able to restore whit out a problem, thas why i keep using ghost for years

create a image take me 5 min on my 10gb vista Drive
it take 3 min on my XP Comp

Restore take 5 min on vista and 3 min on xp or lees dont remenber

 

If you create a system-image with Norton Ghost 12 (or Symantec Backup Exec SR) on PC#1, can you restore that image to PC#2 (if the two PCs are not identical)?

 

appster,

BESR (but not Ghost 12) has Restore Anyware which will allow an image to be restored to non identical hardware. I haven't used this function.

 

I used it for one day. My general problem with Norton is, that Norton is always trying to push me in a certain direction : Norton's way.
Norton expects from you that you use incremental backups, anything else, you have to find how to do it yourself.
I only tried backup, pretty fast and userfriendly as long you do what Norton expects you to do.
Probably hard to get rid of it, once it is installed, like any Norton software.
The calendar was a bit too much for me.

 

If it works, that's a valuable feature - like when you decide to replace your older PC with a new PC (and you want to retain your existing OS and apps)!

 

Sure would be.

BESR costs about $20 more than Ghost 12.

 

Erik,

I know you like ShadowProtect. As you know, ShadowProtect and Ghost 12 both use StorageCraft snapshot technology. I found the programs very similar. They look the same and several of the wizards are almost identical. If you can use one, you can use the other easily. I'd be happy to use either.

 

I have used ghost 10 in the past. What are some advantages in using Ghost 12 over Ghost 10. One of them I assume would be faster boot disk but I am not sure of this. Thanks.

Gary

 

It would be well worth it to me... While I might have to install a few drivers for the new equipment, imho that's a heck of a lot easier than re-establishing my OS/Browser/Email settings, not to mention re-installing all of my apps!

 

While it is true that Symantec uses StorageCraft's snapshot driver in Ghost and Backup Exec, they are using a very old version of our driver, which they have modified (and based on my observations, it is my opinion that their modifications have destabilized that old version of our snapshot driver).

The driver that StorageCraft ships with its products is our most current version. It's stable, faster, more capable, and uses less resources.

 

10 is the only backup software I've used but find it is simple to use and fast. I backup to an external every couple of weeks and have only had to restore some files a few times but it also was quite easy to understand and accomplish.

 

grnxnm,

Thanks for clarifying the difference.

 

Thanks Everyone,

So the general impression that users have of Ghost 12 is that it's pretty good. I am interested in Brian K's comment that NSR 2 (at $20 cheaper) probably does what most people need. BTW, I'm running Win XP Pro SP2, not Vista.

I value your feedback.

Thanks again.

JPC

 

...and I thank you for this thread - otherwise I wouldn't have known about Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery. Its "Anyware" recovery feature, over and above the more typical imaging & restore, appeals to me and seems well worth its 'street price' (about $50)!

 

Shadow Protect Desktop has a Hardware Independent Restore feature which will accomplish your goal of restoring PC#1 to PC#2.

For the driver issue, Driver Genius Pro or Driver Magician will restore all of the new machines drivers with one click.

Much easier than a clean install.

 

For Driver Genius/Magician to do that, wouldn't it be necessary to install it on PC#2 to save it's drivers (somewhere besides the system partition), before restoring PC#1's image to PC#2?

 

Yes, easily done and it would be erased when you restored PC#1 to PC#2.

 

OK so Norton Ghost is a good choice? I´m still looking for a backup/restore solution and have read quite a few threads about this subject, but I still couldn´t figure out which one to buy.
I want the ability to restore images from external HDD´s, is this possible with Norton Ghost? Btw, here is a review, what do you think about the negative part?

http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Norton-Ghost-Review-53990.shtml

 

His first negative point is only applicable if you plan to copy Recovery Points to CD/DVD, which I don't feel is very good practice. Furthermore I only use disk-imaging to backup the system drive/partition, so for me his second negative point is moot. I prefer to backup my data, docs, photos and music using other methods. I backup my data/doc folders to an external drive using WinRAR and since photos and music files are already in compressed format I simply copy them to an external drive (archiving older stuff onto DVD).