Need some input bout Norton Ghost or similar products

I have quite a few xp pcs and few servers. I want to create an image of
each pc and server and keep them in a save place so if there is any crash or
other problems, I just have to get another pc or server and copy the image
on it and I am back in business.

I know that Norton's Ghost does this trick but I am not sure whether it can
create image for servers as well or not.

I would appreciate if someone please share their experience about Norton
Ghost or any better product.

Thanks

Acronis has some of the highest reviews to date.
http://www.acronis.com/

"Mac" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> I have quite a few xp pcs and few servers. I want to create an image of
> each pc and server and keep them in a save place so if there is any crash
or
> other problems, I just have to get another pc or server and copy the image
> on it and I am back in business.
>
> I know that Norton's Ghost does this trick but I am not sure whether it
can
> create image for servers as well or not.
>
> I would appreciate if someone please share their experience about Norton
> Ghost or any better product.
>
> Thanks
>
>

I agree, but some of us have Ghost Corporate Edition and no justification
for spending more $$.

With Ghost, the problem is mostly getting the right NIC drivers and trying
to back up RAID drives....

--
Regards,
Hank Arnold

"mastertek17" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Acronis has some of the highest reviews to date.
> http://www.acronis.com/
>
> "Mac" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> I have quite a few xp pcs and few servers. I want to create an image of
>> each pc and server and keep them in a save place so if there is any crash
> or
>> other problems, I just have to get another pc or server and copy the
>> image
>> on it and I am back in business.
>>
>> I know that Norton's Ghost does this trick but I am not sure whether it
> can
>> create image for servers as well or not.
>>
>> I would appreciate if someone please share their experience about Norton
>> Ghost or any better product.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>
>

"Hank Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I agree, but some of us have Ghost Corporate Edition and no justification
> for spending more $$.
>
> With Ghost, the problem is mostly getting the right NIC drivers and trying
> to back up RAID drives....

To get around the Nic issue, I always keep a few nics around that I know I
already have drivers for, and probably already have the floppies for. When I
ghost the machine I power it off,... install the temporary Nic (sometimes
remove the original),...do the Ghost job,...shut it back down,...pull the
nic out and put the hardware back to the way it was before powering back up
so the OS was never aware of what happened.

I have never had any problem with our RAID Controllers, Ghost was always
"oblivous" to them.

Another solution to the Nic issue it to use a CD or DVD burner on the
machine. Ghost has its own built in ability to use those if they are
available. It is slower burning to disk,..but it will work. It is a handy
method for Laptops that never seem to let their integrated Nics work from a
floppy,...assuming the Laptops have a "burner" or course.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp
-----------------------------------------------------

I have a Windows 2003 Ent. Server and use Automated Deployment services
to image both servers and XP workstations. Not supported with XP but
it works just fine.

"Scoop" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> I have a Windows 2003 Ent. Server and use Automated Deployment services
> to image both servers and XP workstations. Not supported with XP but
> it works just fine.

The problem is that the machines SID is identical on all machine done from
the image when the SID is supposed to be a GUID. With Ghost, you get a
utility to alter the SID to a unique one after the machine has been loaded
by an image. I don't know if other imaging tools provide a means for that.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp
-----------------------------------------------------

Mac,

Norton Ghost is currently just a rebundled Power Quest Drive Image. For
servers, it has been renamed to Live State Recovery (they have a Standard
and Enterprise version). The server versions have fewer features than the XP
version and cost a lot more for the same program (like $1000). Of course, if
you have a server, then you can obviously afford to pay 10 times more for
the program <g>.

The pricing is absurd but it does work. It is a .NET program - supports
Shadow Copy - ie - you can do backups while online and SQL database files
are in use. Works best if you have an online backup drive so you don't have
to worry about NICs. If you have physical access to the server, just plug in
a USB drive, dump the image to it. If your server dies, replace the HDs,
boot from the Ghost CD, this directly supports your USB drive, restore the
image and you are back on line in minutes. I think one of the server
versions also supports backing up to CD/DVD but a USB drive or local backup
drive is just a whole lot faster and more reliable.

If you want to make it complicated you can control backups for several
machines from one machine and do remote restores, etc. More info at

http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.c...roductlink.cfm

Russ Stevens

--
Regards,
Hank Arnold

"Phillip Windell" <@.> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Hank Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> To get around the Nic issue, I always keep a few nics around that I know I
> already have drivers for, and probably already have the floppies for. When
> I
> ghost the machine I power it off,... install the temporary Nic (sometimes
> remove the original),...do the Ghost job,...shut it back down,...pull the
> nic out and put the hardware back to the way it was before powering back
> up
> so the OS was never aware of what happened.

Not bad.... if 10/100 is good enough, you could even leave it in the
machine and disable it ??

>
> I have never had any problem with our RAID Controllers, Ghost was always
> "oblivous" to them.

I don't see how this could be... If I'm booting from floppy, you either have
to load the RAID drivers or Ghost every physical drive... One server I have
has 2 x RAID 1 arrays and a RAID 10 aray for a total of 8 drives (try
configuring a server for that with separate arrays & channels ;-> ).

I think I read somewhere on Symantec's site that Ghost doesn't support
RAID....

>
> Another solution to the Nic issue it to use a CD or DVD burner on the
> machine. Ghost has its own built in ability to use those if they are
> available. It is slower burning to disk,..but it will work. It is a handy
> method for Laptops that never seem to let their integrated Nics work from
> a
> floppy,...assuming the Laptops have a "burner" or course.

Sounds good except that I suspect that most servers don't have CDRW drives,
plus the number of CDs or DVDs to back up 60GB+ is, well, huge.....

>
> --
> Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
> www.wandtv.com
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
> http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html
>
> Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp
>
> Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
>
>

I use sysprep on all my images and don't have any trouble at all.

My previous post was mean't to be sent after Phillips...

Another nice thing a/b ADS is you can mount images to maintain
individual files, etc. It also does a nice job of compressing the
images to nearly half the data size.