Using GoBack with Norton Utilities

Document ID:1999070809372709
Last Modified:10/28/2003

Using GoBack with Norton Utilities

Situation:
This document explains compatibility between GoBack and Norton Utilities.

Solution:
GoBack is designed to revert your computer to a previous state (that is, to "go back in time" to the way your computer was before you made recent changes). GoBack is compatible with Norton Utilities when it is used according to GoBack's instructions. Here are some pointers regarding using GoBack with Norton Utilities:

Emergency disks and Rescue Disk sets
The Emergency disk included with Norton Utilities and the Rescue Disk sets you made with Norton Utilities, each have a bootable disk that includes utility programs such as Norton Disk Doctor and UnErase. These utility programs make repairs by writing to the drive. In most situations, to use the these programs you restart the computer with the bootable disk in the drive, then run the utilities.

Two considerations apply when using GoBack with bootable disks and repair programs:

GoBack must be in memory before booting with a floppy disk. In this sense, it is similar to drive translator programs such as EZ Drive or Boot Manager. To boot the computer with a floppy disk, such as the Emergency disk or the bootable disk from the Rescue Disk set, start the computer without the disk in the drive. When you see the GoBack Boot Screen, press the spacebar to access the GoBack boot options. Place the disk in the floppy drive and then click "Boot from floppy."
GoBack must be disabled before repairing the drive. To disable GoBack, see the GoBack User's Guide regarding the GoBack Boot Screen.

Norton Disk Doctor
Norton Disk Doctor is capable of making repairs to the partition table. Since GoBack must be disabled before writing to the partition table, you should disable it before running Norton Disk Doctor.

Speed Disk
Two possible problems may occur when running a defragmentation program with GoBack installed. For more information on these problems, read the section "Technical Information."

To avoid these problems, disable GoBack before running Speed Disk, and add the file Gobackio.bin to the Speed Disk list of unmovable files.

Disabling GoBack
Consult your GoBack documentation for information on how to disable GoBack. Disabling GoBack is especially important prior to running a defragmentation program in Windows NT/2000/XP. Note that when you disable GoBack, you will lose all previous GoBack save points. For more information, read the documents How to disable GoBack 3.x and The GoBack history is cleared and logging is suspended after using a defragmentation program.

Configuring Speed Disk
If you use the Speed Disk that is in Norton Utilities 2002 or earlier, follow the instructions in the section "To set Speed Disk for GoBack files."

If you use the Speed Disk that is included in Norton SystemWorks 2002 or later, it is not necessary to configure Speed Disk for GoBack. In those versions, Speed Disk automatically excludes the GoBack history file from processing.

To set Speed Disk for GoBack files

Open Speed Disk.
Click Properties and choose Options. The Options for Speed Disk dialog box appears.
Click Customize. The Customize dialog box appears.
Click the Unmovables tab.
Click the File Specification box.
Type: Gobackio.bin

and click Add, then click OK.
Click Save to save your changes, then click OK again to close the Options for Speed Disk dialog box.

Technical Information:
Cannot restore the computer to a previous state
Defragmentation programs are designed to move the files that are on the hard disk to make the files less fragmented. Because this process requires making many changes the hard disk and GoBack keeps track of these changes, the GoBack history file could become full. When the GoBack history file is full and is unable to store all the recent changes, GoBack cannot revert the computer to a previous state.

In Windows NT/2000/XP, disable GoBack before running a defragmentation program such as Speed Disk. When you disable GoBack, you will lose all previous save points. For more information, read the document The GoBack history is cleared and logging is suspended after using a defragmentation program.

Corrupt GoBack file
GoBack has hidden files, marked as system files, that enable it to work. If one or more of these files is moved, GoBack may not function correctly. In some situations, moving these files can cause the hard disk to become corrupt or inaccessible.

Before running any defragmenter, set the defragmenter's options to not move hidden files, system files, and the GoBack history file. In GoBack versions 3.x and later, the GoBack history file is Gobackio.bin. For instructions, read the section "To set Speed Disk for GoBack files."

References:

For more information regarding GoBack, consult your GoBack User Manual or the GoBack Knowledge Base at the Symantec support Web page.
For more information regarding GoBack and defragmentation programs, read the document Using GoBack and defragmentation programs.

Translations of this Document:
Given the time needed to translate documents into other languages, the translated versions of this document may vary in content if the English document was updated with new information during the translation process. The English document always contains the most up-to-date information.

Available translations:
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Korean

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Product(s): Norton Utilities 2000 v4.5 - Win95/98, Norton Utilities 2001 v5.0 - Win9x/Me, Norton Utilities 2001 v5.0 - WinNT/2000, Norton Utilities 2002 v6.0 - Win98/Me, Norton Utilities 2002 v6.0 - WinNT/2000/XP, Norton Utilities for Norton SystemWorks 2004, Norton Utilities for NSW 2003
Operating System(s): Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Date Created: 07/08/1999