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My computer caught fire…

cgaski3
Level 4

I was advised to repost this topic here by Symantec...

 

All I have got left is the external drive, (USB, 1000 GB), containing the backups.

I wasn't unduly worried – after all this is why you have backups isn't it? 

The computer was fairly old and had two IDE drives with Windows 7 and a matching motherboard with an older type of RAM. The backup was made with Ghost 12 – I had no idea that it had become obsolete.

I bought a new computer with two SATA drives. Apparently IDE drives and matching motherboards boards are no longer made. I booted from the SRD but the machine couldn't see the USB drive. I installed Windows 7 and then it could see the USB drive when I booted from the SRD. I told to restore the C drive after which it wouldn't boot from the drive.

I subsequently chatted with Symantec support who told me that if I installed the appropriate Ghost application on the new machine it would be possible to restore from my USB drive. The agent insisted that in the whole of Symantec there was not a single remaining copy of any version of ghost…

I managed to find a "Try and buy" copy of Ghost 15. Will this work? If not what can I do?

The chatline agent did not know the answer to these questions and referred me to this forum.

David

27 REPLIES 27

DStain
Level 5

Hi David,

Ghost 12 and 15 will work ok with Windows 7, but if you have had to change the drives, cpu and motherboard G12 or G15 doesn't have the "Restore anywhere" option.

The best option is to go for SSR 2013 R2 and is the updated version of Ghost, you can download a 60 day trial.

So long as you have the valid backups you will be able to transfer the images onto your new drive.

Did the old system have a "system reserved partition" this is the boot instructions?  but if your system has a fully installed Win7 the boot instructions are included.

You will only need to transfer the C: drive, you can get better coverage on the Ghost forum community.norton.com log on and you will see the Ghost section on the left.

By the way, I sill use Ghost 12 on a couple of my computers and the new version (SSR 2013 R2) will "see" all your backups or restore points. 

Deric 

 

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

Very many thanks for your response. Let me see if I have understood it correctly.

On my new machine I install Windows 7 and SSR 2013 R2. Presumably I must then generate a SRD from this installation, boot from it and providing I can see the USB backup drive in the SRD environment, restore from it?

I don't know if the original installation had a system reserved partition but as it was fully working presumably did.

I am encouraged that you are still using the new version of of Ghost 12 successfully.

Just to satisfy my curiosity - when I am restoring from backup I am booted via the SRD so how does the system know about the Ghost installation on the target drive/computer?

Many thanks again for your help,

David

DStain
Level 5

David,

if you look in "disk management" by going to "services" that screen will show you how your drive is configured.

Reading your comment you have a full installation DVD and in that case when you install Win7 that will contain the boot instructions and there will not be a srp.

You don't really have to install Win7 on your new pc just do a "image Transfer" that gets a bit complicated though.

Ghost 12 is still very good but you can't restore to different hardware with it hence the introduction of SSR 2013 R2 which looks very similar to the G15 UI.

I take it what you want to do is transfer your latest backup you made with Ghost 12 and transfer that image to your new drive using SSR 2013 R2 and that is what we call a "re-image" but when you do that you may have to re activate with your licence key.

The action of re-imaging will over write anything on the target drive and revert to your old system c/w all the apps and data so long as you backed up the full pc.

Like I said log onto the Ghost forum  here  www.community.norton.com and you will see some threads that will explain all to you.

 

Deric

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

Thanks entirely to your help I think I am nearly there…

I downloaded and installed SSR 2013 R2 and created a recovery disc. If I click "Recover My Computer" I can see the USB drive with my backups and the option of restoring appears to be available even though I am not booted from the recovery disc.

I am afraid that before I actually attempt the recovery I have a couple more questions.

Presumably if I booted from the recovery disc I will be able to restore the C drive. From what I read it seems that everything on this drive will be overwritten including the Windows 7 operating system on which I am currently talking to you.

Could I create another partition on this drive and recover my backup to this new partition and if so how would I make it bootable? If that was possible then if something went wrong I will still have access via this operating system. If this could be done would the choice of operating system be presented to me on boot? (OK, so that is three questions!)

