I'd like to tell you about a great tool called Norton Ghost, its a backup tool, but unlike other similar tools it really makes an image of your whole system in its current state, meaning your OS, drivers, settings, apps, games, etc is all backed up but not like file for file but everything in its current state, meaning if I'd make a back up today, and tomorrow I tested a whole bunch of software which caused my system to act funny, I'd just restore yesterday's image and it would be exactly as if it were yesterday, you're saying what about system restore, well, quite simply system restore doesn't always work quite how I'd like it and its not always guaranteed.

My advice for a pristine system is

1. FORMAT Your hard drive (ONCE) with at least 2 or more partitions

2. Install your OS, and all the software that you quite simply can't live without (including Nortong Ghost of course) and that you know for sure contains absolutely no spyware, adware or viruses

3. Update all the software and drivers

4. Set up everything on your pc to the way you like e.g wall paper, app settings, performance tweaks, etc etc

5. Defrag and if u want, do a full virus scan

6. Finally, use Ghost to create an image of your system which is commonly on C:, name it with the current date, give it a description, and set it to save it on a seperate partition - very important

Now once your done your system should reboot and save an image of your complete system which should only take 5-10 minutes, when you go to restore the time should be the same

Now..any time your system starts acting funny, acting up, or not quite performing, simply restore the old image, no more formatting, no more installing drivers, no more re-setting this and that up .

Tip...Set your email prog to save its data file / email on another partition, and anything you don't want to lose to another partition, that way when you restore an image all should be good

That is quite simple, but im not using it, because there is no place where I can buy norton ghost in my country and it's too expencive for me. Anyway if I have the money I cant buy it....

I have seen programs that do the same thing, so its just a matter of searching for one. Most likely there will be a way to purchase such program online, so search for HD cloning or ghost making. I
I would clone my drive if only I had a few extra GBs to spare...

Well your tutorial is informative.Good work man.
but i will not any symantech utility they are not reliable and eats lot of system resource.
try trend micro or mcafee products they are not heavy on system resource and are reliable too.

Hi finaldesign,
You can get a similar image program called "TrueImage" by Acronis (I think). Have used it for many years. works great, is user friendly & is less expensive than Norton Ghost.
HopE this helps
RGPHNX
PS- think that TrueImage has a 30 day trial version you can use to image your PC, then you can buy the program if you ever need to restore the image later.

I have all norton product's. NG is real good. I back my pc up everyday

i think nero also has the same thing.



This post has been edited by moonwitch: Aug 10 2005, 04:53 PM

What is Norton Ghost?

Is Norton Ghost useful if in situation like hard drive crash or laptop/desktop needing OS reinstallation because system files got corrupted?
Norton Ghost Tutorial


My laptop has no partition at the moment. Should I partition it using Norton partition first before using Norton Ghost - I have ver 12.0?

About Ghost, is Norton Ghost useful if in situation like hard drive crash or laptop/desktop needing OS re-installation because system files got corrupted? If it is useful in the above mentioned situation, how would I go about it?

Do you copy that image (created with Ghost) in an external drive? Then, after installing O/S to manufacture's default, do I use the image (created with ghost) to put everything the way it was?

-bagirl