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Norton Ghost users - Welcome to Symantec System Recovery!

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

As announced today (15 March 2013), Norton Ghost 15 is being discontinued, and will be replaced with Symantec System Recovery (SSR) 2013 Desktop edition. Click here for details. We'd like to welcome those customer who already have made the transition, or are thinking about it! Please use this thread to discuss any non-technical issues, such as functionality, upgrade information, etc. If you encounter a technical issue and require technical epertise, you are in good hands. This board is monitored by several SSR specialists, ready to assist. Simply start your own thread with your question. 

On the surface, Ghost 15 and SSR 2013 are very similar in the look and feel. The console hasn't changed much, so using the product itself should not be much of a learning curve. However, the engine itself has gone through several improvements. Here are a few of the changes in SSR 2013 from Ghost 15:       

  • Support for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8
  • UEFI Support: Symantec System Recovery now enables boot from UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) in addition to BIOS.
  • 64 bit Support:  32-bit and 64-bit recovery disks are now included. 
  • USB Recovery Disk: Create a custom Symantec System Recovery Disk on a USB device. Add 32- or 64-bit drivers.
  • Advanced Monitoring and Reporting: Symantec System Recovery Monitor is a new monitoring solution that's extremely simple to use and is FREE of charge to all Symantec System Recovery 2013 customers. It's a standalone and lightweight solution for managing up to 100 nodes. It’s simplicity and no extra dependency eliminates the learning curve for users. Intuitive GUI along with essential action controls provide crisp status along with ability to take desired actions seamlessly through the same view.
  • Improved support for virtual environments: Greater support for ESX, VMWare, HyperV, and Citrix.
  • Smart Reconciliation:  Now Backups and reconciliation are efficiently done by smartly tracking changed blocks. The reconcile time is drastically reduced to seconds by eliminating the need to do a complete reconcile in cases of crashes or abrupt shutdowns. In addition,  incremental backups are now up to 750% faster. (Incremental Backup without reconcile at least 35%, Full Backup 15% faster, Incremental Backup with reconcile – At least 750% faster than Norton Ghost 15)
     

For more information on SSR 2013, visit http://www.symantecsystemrecovery.com.

Again, welcome Norton Ghost users! Please let us help make the transition to SSR 2013 as seamless as possible. 

97 REPLIES 97

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Please send me a private message with your email address and I will look into it. The email would have been sent to the address used when you signed up for the offer. Check your spam folder. If not there, let me know.

tmodel46
Level 3

I have been checking for it to show up in Spam folder but it never came. Have sent you a private message as requested. Thanks.

j_kang
Level 3

I hate to bring up an older item, but I would like some clarification regarding the original question and your response. In the original post, there was a question about a couple items in the readme:

  • Symantec System Recovery 2013 does not support computers that use the GRUB boot loader.

  • Symantec System Recovery 2013 does not support computers that use Fedora Core3 Ext2/Ext3 or Grub 2 boot managers.

Specifically to the 2nd item, as clarification, there are known issues with EXT2/EXT3 file systems created under Fedora Core 3, correct? If the partition was written with EXT2/EXT3 on a more recent version of Fedora Core, the partitions would get backed up OK? Understanding that there would still be issues with GRUB?

If a person did have a dual boot Windows/Linux system, what would be recommended solution using SSR? Purchasing both Windows and Linux versions?

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

No version of Fedora was tested with SSR 2013 Linux, so it wasn't likely a Fedora version issue as it was Fedora itself not being tested. 

If you are dual-booting and want to backup all partitions, SSR Linux will not backup NTFS or RfS partitions. SSR 2013 for Windows will backup those partitions, and also EXT2, EXT3 and the Linux Swap partitions, so you will likely be able to backup all partitions from within Windows, but in the event of a disaster recovery, you would probably need to manually rebuild the boot loader or boot manager after the partitions are laid down. Again, Fedora is not officially supported at this time, so whatever configuration you choose, do thorough DR testing. 

j_kang
Level 3

Thanks for the follow-up, Andy!

slebaron33
Level 2

I have used Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 for deploying images.  I can easily boot up and create or deploy an image.

Now I'm told on the Symantec site we should replace this with System Recovery Center 2013 - I've downloaded a trial version - but it's nothing like Solution Suite - I can't even figure out how to create an image from one machine so I can deploy it to another.