Thanks again,

David

DStain
Level 5

David,

first of all check in "disk management", right click on computer, manage and diskmanagement and see your main drive layout. If it shows disk 0 as a full drive that is ok, it should be a full drive if you installed the O/S from scratch.

Then create a new folder on your external drive,call it "backup 1" for example, then go to "Tasks" tab and run a "one time backup" and this is a simple manual backup of the full drive. On the screen you will see your drive and any other that you want to backup, always highlight the drives or partitions that you want to backup.

When the backup is done you will be able to re-image to that backup if you mess up when transfering your previous backups.

I would advise against creating a partition on the new drive, always keep the backups on an external drive far better and secure.You can make it bootable by creating a "dual " boot but I suggest not to go there keep it simple.

So long as you have got a valid backup of the system you are on you can try as many times as you like to get the transfer right using your previous backups. Using diskpart to clean the drive creating unallocated space you can then re-image to any backup.

Your final question re: choice of O/S that can only be done with the Win7 DVD installing on multiple drives or partitions. I have machines with Dual boot and Multi boot and you will then see a boot menu to choose the O/S. They can also be fully backed up by highlighting all drives or partitions.

Edit:

I only have the O/S and apps on the primary drive and a seperate drive or partition for the Data files.

Deric

 

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

Thanks again for your help.

Disc 0 shows two partitions, System Reserved, (100 MB), and the C drive. (It might have got messed up by my abortive attempts to restore my backup using Ghost 15)

When I tried to do a backup as you suggested everything seems to be going OK until at the end I get the error message:

"-Snapshot error %1.
--Error EBAB03F1: Following Operating System error occurred while performing requested operation: 'OS error 2147754767.'

(UMI:V-0-187-181)"

I searched this error message on Google and found that it could be caused by having more two or active partitions on the machine. For some reason my D drive, (data), has got marked as active so I simply unplugged it but it made no difference.

I also read that an incomplete uninstall of Ghost 15 could cause a problem. I searched for it with Revo Uninstaller but couldn't find any trace.

One other point that might be relevant: when I start the machine I get choice between Windows 7 and the recovery disc even though the disc is not in the drive

If the problem is the two partitions on Disc 0 is there any way of overcoming the problem other than formatting the drive and starting again?

Grateful as always for your help,

David

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

Thanks again for your help.

Disc 0 shows two partitions, System Reserved, (100 MB), and the C drive. (It might have got messed up by my abortive attempts to restore my backup using Ghost 15)

When I tried to do a backup as you suggested everything seems to be going OK until at the end I get the error message:

"-Snapshot error %1.
--Error EBAB03F1: Following Operating System error occurred while performing requested operation: 'OS error 2147754767.'

(UMI:V-0-187-181)"

I searched this error message on Google and found that it could be caused by having more two or active partitions on the machine. For some reason my D drive, (data), has got marked as active so I simply unplugged it but it made no difference.

I also read that an incomplete uninstall of Ghost 15 could cause a problem. I searched for it with Revo Uninstaller but couldn't find any trace.

One other point that might be relevant: when I start the machine I get choice between Windows 7 and the recovery disc even though the disc is not in the drive

If the problem is the two partitions on Disc 0 is there any way of overcoming the problem other than formatting the drive and starting again?

Grateful as always for your help,

David

cgaski3
Level 4

Correction:

"One other point that might be relevant: when I start the machine I get choice between Windows 7 and the recovery disc even though the disc is not in the drive",

should have read, 

"One other point that might be relevant: when I start the machine I get choice between Windows 7 and "lights out recovery" even though the disc is not in the drive"

 

DStain
Level 5

The system reserved partition is the one that contains the boot instructions and in that case you should use the "Image Transfer" method and transfer that partition first and don't tick any boxes.

The boot menu sees the two partitions as active and only C: should be active

Start again and prepare your drive by creating unallocated space, like I said before if you have a SRP that should be backed up and the C:drive.

You should tick the box "show hidden drives" and SSR will see the SRP.

You will only see LOR if you have installed it then you will get the menu showing the options.

Remember, don't format the drive and allocate a drive letter that causes problems, when using Diskpart stop at "Clean" that will be the unallocated space.

