Norton Ghost users - Welcome to Symantec System Recovery!

[Andreas_Horlach]

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. 

[Raj_Sagoo]

Thanks for the info, that's great.

Just to clarify, so the SRD for SSR 2011 can be used with SSR 2013?

[criley]

Yes

[Raj_Sagoo]

Many thanks

[ken-g]

Just so I am clear on the SSR 2013  installation process...

I have Window 7-64 computers that are currently running Ghost 15 and that have W7-64 savesets created by Ghost 15. 

I should manually un-install Ghost 15 via the Control Panel before installing SSR 2013 rather than expect SSR 2013 installation to recognize Ghost 15 and un-install it for me.  Correct?

Assuming that is correct - I should select the option during the manual un-install that allows me to keep save sets, backup definitions etc.

Another question (probably an ignorant one) ....

In the past when working with Ghost I seem to recall having the situation where Ghost could use older savesets for the purposes of restoring files but did not include the savesets in the cacluation of how much space was being used by backup information.  This may have been due to operator error(s) on my part or due to a re-install that lost setting because some other Norton product failed and Norton removal was needed.   

If SSR 2013 is installed after taking the proper option during the Ghost un-install, will the automatic management of the backup destination (that deletes old savesets when a threshold is reached) recognize all of the old savesets and continue to manage the backup destination using the rules that were established under Ghost?

Thanks

[Andreas_Horlach]

Ken - You will be prompted to uninstall Ghost 15 when SSR 2013 is installed, and you will be asked if you want to retain the settings from Ghost 15. If you choose to retain the settings, SSR 2013 should pick up where Ghost left off. 

Because the incremental engine changed in SSR 2013, the first backup after the installation will be a base backup, after which the incrementals will proceed as scheduled. 

[ARoewe]

...

This isn't a question about SGSS, It is a question about SSR. 

Since my company already has SGSS2.5 do we need to start looking into moving to SSR or are we good with SGSS2.5?

[Andreas_Horlach]

That depends on what you need...SSR 2013 is a disaster recovery solution for quickly recovering from a 'system down' state, while SGSS is more of a deployment, imaging and system management solution. Many customers use both solutions, as they serve different needs.

[ARoewe]

Thank you, that is what I wanted to know. 

[ken-g]

Andy,

   Thanks.

   Alls well that ends well but it didn't go exactly as you suggested. 

    Based on your reply I tried to install SSR 2013 without first uninstalling Ghost 15.  It did not prompt me to uninstall; the installation just failed with a message saying it could not be installed.  Assuming Ghost was the problem I didn't bother checking the log. 

   I uninstalled Ghost via the control panel and took the option to save settings.  I rebooted as requested.  SSR 2013 installed without issue. 

   All good so far: The backup definitions were recognized and the older savesets are recognized.  As you suggested the first new backup was a base.  The file and folders recovery can see file versions prior to the install.  The backup location shows the correct amount of storage is use for save sets and the files and folders.  The management settings for the backup location ended up as the default values - but it is possible I had default settings under Ghost on this particular system.

  I have not tried making a custom SRD on this system yet.  My previous three installs were on new W7-64 disks for XP migrations.  Once I had the product key I was able to create custom SRDs on two of those systems but only if I created an iso file and then burned that to CD outside of SSR 2013.  The SSR 2013 software seemed to be unable to reliably detect writable optical media in the optical drives after going through the custom driver dialogues. It had no trouble reading the stock SRD CD as input from any of those same drives.  I will check if my reamaining custom SRDs have the same issue or whether it is a personal problem.  :)

[Andreas_Horlach]

Ken -

Thanks for that information. Now that you have SSR 2013 installed, please use LiveUpdate to go up to SP1, which released today.

[JohnTech]

>> please use LiveUpdate to go up to SP1, which released today.

Where can I find the documentation of what changes/fixes are incorporated into SP1?

John

[Andreas_Horlach]

There were several things that went into SP1. Here are the links:

SSR                             http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH206415

SSR-MS                    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH206417

SSR-L                         http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH206420

[ken-g]

Andy,

More on the custom SRD: some of the SRDs I have created are for laptops with a single optical drive.

When one arrives at the screen to select the outputs (the optical drive and/or the iso) the optical drive must already have writeable media in it. 

If one tries to go ahead with no writeable media then SSR prevents that with an error message.  But if media is then inserted that doesn't seem to be detected.  I could completely restart the SRD creation process with the blank media in the drive and it was recognized so long as the blank media was in the drive before I got to the "output" screen.  To work this way though I needed the stock SRD as an iso rather than on optical media. 

The other workaround was what I suggested previously - output only to a custom iso and then burn that separately to disk afterwards.  Or use a USB stick for output. 

I don't know how the custom SRD creation would handle reading the stock SRD from the drive and writing the custom SRD back to the same drive.  But it seems like that would interact poorly with the behavior I saw because it looks like it reads the input SRD after collecting all of the parameters.   (are you old enough to remember a tedious floppy copy with only a single drive?)

The USB output option is tricky for these laptops - the visible USB ports in the windows 7 install environment depend on docked or not.   Don't know if the SRD has the same quirks  - but the custom SRD as CD works docked or undocked.  Talking someone through a recovery over the phone will probably go better with the SRD as a CD.  

[ken-g]

It seems like a good idea to create a new Custom SRD with SP1 - but do I need to start with an updated stock SRD, and if so can you provide a link to the downloadable zip containing the 32 bit and 64 bit iso images. 

Thanks

[criley]

You can download them here:

https://symantec.flexnetoperations.com/control/symc/registeranonymouslicensetoken

[criley]

    Based on your reply I tried to install SSR 2013 without first uninstalling Ghost 15.  It did not prompt me to uninstall; the installation just failed with a message saying it could not be installed.  Assuming Ghost was the problem I didn't bother checking the log. 

   I uninstalled Ghost via the control panel and took the option to save settings.  I rebooted as requested.  SSR 2013 installed without issue.

This issue was resolved in SP1 - we now do a check for existence for Ghost and block the install with an appropriate message.

As SP1 was only released yesterday, I assume you used the pre-SP1 installer.

[ken-g]

Chris,

  Yes, the installation described above was from

Sym_System_Recovery_2013_11.0.0.46600_Multilingual_Product.zip

  that I downloaded as part of the trail process about 3 weeks ago. 

[tmoore323]

I just purchased this product with the thoughts of using it to back up my existing system to another hard drive in case of hard drive failure - same system to same system in other words. Now I'm beginning to wonder if this is possible with this software. Please advise.

Thanks!

[DStain]

Yes it is possible, there are two methods that you can use, "Copy My Hard Drive" and "Image-Restore".

You, like many other users, are thinking that "copy drive" is the initial way forward.My response is to say No, the first thing you  must do is backup your system creating a recovery point.

I would suggest that you first of all backup your primary drive with the O/S using the "One Time Backup" option from the tasks tab.

That backup can then be used to transfer the image if the Drive Copy fails, don't forget to make sure that you tick the box "show hidden drives" in case you have hidden partitions.

Deric.

[tmodel46]

Been testing the new SSR 2013 Desktop software and it looks great. I want to purchase the product but have been waiting for the discount email to arrive. Can you check to see what the issue is holding it up. thanks.

Charlie