Help?

Thanks.

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

I'm not sure what System Recovery Center 2013 is, but I am assuming you mean Symantec System Recovery 2013? If so, you are correct -- this product is not for deploying images to machines. You need to stick with GSS. There is a console for central management, which is what I am guessing they were talking about. Post this question in the GSS forum (https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/endpoint-management/forums/ghost-solution-suite-0). They should be able to help you out there.

slebaron33
Level 2

Thanks- and glad I'm not going (entirely) crazy.  I saw Ghost was going away - I just found out on a chat session with Symantec that it ends up the INDIVIDUAL Ghost product is going away - but Ghost Solution Suite is NOT.  And so I can continue using it. 

So my last couple days of banging my head on the wall trying to figure out why System Recovery wouldn't do what I needed it to do were not needed.

So you should let people know only "SOME" Ghost products are going away.

Thanks for your reply - all good here now.

Scott

mwinnick
Level 3

I was using Ghost for a long time but now face two problems. First, Ghost is going away. Second, all the backups I've been doing I cannot use as my system is a UEFI and I've been told Ghost will not work on it.

So, I've restored my system to factory condition and reloaded all my programs, etc. I've been advised ot get SSR. But here's my questions

 

1. At times I need to restore just one file. Can I run Ghost anyway and just use it for file recovery on a one-on-one basis?

 

2. Will SSR allow me to rocever just one file?

 

3. Does SSR repair disks (I'm looking at my SSD for this) that refuse to boot but allow me to read and write to them?

4. Can SSD be set to backup at a set time every day? And does it do an image of the entire drive? What if there's a 2nd partition, and , for example, if my MBR/EFI gets hosed, does SSR help me there?

5. Where can I got to get spoecifics on SSR before I invest in it?

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

1. At times I need to restore just one file. Can I run Ghost anyway and just use it for file recovery on a one-on-one basis?
Yes - Right-mouse click on the image file, choose MOUNT, and a drive letter will be assigned to that backup image file. From there, you can browse through the files and folder, and copy anything you need out of it. This will not adversely affect the backup image file.

 

2. Will SSR allow me to rocever just one file?
Yes - right-mouse click the same way. You can restore 1 file at a time. And you can do this with SSR or Ghost files.

 

3. Does SSR repair disks (I'm looking at my SSD for this) that refuse to boot but allow me to read and write to them?
There are different recovery options for restoring in the event the drive does not boot. If there was some odd reason the system would not boot, you can use a Windows installation disk to repair boot problems. 

4. Can SSD be set to backup at a set time every day? And does it do an image of the entire drive? What if there's a 2nd partition, and , for example, if my MBR/EFI gets hosed, does SSR help me there?
SSR will backup any partion you tell it to, at the scheduled time(s) you set it to. If something happens to that schedule or the drives, SSR will error and allow you to fix that.

 

If EFI is enabled in your system settings, leave it that way.  Once a backup is taken, you must restore to an EFI-enabled system. In other words, EFI restores only to EFI, BIOS only to BIOS. Here is a screenshot of what it may look like in your system settings.
photo4.JPG

 

5. Where can I got to get spoecifics on SSR before I invest in it?
Ghost and SSR are very similar, and you can use SSR for 60 days before you decide to buy. 

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=answers&startover=y&question_box=V-306-6
 

mwinnick
Level 3

Andy,

 

Appreciate the detail. Just  some final questions as I'm pretty leary right now having had my SSD fail.

1. I prefer to use only one backup software, I want it to run once a day, and I only want to do FULL backups, never incrementals or differentials. I want to be able to restore either one file, for example I screw up a process and want to go back to how it was earlier, or I want to restore the whole system, let's say because my Drive just failed and I bought a new one. Reading your reply it looks like SSR will allow me to do all that.

2. I have a Samsung Solid State drive. My hard drive is UEFI formatted and has two partitions, a C, the boot, and a D, HP's Recovery Partition. I want to clone the physical hard drive to the SSD so I can then switch boot drives so I just boot off the SSD. In other words the SSD will look like the hard, except for size. Does SSR do that, or do I need another piece of software?

