Ghost 2003, bad backup?

What type of image did You create?

Disk to Image or Partition to Image?

Where did it go, a different partition, different harddisk or CD/DVD?

Did You do an integrity check of the image? If not, albeit too late, do it now to rule out image corruption!

Is the 200 giger internal or USB?

Does the harddisk (the one that is missing in Windows Explorer) show up in Disk Manager? If so, try assigning a drive letter to it.

(In Windows Explorer, I assume that D: and E: are optical drives, right? I always assign drive letters at the far end of the alphabet to get them out of the way of added harddisks and/or partitions. Mine are X: and Y: respectively and the harddisks and partitions are all in one sequence, C: D: E: F: G:.)

Have You tried disconnecting the 200 giger (power and data cables), restart the computer and shut down again to reconnect the 200 giger?

We need more specifics,
Christer

 

Well, let's hope that You're glad when this is over ...... ...... !



1. I'm pretty sure the image was disk to image, since I had only one partition. I guess that was my first mistake, since I think should've made at least two partitios to begin with...

You're using Partition Magic to add/remove/resize partitions. I have heard of situations like this when Ghost doesn't perform well after changes have been made using PM. Now that it is no longer Powerquest but Symantec, PM should work with Ghost ...... ...... ! I can't say for sure that this is the cause but it may be.

2. I went to cd/dvd. I'm pretty sure of that. The thing that caught my attention was that to back up the 40 gigs of data, only 2 regular cds were used.

That's not a good sign. I have never created an image directly to CD/DVD but there is no way 40 GB fits on 2x700 MB, not even with maximum compression. I create my images to a different partition (on a second HDD) but split the images to 650 MB chunks in order to have the option to burn to CDs if the need should arise.

3. I wish I would've known about integrity check. I would do it, but I don't know how... more info?

If You run Ghost from Ghost Boot Disks, there is an option in the dropdown menu: Local > Check > Image File. If You run Ghost from within Windows: Ghost Advanced > Image Integrity Check. I recommend to always do the check but even if You do ...... ...... on very rare occasions, it doesn't work. There is always a tiny piece of risk involved in imaging.

4. The 200 giger is internat, placed as a slave.

OK, we have ruled out an USB identification issue.

5. Ok, here's the thing on this one. I've tried it over and over and this is what I do:

*I partition the drive with partition magic (I make sure it is visible in my computer, and that I can place files and delete them)
*I restart, then open up ghost and try for the hundreth time to restore.
*Go throught the restore wizard and computer reboots to the DOS ghost. then it is done and reboots.
*I go into my computer and the drive (f) is not there or anywhere, only my c: drive.

I don't use PM myself, simply because I have heard/read about quite a lot of problems. The thing is, whatever You do with PM, restoring that image, Image to Disk, will change the whole disk back to the condition it was in when the image was created.

6. Yes, D and E are optical drives. Might take your advice in my next major disk failure. I now have repartitioned my 200 giger in the following manner:

f:
3 gigs of Linux swap file
11 gigs for the actual Linux system
the rest is for hopefully getting my files back

You lost me here! I count that as three partitions, F: G: H: and not F: alone.

c: is a different hard drive, with windows system files, along with program files

I'm not sure about this since I always create Partition to Image and restore Partition from Image of the system partition. I never image data partitions, I use other software to backup data. Anyway, I don't think that it's possible to restore an image of a disk to a partition and as I understand it, that is what You are attempting.

Hope this information can help you help me. I'm sorry for my ignorance with ghost, but I had never used it before.

Start by doing the check of the image file. Cross Your fingers (and toes) and hope that You have something to work with.



Christer

By the way, the links in my signature will be of interest to You!

 

I have no idea what went wrong and why it only created 2 disks.

40 GB used space will get reduced by the size of pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys (if hibernation is enabled) and other "one session files" which are excluded from the image. On the average system that would reduce the size of the image by 1.5-2.5 times RAM.

If we assume that 40 GB is imaged then it would require 40 x 1024 / 700 = 59 CDs ...... ...... and take my word for it ...... ...... it would take all day and the best part of the night to create the image, an operation that is quite slow to CDs/DVDs.

It makes sense to only image the system partition(s), containing the operating system(s) and programs. Make the system partition(s) quite small but adequately sized for Your needs. Some 10-20 GB (Windows XP) will suffice for most users but make an estimation of Your needs and multiply by 1.5. You would have to create one image of Your Windows partition and one image of Your Linux partition. Backing Up data partitions can be done using e.g. Replicator which can be run either on schedule or manually.

I don't think so. I assume that the partitions have since been rearranged using PM and maybe reformated too. Did the Maxtor CD format FAT32 or NTFS? Which file system is curently used (disregarding Linux of which I know "nada ")?

Christer

 

sparrow,

Thanks for the reminder ...... ...... that has totally slipped off my teflon coated memory!

Christer

 

You're right, 59 CDs is without compression. Medium compression will reduce the size to 60-70% and high compression a bit more, maybe towards 50%.

Personally, I avoid compression since it is an additional operation that can go wrong. It is actually two operations, compress/extract, that can go wrong and it adds to the time it takes to create and restore an image.

That was sparrow, educating Yours Truly ...... ...... ! He explained the "missing drive letters ".

Christer

 

Is the below an indication of the result of the integrity check?

Christer

 

Right-click the "My computer" icon on the desktop > select "Manage" > select "Disk Management ".

Right-click an optical drive > select "Change drive letter ..." > select "Change" > from the drop-down menu, select the desired drive letter.

A warning message will appear that this action may render some applications unfunctional (or words to that effect). That is true for programs that are already installed and need a CD or DVD to run. I'm not sure but I believe that such a program will ask for the new path.

If You want to reuse a drive letter, You have to restart the computer for it to appear in the drop-down menu.

You manage harddisk partitions by right-clicking on those and following the same steps as described above. The only exception is the system partition C: which doesn't allow its drive letter to be changed.

Christer