Need help with Norton Ghost 9.0

[Freak'n Big Panda]

I'm upgarding to a 80GB drive from my 60GB (trading drives with my dad cause he doesn't care) and I can't seem to get ghost to copy my 60GB to my new 80GB correctly. I've tried about three times now and each time I cannot get windows too boot off the 80GB drive after the files have supposdely been copied. The computer freezes during boot while 'Verifing DMI pool data' or it freezes right after it posts 'back up CMOS...OK'. I'm using a DFI NF4-D motherboard with a maxtor 80GB drive and a IBM Deskstar 60GB drive. Any suggestions or comments would b greatly apperciated!

Thanks in Advance!

 

[kipper67]

First off I take it the BIOS sees the 80gb drive OK ?

You might need to go into the bios when the machine boots and get it to redetect the new drive - it may still be looking for the old 60gb drive and have the drive geometry settings set to the ones for the old drive.

Second when I've done this in the past i'm pretty sure that I had to make the new disk bootable by booting off a DOS floppy disk and then typing "sys c:" to copy the necessary files off the floppy and mark the c: drive as the bootable one.

Sorry if that sounds a bit vague but the last few drives I've installed have all been going into fresh installs of windows and that takes care of the above - it's only when i've been upgrading to a larger drive like you are doing that i've had to take the above steps.

Also are there any other drives/cds/dvds in the machine and it might be worth checking the jumpers on the drive to check whether it's set to master/slave/cable select .

 

[wireframe]

Panda,

Have you considered using Maxtor's own MaxBlast utility instead of Ghost for duplicating the drive? These hard drive manufacturer tools usually work very well and the only requirement is that you are using one of their drives.

MaxBlast 4 and PowerMax are available here.

MaxBlast will allow you to set up a drive and duplicate a previous one (upgrade). PowerMax is a diagnostic tool.

Another reason why your disk duplication may fail is if you have used tools to create custom partition information or installed a software "large drive enabler" in the boot sector of the drive.

 

[Pete]

I struggled mightily and failed to get Ghost 9 to successfully copy a semi-failing laptop HDD to its replacement. Best I got was to the initial Windows XP screen, followed by a prolonged hang and then an error msg. I think the problem was that with XP, you have to do some extra initial steps to remove the key or something so that XP won't boot on the new HD and notice its config has changed. I gave up and manually copied over the files I wanted. I believe my failure was a problem with Windows XP that Ghost couldn't handle. I ended up geting my money back.

I would have used my older version of Ghost, I think 2000, but it didn't allow for copying NTFS volumes via its boot disk, and that's all I had available.

Sounds like it can't hurt to try Maxtor's utils, but if I were in a pickle like that again, I'd try Acronis' True Image. It was actually cheaper than Ghost when I was researching prices online (for a downloadable copy), but I mistakenly thought Ghost would cover its bases better. I think True Image would've done what I needed, and it was certainly well-reviewed and a very reasonable price for download at NewEgg, but that could be wishful thinking. Anyway, it might not even hurt to try Ghost 9 first, as I've seen it sell for free after rebates a number of times.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Second when I've done this in the past i'm pretty sure that I had to make the new disk bootable by booting off a DOS floppy disk and then typing "sys c:" to copy the necessary files off the floppy and mark the c: drive as the bootable one.

Unfortuently I do not have a floppy drive to try this, and I have no sprare CDRWs @ the moment. I'll still burn a cdr if max blast fails to copy the drve correctly.

Have you considered using Maxtor's own MaxBlast utility instead of Ghost for duplicating the drive? These hard drive manufacturer tools usually work very well and the only requirement is that you are using one of their drives.

MaxBlast 4 and PowerMax are available here.

MaxBlast will allow you to set up a drive and duplicate a previous one (upgrade). PowerMax is a diagnostic tool.

Another reason why your disk duplication may fail is if you have used tools to create custom partition information or installed a software "large drive enabler" in the boot sector of the drive.

I didn't even know max blast existed X_x Anyways I'm copying over my 60 to my 80 with maxblast as we speak. One question though, how do these program work while the computer is in windows? Wouldn't tons of the required system files and program files be in use and therefore non accessible to the programcoping the drives?

And I've checked all the obvious things such as the bios and master/slave configuration.. all of which provided no solution. I'll let you guys know if max blast works, if it doesn't I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and format -_-.

 

[wireframe]

One question though, how do these program work while the computer is in windows? Wouldn't tons of the required system files and program files be in use and therefore non accessible to the programcoping the drives?

You don't use it under Windows. They are bootable ISOs. Normally they are Dr DOS and have a simple menuing system. Most (if not all) of these HDD vendor tools are the same with a new logo and a test to see if you are using their drives, so it's not a bad idea to grab them from Seagate, Western Digital, etc etc. Some older ones may have problems with SATA and/or SATA and IDE interoperation, but that should not be a concern for you.

And I've checked all the obvious things such as the bios and master/slave configuration.. all of which provided no solution. I'll let you guys know if max blast works, if it doesn't I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and format -_-.

Good that you mentioned this. I have seen some really weird behavior from drives when the this jumper is not set correctly. In my case it was with WDC and I was so used to having "master" and "slave" that it took me several hours to figure out that my situation actually required a further setting of "single drive"

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

You don't use it under Windows. They are bootable ISOs. Normally they are Dr DOS and have a simple menuing system. Most (if not all) of these HDD vendor tools are the same with a new logo and a test to see if you are using their drives, so it's not a bad idea to grab them from Seagate, Western Digital, etc etc. Some older ones may have problems with SATA and/or SATA and IDE interoperation, but that should not be a concern for you.

I just used max blast running widows off my IBM 60GB drive. max blast was coping from my IBM 60GB to my maxtor 80GB and it worked perfectly. I'm typing this while running windows off my 80GB. No idea how or why it worked but it did so I'm happy! One wierd thing though when I went to try and do part two of the operation (coping my brothers old 40GB to my old 60GB) it wasn't detecting chanel two at all, and the 40GB drive was setup as the master on the secondary chanel... very wierd problem. Anyways I've decided to try norton ghost again this time I'll boot in dos and use the sys C:\ command, hopefully that'll work.