3. Do I need to erase the SSD, remove the second partition that is now on it, maybe format it, before restoring the hard backup to it?

And finally, how do I get a copy of SSR? Can I download it or do I have to buy at a store? Can I get the discounted price without doing a trial, in other words just buy, and install?

Thanks,

Mike

 

The thing that confues me is this. It looks like when I back up I have to tell SSR to backup the C and also tell it to backup the D partitions (I reaize they are referred to as separate drives even though on one physical). When it does that, does it also back up the MBR or EFI partition? Does it do that twice, once for the C backup and once for the D?

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

1. I prefer to use only one backup software, I want it to run once a day, and I only want to do FULL backups, never incrementals or differentials. I want to be able to restore either one file, for example I screw up a process and want to go back to how it was earlier, or I want to restore the whole system, let's say because my Drive just failed and I bought a new one. Reading your reply it looks like SSR will allow me to do all that.

SSR will do all that. If you wish to create a base image every night, you can do that. Just make sure the system does not try to go to 'sleep' or 'hibernate' during the backup. From the .V2i file that is created, you can restore 1 file out of it, and if the system crashes, you can boot to the recovery disk and recover the entire system.

 

2. I have a Samsung Solid State drive. My hard drive is UEFI formatted and has two partitions, a C, the boot, and a D, HP's Recovery Partition. I want to clone the physical hard drive to the SSD so I can then switch boot drives so I just boot off the SSD. In other words the SSD will look like the hard, except for size. Does SSR do that, or do I need another piece of software?

Yes, the simplest way to to accomplish this is to create a full backup of your entire drive, shut down the computer, put the new drive in, boot to the recovery disk, and restore all of the partitions to the new drive. Again, just don't change your system from EFI to BIOS boot at anytime. There is a clone feature in SSR, but I recommend using this method when going from one type of drive to another.

 

3. Do I need to erase the SSD, remove the second partition that is now on it, maybe format it, before restoring the hard backup to it?

It is not necessary, but probably a good idea to start with a drive with no partitions (raw) on it. 

mwinnick
Level 3

Andy,

 

This has got to be the most frustrating purchase I have ever made. I purchased SSR. Then I downloaded it. But what I have is ip file with an ISO. I burnerned the ISO but it looks like what I now have is a System Recovery Disk that is used when you want to recover a system that cannot boot to the drive. This is nuts. How do I get the product I paid for and get it installed?

 

(edited to remover order #).

 

Mike

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

After you agree to the licensing, you will see several files available for download. Below is what you may see, though you may not see ALL of these files.

The one circled BLUE contains the installation files for installing the product into Windows. Do this first and get SSR installed, after uninstalling GHOST.

The one circled RED contains the link to 2 recovery disks: one is 32-bit, the other is 64-bit. Once extracted, these are in .ISO format. You will burn your recovery disks to blanks CDs from these ISO files. (Right-mouse click on the ISO file and choose OPEN WITH ... WINDOWS DISK IMAGE BURNER.

order.jpg

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Note: You will need only the 64-bit recovery disk (uEFI systems are full 64-bit only). 

mwinnick
Level 3

Andy,

 

I saw that page, but because it was not cl;ear what to download I did the 1st one. Now I no longer have that page available. How do I get there? All I have now is a printed copy of my receipt. I have no serial number and nothing I can see that shows I am authorized to install that.

Andreas_Horlach
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Send me a private message and I'll help you get the downloads you need. 

mwinnick
Level 3

Done.

mwinnick
Level 3

Andy,

I must have downloaed the Multilingual file somehow and forgot it because I have a zip in my Download Folder for it. I am looking at the contents of the Zip and it looks to me like that zip's content should be burned to a CD as I see an AutoRun.inf there. Am I correct? If so then I may be in good shape.

 

Mike

mwinnick
Level 3

Andy,

 

I don't think you wanted me too use Private Message from now on so I'll go back here.

My latest problem is this. I got SSR and did a full backup. Then I tried to restore that to my Solid State drive. But it wouldn't do it unless I unmarked some partition that it said was a BIOS and not UEFI. I don't understand and I've looked through the 300 page manual and found no help.

So, can you tell me, how do I clone my current hard drive to my Solid State so it becomes my boot drive?

Thanks,

Mike