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I need some software that will take an image of an entire installation + all the files on the hard drive and transfer them all to another computer. I usesd Nortons Ghost a long time ago. Does anyone know of anything I can use? Free or paid. If it's a paid version, possibly inexpensive?
Thanks
Norton ghost is still around.. Currently at version 10.0.
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
What OS will the installation be running?
we use ghost...
Windows XP Pro. He also has all of his programs; files and a bunch of emails saved with Outlook.
It doesn't matter what's on the disk.. Ghost will dupe it all... As long as it can understand the filesystems involved..
Hmm....
Is Ghost hardware dependent?
What I meant was, could I take the image off a completely different computer and apply it on another computer?
When I used Nortons, I was learning Windows 2000 on lab computers that had the same exact hardware profiles.
If you ghost a Dell PC and try to put the image on a sony laptop - you'll have some problems.
However most ghosting software have a built in image viewer, allowing you to extract individual files from the image.
Also, in an enterprise environment Antivirus clients can cause issues.
First I thought you wanted Paint Shop Pro or the Gimp or whatever. Then you started about having a picture taken of your system and then I knew something was wrong here. :) Bad choice of words, I think.
Ghost can be used to copy a full Windows installation to another system but keep in mind that this will require a proper license. Companies use a corporate Windows license for this, so they can make a ghost image once and then put the image on a dozen or so similar systems.
The hardware dependency depends on the OS settings that you are copying. E.g. if your original system uses a screen resolution of 1600x1200 and you copy it to another system that can't go higher than 1024x768 then you will have a nasty problem. (Startup in safe mode, modify resultion and reboot.)
The same with the harddisk and other hardware. If the new system has different hardware, you might get stuck with the wrong drivers. As a result, after putting back the image you might have to check all settings.
I went online to find a copy and came across this link
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...959&pfp=SEARCH
It doesn't list Server 2003 or even 2000 Server as OS's it supports. I remember ghosting 2000 Server in a lab a while back, but I might be wrong. Will it ghost these images?
Thanks Katja,
From what you told me, sounds like if I have different hardware, I'll just have to boot into safe mode and fix the problem. Did I understand you correctly?
follow link
I found a link to a FREE D/L
you will have to pay NOW :(
it is not dependant on the PC's being the same, it's blurb is VERY encouraging.
I got a free D/L, just haven't had time to evaluate it yet ...............
Luck to you
As far as I know, you might have some issues when the systems are very different. For example, if one PC has an NVidea graphics card and the other an ABIT card, you definitely will have problems with the graphic drivers. The same for other hardware differences.Quote:
Originally posted here by warriorfan808
Thanks Katja,
From what you told me, sounds like if I have different hardware, I'll just have to boot into safe mode and fix the problem. Did I understand you correctly?
The Windows operating system can handle many changes in hardware but it ofen means that you have to get the proper drivers. Other operating systems might not be that forgiving in such big changes in hardware. Basically, with a bit of luck you'll see Windows hardware wizard pop up telling you about all the new hardware it has found. If not, you should try again in safe mode and fix it from there. If even that doesn't work well, your systems are not compatible enough with each other. This could especially be the case when you're using computers from different brands with different kinds of processors, memory, harddisks and graphic cards.
Then again, the PC's can be different, as long as the Hardware wizard is able to recognise the hardware changes.
Btw, unless I'm mistaken, the Windows update system (XP or better) keeps track of the hardware on your system to validate your license. If it changed too much, it might decide that you're running the software illegal and thus deny you any updates. You won't have this problem with corporate versions of Windows, though. And I'm not sure if MS is still using this protection scheme.
Imagine unplugging your hard drive taking it to another machine plugging it in and switching it on.
That's essentially what you are doing by ghosting the whole machine.
You're then booting with the OS getting completely new hardware such as gfx, mobo etc.
Depending on how big the change is you might get away with it, just needing to install the drivers for the new hardware.
Desktop to desktop it'll probably work. But warn your friend it might all go horribly wrong.
Katja is right about licencing, if the licence is OEM it probably won't be valid on the new machine.
Not sure about that one because it's a ghost rather than a new install. A new install you'd probably have to phone MS to get it activated. If you can get the image across I think it'll probably work MS has backtracked on withholding security downloads a bit.Quote:
Btw, unless I'm mistaken, the Windows update system (XP or better) keeps track of the hardware on your system to validate your license. If it changed too much, it might decide that you're running the software illegal and thus deny you any updates. You won't have this problem with corporate versions of Windows, though. And I'm not sure if MS is still using this protection scheme.
If his copy of windows is hooky anyway I doubt you'll run into this problem.