Ghosting

[threaded]

What recommendations does the congregation have for software to ghost a windows hard drive with the intention of replaying it back onto lots of similar hardware?

[Ardesco]

I think norton have bought out most of the companies that do this type of software now. Norton ghost is pretty good, but if your using the console it can get its knickers in a twist now and then. Have a dos boot disk ready for those unfortunate times it all goes a bit tits up and it should be fine.

[threaded]

Thanks: I was looking at Norton Ghost, but read a load of bad reviews. So then had a look at a couple of others and they had bad reviews also.

I get the impression they all go a bit strange if you don't do things in a just so way.

[Ardesco]

sorry i said a dos boot disk when i meant to say a dos ghost boot disk. this will enable you to connect to the ghost server and manually pull an image down onto the box you are currently working on if the console fails. whereas a dos boot disk would just stick you in dos with a useless hardive that has fecked partitions

[insight14]

Symantec Ghost is the industry leader. I've used it in various forms for the past 10 years and it does exactly what it says it does. Good product.

The main rival is Drive Image Pro from Powerquest, which you'll see on a lot of system recovery disks (the ones that take a PC back to "factory standard image"). This is because Powerquest were smart and licensed DIP very cheaply to the major PC vendors.

Don't forget to use Sysprep if its w2k/xp, or ghost walker if its NT.

[Ardesco]

I thought Norton had bought out powerquest a couple of years ago..

in fact one quick check later:

On December 5, 2003, Symantec Corporation acquired the technology and interests of PowerQuest Corporation. We would like to take the opportunity to welcome you to Symantec. We recognize that the strength of organizations is built on the loyalty of its customers, and we would like to assure you that we are committed to providing a seamless transition for PowerQuest's customers. We are in the final stages of the integration of PowerQuest into Symantec, and we plan to complete the transition as soon as possible. We are pleased to offer your organization Symantec's full line of security products, services, and response solutions. We look forward to working with you and meeting your ongoing security needs. For more information about the acquisition, please see the Symantec/PowerQuest press release.

[insight14]

Good call. I haven't used Drive Image Pro for a few years, neither have I seen much of it - I guess I know why now!