Using Ghost to clone Vista?

[erniehogan]

I use Norton Ghost to backup my hard drive to another hard drive. When I do so with Vista Ultimate the resulting backup will not start due to what I presume to be MBR errors. I boot to the installation disk and choose repair. The installation disk will then repair the problem and all is well with the backup. Does anyone know the proper parameters to enter when making a Ghost boot disk that will circumvent this problem with Vista. In XP the parameters were (-FDSZ). That's the disk I'm currently using. I tried (-FDSP) but the result was the same as (-FDSZ).

 

[linney]

Are you dual booting Vista with XP or similar? If you were doing something like that, and the Vista boot files were on the XP Partition, any image of the Vista Partition would not be bootable, unless when it was restored the other Partition (with the boot files) was still in place?

This link will take you to a Norton Ghost forum, if you check the box for Ghost, and type Vista in the Search Box you may find some helpful ideas, you may not too, I haven't really looked too hard.

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=search

 

[erniehogan]

Vista is the only OS on the drive. The link you provided did not reveal any information of a useful nature. Thank you anyway Linney. I'm getting the clone made, it's just the process of using the installation disk to repair the boot files that I'm trying to circumvent. I have also used the latest release of Acronis True Image with the same result, the copy will need to be repaired before it will work. I prefer Ghost as it will allow me to copy a single partition whereas True Image will only image a single partition or it must copy all of the partitions when copying from drive to drive.

 

[linney]

I am not familiar with any Norton products, I use Terabyte Imaging software. If I understand you, you are copying a drive and then using that drive in another computer, is that right? That may be the reason then you are having to repair Vista before it will take on any other machine with different specifications. In any case can you clarify where you are trying to restore the backup to?

 

[erniehogan]

For the past ten years I have had two hard drives in every computer I have owned with the exception of laptops. I use one of the hard drives as a backup. They don't both run all of the time. I modify the wiring that powers each drive by running it through toggle switches located at the rear of the computer case. That way I can run either of them or both of them. Normally I just make a copy of the C drive on a weekly basis. The other partitions less frequently. When I make a copy, I run the backup drive to verify that the copy was properly made. I then turn that drive off and use the main drive until it is time for another backup. On a monthly basis I make a second backup on a third hard drive and keep that drive in another building on my property. I do this because I once had the unfortunate experience of losing a great deal of time and effort due to the failure of a hard drive. "Never again", was the impetus for this approach to always having instant recourse should I again experience the loss of a hard drive. On my old computer using XP I use the raid setup to make the copy and Ghost to make the copy to the external drive. The new computer is one that I have just assembled to run Vista.

 

[linney]

It must be something with how Vista is seeing the hard drive when swapped over, I don't know what though. When you do the Startup Repair are you getting any information about what Vista is repairing and objecting to?

After Startup Repair has run, a text log with diagnostic information and repair results is generated. This log file is located at %WINDIR%\System32\LogFiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/d807a440-90ce-4457-a23a-359ff2c9b9bf1033.mspx

 

[erniehogan]

Yes, I do receive information about the problem to be resolved by the repair. However, I cannot recall just what it is. I think it has something to do with an error in the MBR or perhaps what is described as the start up files being out of order. A list of possible switches and their function is listed by alphabet at:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/pfdocs/1998082612540625.

As previously stated, -FDSZ cured the probled with XP and is the switch I have been using with Vista. -FDSP has also been tried with the same result as -FDSZ. I'll just have to see what else I can find that may be more appropriate.

 

[erniehogan]

I finally found the answer to my question. I ran the following commands from a cmd box in Vista under my administrator account:

BCDEDIT /set {bootmgr} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} osdevice boot

I then used Symanted Ghost Corporate Edition 7.5 to create a boot disk with the switch -FDSZ as the only parameter entered when making the disk. I cloned the C partition to another hard drive. The clone booted just fine and runs Vista as a perfect clone of the original.

I did not just pluck the above commands out of the ether, I found this information at:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=949560&SiteID=1

Two posts, one from Alan Adams and the other from Erik van Noorden supplied me with the information I have been seeking.