Anna,

thank you for your detailed description of the clone operation. i think in
the future i will use your method for cloning, either booting from the ghost
floppy or cd. I've used different Ghost versions quite a bit over the years
and thought i had seen it all.

In this case i solved my problem earlier today by basically creating a WinXP
boot CD which has a stripped down version of WinPE on it and a data recovery
plug-in for NTFS volumes. The sources were shareware for the bootCD (aka
BartPE) and data recovery s/w from Runtime Software. I was able to recover
all the data on the internal drive and store it on my USBEHD.

So, my problem is resolved as soon as i format and reinstall the OS to the
internal drive as i'll have the missing data. I'll also make sure backups are
made (that was user error but not this user!).

Thanks for all the support posts to everyone.

BL

"Anna" wrote:

> BL:
> Thanks for your detailed description of your situation. Frankly, at this
> distance it's hard, if not impossible, for me to determine with any degree
> of accuracy why the problems occurred in the first place and more
> importantly, what can be done to rectify them at this late date. So in lieu
> of any comments I might make that bear upon the problem at hand and suggest
> to you precise courses of action that you can take to overcome that problem,
> let me make a few generalized comments and then provide you (and others who
> might be interested in this subject, including, I hope Bill (a/k/a "bxf")
> with step-by-step instructions for using the Ghost 2003 program to clone the
> contents of one hard drive to another hard drive. I must emphasize at the
> outset that this is the way *we* use the program; I fully understand that
> others might have different needs & objectives.
>
> 1. We use the Ghost 2003 program for one purpose, and only one purpose. And
> that is to *directly* clone the contents of one hard drive to another hard
> drive. We are not interested in "incremental or scheduled backups", nor are
> we interested in creating "disk images" on removable media, e.g., DVDs. Our
> sole interest & objective is to create & maintain a near-failsafe backup
> system for restoration purposes.
>
> 2. It is *vital*, repeat *vital*, that you work with the latest version of
> the Ghost 2003 program. That's the Ghost 2003.793 build. Should you have an
> earlier version, you can use Symantec's LiveUpdate feature available in the
> Ghost program to download & automatically install that latest update.
>
> 3. We prefer to work with the Ghost 2003 program rather than its successor
> Ghost 9 & Ghost 10 programs. For our purposes, we find the 2003 version more
> straightforward in design, simpler to use, faster in carrying out its
> function than the newer versions. And, I might add, just as effective for
> the purposes indicated. Again, I emphasize that we use the program solely
> for the *direct* cloning of the contents of one HD to another HD.
>
> 4. In using the Ghost 2003 program, our preference is to work with the Ghost
> 2003 bootable floppy disk (or on occasion the Ghost 2003 bootable CD). We
> find that media simpler to use in comparison with the Windows GUI and we
> enjoy the portability aspects of that media.
>
> 5. We are aware, of course, that there are other fine disk imaging products
> on the market, e.g,, Acronis True Image, and I do not mean to suggest that
> the Ghost program is superior to them. If practical, a user should try as
> many out as he or she can, and make their own decision as to what works best
> for them.
>
> So, here are step-by-step instructions for using the Ghost 2003 program
> (using a Ghost 2003 bootable floppy disk or bootable CD) to directly clone
> the contents of one HD to another HD...
>
> Creating the bootable Ghost floppy disk:
> 1. Install the Ghost 2003 program on your computer. Make sure you're using
> the latest "build" - Ghost 2003.793. If not, use Ghost's LiveUpdate feature
> to automatically download the latest version.
> 2. Insert a blank floppy disk (it need not be formatted) and access your
> Ghost program.
> 3. Click on Ghost Utilities.
> 4. Click on Norton Ghost Boot Wizard.
> 5. Select Standard Ghost Boot Disk. A dialog box will appear.
> a. Select the USB 2.0 Support option (assuming you have that
> capability).
> b. Select the Assign DOS drive letters option and click Next.
> 6. Select the Use PC-DOS option.
> 7. Complete the process following the screen prompts.
> 8. Remove floppy and label accordingly.
>