You can find the command prompt by going to Analyze when booting with the SRD.

Deric

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

Thanks again for your response.

It is 2:30 AM here in Hong Kong but I thought I would come back to you quickly before I went to bed.

When you say "Start again and prepare your drive by creating unallocated space…" Are you referring to my backup drive?

You say, "you should should use the "Image Transfer" method". I am not sure what this is because before you said:

"You don't really have to install Win7 on your new pc just do a "image Transfer" that gets a bit complicated though."

Just to be sure there is no confusion you are talking about backing up my current installation of Windows 7 so that if necessary I can get back to it if the restoration of the files from my backup drive doesn't work?

I really must go to bed if I am to be any use tomorrow…

David

DStain
Level 5

David,

Lets just clarify a couple of points:-

1.I am not refering to your backup drive (don't ever format that).

2.Start again means to prepare your new drive C: (the target drive)

I can post tomorrow a easy step by step instruction to use the "image transfer" method.

To do this you must have a backup of your C: drive and the 100MB SRP. Disk management will show drive zero in two parts a small 100 mb partition and C: containing the O/S and apps etc.

When you run a backup tick the box "show hidden drives" (a one time backup) and highlight both partitions (srp and C). You then have a full backup of your pc.

Yes you are correct you must make sure you are fully backed up (both partitions) can you post a pic of disk management?

Then we can prepare the target drive C: and transfer both SRP and C: from your G12 backups so long as they include the 100MB SRP and C: I am in the UK about 6 hours behind you.

Deric

 

DStain
Level 5

David,

Had you ever tried a recovery with your G12 backups because I don't know from your posts that they contain a SRP.

I don't use the srp because my drives are cleaned and the O/S installed, that way the boot files are included on the installation disk and transfered onto drive C:

When I re-image all I do is select the recovery point and run it, dead simple. If you have two or more partitions you have to make sure they are both backed up.

You can then highlight them both and run the recovery, you only have to tick the box " restore anywhere" when you recover from the G12 backups.

Here are the "Image Transfer" instructions for you to have a read in the morning.

1. Create unallocated space on the new drive, use Analyze and diskpart to do this.

2. Don't go any further than "Clean" in Diskpart.

3. Make sure that you have backed up the full computer creating .v2i files on the external drive.

4.Boot up with the SSR  recovery disk.

5.Select Recover my computer.

6.Select File Name  and Browse.

7.Click on Computer icon and open.

8. Search for the external drive containing the files.

9. Select first file and open and next.

10.Use the Edit function to select the unallocated space.

11. Then Ok or next.

12.verify recovery point before restore.( Drive C:)

13.check for file system errors. (Drive C:)

14.dot the primary partition.(Drive C:)

15.set drive active (for booting O/S) (Drive C:)

16.restore origional disk signature. (Drive C:)

17.Restore MBR (Drive C:)

18. Then click next - finish  - yes.

If you have a SRP transfer that one first and don't tick any boxes just run as default setting.

I have put Drive C: in brackets to tick those boxes.

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

"3. Make sure that you have backed up the full computer creating .v2i files on the external drive"

This is what happens when I try and backup the Windows 7 installation I have put on the new computer which I am using to talk to you. Currently only a single internal drive is installed.

I must be doing something wrong but I can't work out what it is…

David

B2.jpgB3a.jpgB4.jpgB5.jpg

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

We seem to be spending a lot of time trying to backup the Windows 7 installation I am using a moment. Maybe the following would be an alternative?

I fit another hard drive to the machine and then restore the image on the USB drive to this disc using the. SRB I generated from SSR 2013 R2 and following your instructions. If this drive wouldn't then boot use the Windows 7 installation CD to do a repair and make it bootable?

Would this work and if so how should I prepare the drive, presumably using a diskpart, onto which I am restoring the image? If this did not work then I could revert to the drive that I am currently using.

I am acutely aware of the amount of time that you are spending on this and am extremely grateful. Without your assistance I would stand no chance of restoring my original system.

David

DStain
Level 5

David,

a good idea to use the spare drive and you can experiment with it, if that works then it is a simple matter to run a "copy my hard drive" option.