> That's it. Now you have a Ghost bootable floppy disk which you can use to
> undertake your cloning operations. Now when you want to clone the contents
> of one HD to another HD you simply insert the Ghost bootable floppy disk in
> your floppy drive and boot up with both drives connected.
>
> After creating the Ghost bootable floppy disk, you can create a Ghost
> bootable CD from it using the Roxio or Nero CD burning programs, or most
> other CD burning programs that allow you to create a bootable CD.
> Unfortunately I know of no way to *directly* create this bootable CD from
> the Ghost program (as you can do, for example, in the Acronis True Image
> program).
>
> Here's how to perform the cloning operation...
> 1. With both drives connected, boot up with the Ghost bootable floppy (or
> Ghost bootable CD). You'll get an initial screen that displays "License
> agreement warning". Right-arrow (or tab) over to the "Continue without
> marking drives" button and press Enter.
> 2. The "About Norton Ghost" screen appears. Click OK.
> 3. Right-arrow twice over to the "To Disk" button and press Enter.
> 4. The next screen will list both your drives - the Drive 1 (source disk)
> and Drive 2 (destination disk). MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN Drive 1 IS INDEED
> YOUR SOURCE DISK, I.E., THE DISK YOU'RE CLONING *FROM*!
> Drive 1 will be highlighted. Press Enter.
> 5. The next screen will have Drive 2 (destination disk) highlighted. AGAIN,
> ENSURE THAT Drive 2 IS YOUR DESTINATION DISK, I.E., THE DISK YOU'RE CLONING
> *TO*! Press Enter.
> 6. The next screen is the "Destination Drive Details" window, and reflects
> your ultimate destination disk, i.e., your current Drive 2. Press your Tab
> key to highlight the OK button and press Enter.
> 7. The "Proceed with disk clone?" dialog box will open. Left-arrow over to
> the Yes button and press Enter.
> 8. The cloning process will begin. The data transfer speed will vary
> depending upon the speed of your processor and the HDs involved. On a medium
> to high-powered system you should get transfer speeds ranging from 800
> MB/min to 1.5 GB/min should you be cloning internal drives. It will be
> considerably slower if you're cloning to a USB external HD.
> 9. After you get the "Clone Completed Successfully" message, left-arrow over
> to the Continue button and press Enter.
> 10. Down-arrow to Quit and press Enter.
> 11. Click Yes at the "Are you sure you want to quit?" message.
> 12. Remove the Ghost floppy and shut down the computer.
> 13. Disconnect your source disk and boot up with the cloned drive.
> Presumably it should boot up without a problem and in about 40 to 50 seconds
> following arriving at your Desktop, XP's "System Settings Change" window
> will (usually) appear, informing you that new hardware has been found and
> asks "Do you want to restart your computer now?" Click Yes.
> 14. BTW, the reboot of the newly-cloned drive usually takes a longer time
> than usual, so one must be patient. On rare occasions the system will fail
> to reboot - the system will hang before reaching the Windows XP Welcome
> screen. It's a rare occurrence, but you may experience it from time-to-time.
> If that does occur, simply use the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys to reboot.
>
> Assuming you've cloned the contents of your working drive to your second
> internal drive, that second drive will be bootable (after disconnecting your
> primary one, of course) as indicated above. You also have the option of
> cloning your working drive to a USB external hard drive. In that case the
> USB EHD is *not* bootable, but you could clone the contents back to your
> internal drive for restoration purposes should the need arise.
>
> Just one other point I wish to emphasize with respect to the cloning
> operation involving internal drives. Immediately following the cloning
> operation and the shutdown of your machine, disconnect your source drive and
> boot ONLY to the newly-cloned drive (as indicated in step 13. above). DO NOT
> BOOT IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLONING OPERATION WITH BOTH DRIVES CONNECTED.
> Doing so is likely to cause future boot problems with the cloned drive.
> Obviously there is no problem in this area should a USBEHD be involved in
> the cloning process since that device is not bootable in an XP environment.
>
> I trust the above will be of use to you and others who might be thinking
> about using the Ghost 2003 program for a routine backup system.
> Anna
>
>
>