Run another backup onto your USB drive in a new folder say SRB 2 and make sure that you tick the box "show hidden drives" on the SSR screen.

You will then see the SRP and highlight both the SRP 100mb and C: and then run the backup but use the "One Time Backup" option.

It is essential that the SRP is copied or else C: won't boot.

Fit the spare drive and boot with the SRD and select Analyze, open the Command prompt and type in "Diskpart".

Give it a few seconds and then at the next prompt type in List Disk and note the number say 0

then type in Select disk 0 and then type in Clean and then exit diskpart.

That has created the unallocated space on the drive.

Now you can first transfer the SRP and don't tick the boxes and it will be quick then transfer the C: file as per my instructions.

That should do the job, and don't worry about the time, only too pleased to help if I can.

The pic is ok fairly simple drive just 2 partitions, when I backup a multi partition I always highlight all partitions and the recovery point shows as 1 entry, select that and recover.

The problem is when you are trying to recover from the G12 backups because they have been created with different hardware hence using SSR 2013 R2 has the ability to restore anywhere.

Deric

cgaski3
Level 4

Derek,

Sadly your suggestion to "Run another backup onto your USB drive in a new folder" is not practical. The pictures in a previous email show what happens when I try – I simply get the error message:

-Snapshot error %1.
--Error EBAB03F1: Following Operating System error occurred while performing requested operation: 'OS error 2147754767.'

I have tried many times following various suggestions from the forum but nothing works. That is why I suggested restoring from the USB drive which contains the backup from the original computer, ( which is now ashes in my waste bin). I now only have two pieces of hardware; the new computer and the original USB drive.

On a new drive in the new computer I installed Windows 7 and a few essential pieces of software – drivers, a browser, etc and this is what I am currently using. The fact that when booted from a SRD produced from SSR 2013 R2, the USB drive and the files in it, are visible gives me a glimmer of hope that restoring from that drive may be possible.

As I understand it, (correct me if I am wrong), running an upgrade/repair install from the Windows 7 DVD forces the operating system to rediscover the hardware. If the recovery of my original system from the USB drive is successful, (say a little prayer before you go to bed!), then I shall simply wipe the drive I am currently using and use it for something else.

The only other thing I can think of is to copy the contents of the USB drive onto an internal drive in the computer and try restoring to another drive from that but it doesn't seem to me to be very likely that that would work if restoring from the USB drive did not.

Just one other point: if the above works I shall have two C drives on separate physical drives if I leave in the current physical drive. Does Windows allow this and give me the choice during the boot process to select the drive I want?

Before I actually try what I suggest above I would be very grateful for your comments and suggestions.

David

cgaski3
Level 4

Deric,

"If it asks you to insert the DVD to run a repair Windows will quickly search for the boot files on the DVD and install them, then it will work after a reboot but you may have to do it twice.This will only work though if the DVD is a full retail version."

My version is Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade so presumably this will not work?

I looked on another machine on which I had installed Windows 7 and this does not have a SRP presumably because I installed it over XP…

I installed Windows 7 on this machine from the upgrade DVD without having XP present so maybe that is why it has got a SRP?

If I do the "Copy my hard drive" as you suggest and then use the SRD to restore my backup to that drive will it work?

I'm not actually too worried about the error messages because they were only caused when I was trying to backup the drive I am using at the moment but now I am proposing to use another hard drive I don't think this is any longer necessary.

Your suggestion that I should, "Only have the one drive connected at any time so you don't get confused," is well taken. When I was messing about with Ghost 15 I installed some things on the wrong drive!

David

DStain
Level 5

David,

all things being equal it should work, you mean use your G12 recovery points once you have copied the spare drive?

You should be able to select the G12 recovery point and so long as the srp is not present then tick the box "recover anywhere" and it will work. It will be a simple re-image but if the srp is present then you will have to do "image transfer" one partition at a time.

To be honest the SRP partition is a pain in the backside that is why I don't have them. You have the right idea to keep your data seperate to the O/S and apps.

Keep trying with the spare drive because it is good practice, no damage done and you will learn a lot from it.

Deric

 

DStain
Level 5

David,

I am away for a few days now, going to watch snooker in Sheffield, back Friday.

Deric