Using Ghost to save or write an image to a different computer

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Using Ghost to save or write an image to a different computer

Question/Issue:
You have two or more computers in a peer-to-peer network. You want to create an image of one computer and save the image as a file on a different computer on the network. Or, you want to copy an image of a disk or partition to a disk or partition on a different computer on the same network, writing over the destination disk or partition.

Solution:
Ghost provides a variety of methods for saving or writing an image to a different computer on the network. Not all methods are available in all Ghost versions.

Norton Ghost 2002 and 2003 can use TCP/IP connections in a peer-to-peer configuration, using the option TCP/IP in Ghostpe.exe or Ghost.exe; and the corporate Ghost versions have more complete network capabilities.

The remainder of this document discusses methods available for saving or writing a single image from one computer to another without the use of Ghost Multicast Server, GhostCast Server, or Ghost Enterprise Console, which are available only in the corporate Ghost versions. For a list of Ghost consumer and corporate versions, see the document How to determine your version of Ghost.

For saving or writing image information from one computer to another, depending on your Ghost version, Ghost provides up to three methods that do not require the protocols TCP/IP or IPX : LPT connections, USB connections, or NetBIOS connections.

Method 1 - LPT Connections
You can connect two computers by attaching a cable to the LPT port of each computer. When the LPT port is properly configured, Ghost can use this port to move information between computers. You can either create an image file of one computer and save that file on the other computer, or you can copy the disk or partition of one computer directly to the second computer. See the document Using Ghost over an LPT connection.

This method is supported in all Ghost versions.

Method 2 - USB Connections
You can connect two computers by attaching a USB cable to each computer. Ghost can use this cable to move information between computers. You can either create an image file of one computer and save that file on the other computer, or you can copy the disk or partition of one computer directly to the second computer.

This feature is available in Norton Ghost 2002 and later, and in Symantec Ghost 7.0 Enterprise Edition and later.

Method 3 - TCP/IP Peer-to-Peer Connections
You can connect two computers by attaching a twisted pair type of ethernet cable (this is also known as a crossover cable) to the port on the Network Interface Card (NIC) of each computer. Norton Ghost 2002 and later, and Symantec Ghost 7.0 Enterprise Edition and later, can use this port to move information between computers with the TCP/IP protocol in a Peer-to-Peer configuration. See the document How to clone or save an image file over a TCP/IP peer to peer connection.

Using a cable might not work if the physical connection between the two computers goes through a router or switch device. These devices filter information and might not allow the first computer to see the second computer when in a DOS environment (consumer Ghost versions work in DOS; not in Windows). A hub, however, passes all information through without filtering it and should not interfere with information moving between the two computers. When using a hub, normal network cabling can be used in place of a twisted ethernet cable.

Method 4 - Mapped network drive
You can connect two computers by attaching a crossover cable (this is a type of twisted pair ethernet cable) to the port on the Network Interface Card (NIC) of each computer. Enterprise Ghost versions can use this port to move information between computers by means of the network operating system. This feature is not available in the consumer Ghost versions, with the exception of Norton Ghost 2003.

To use a mapped network drive with Norton Ghost 2003, ensure that the network drive is mapped correctly in Windows. During the Cloning or Backup operation, the mapped drive appears as a drive through the Ghost Wizard. The Ghost Virtual Partition uses this information and selects the mapped network drive during the cloning or backup process.

To use a mapped network drive by configuring Ghost.exe, start the computer with a bootable floppy disk that loads the network client, such as the Novell Client or the Microsoft Client, and has an entry in the file Autoexec.bat that maps the drive. To create a bootable floppy disk for the Microsoft Client, choose the option Drive Mapping Boot Disk in Ghost Boot Wizard. To manually create the bootable floppy disk, see the document How to create a Microsoft Client boot disk or How to create a Novell NetWare Client boot disk.

Technical Information:
Saving image files to CD drives and other devices on the second computer
Ghost does not support saving an image file directly to a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, or similar device when the source image is on one computer and the device is attached to a different computer. However, Ghost can save in image file directly to a CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD drive when that drive is attached to the local computer. For related information, see the following documents:

Saving image files to NTFS partitions
The DOS Ghost executable files, Ghost.exe, Ghostpe.exe, and Ghostwks.exe, cannot save an image file to a local NTFS partition. Only the corporate Ghost versions can save an image file to an NTFS partition, and then only to a remote NTFS partition; not a local NTFS partition. Note that Ghost.exe in Norton Ghost 2003 can save image files directly to local NTFS partitions.

Connections that work in DOS on a peer-to-peer network see remote partitions as local partitions. Because Ghost sees the remote partitions as local, Ghost cannot save an image file to an NTFS partition that is accessed over a peer-to-peer network. In Ghost, connection types that use a peer-to-peer network are an LPT port, a USB port, a NetBIOS connection, and a TCP/IP peer-to-peer connection. Because Ghost accesses the drives on both the master computer and the slave computer as local drives, Ghost cannot access NTFS partitions on either computer. That is, Ghost cannot save image files to an NTFS partition over a peer-to-peer network, nor restore image files from an NTFS partition over a peer-to-peer network.

Note: Symantec Ghost 7.0, Symantec Ghost 7.5, Symantec Ghost 8.0, Norton Ghost 2002, and Norton Ghost 2003 do not support NetBIOS connections for cloning or for saving image files.

This means that consumer Ghost versions cannot save an image file to an NTFS partition on a nonlocal (remote) computer, unless you use Norton Ghost 2003 and a mapped network drive. Corporate Ghost versions can save an image file to an NTFS partition on a remote computer, when using the Ghost Console, the Ghost Multicast Server, or the GhostCast Server. Ghost Console, Ghost Multicast Server, and GhostCast Server, which are available only in the corporate Ghost versions, work over a nonpeer-to-peer network by means of TCP/IP.

For more information, see the document Storing Ghost image files directly to NTFS partitions.

Cloning Windows NT computers
Windows NT often will not start up (that is, the computer will not be able to bootup) when the devices on a computer do not match what the Windows NT registry expects to see. Cloning a Windows NT computer requires that the source computer and the destination computer be very similar or identical. This might require changes to devices and software configuration both before and after creating an image file, and before and after writing an image to the destination computer. For more information, see the documents, How to clone a Windows NT/2000/XP workstation and Introduction to Cloning a Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP computer.

Supported connection types by Ghost version
The following information is for connections between two computers and not for connections between a computer and an external storage device.

Client-server connection types:

	Multicasting (over TCP/IP) with Multicast Server or GhostCast Server	Multicasting (over TCP/IP) with Ghost Console	Multicasting (over TCP/IP) with Multicast Server or GhostCast Server, from a network boot
Symantec Ghost 8.x	Yes	Yes	Yes
Symantec Ghost 7.5	Yes	Yes	Yes
Symantec Ghost 7.0	Yes	Yes	Yes
Norton Ghost 2003	No	No	No
Norton Ghost 2002	No	No	No

Peer-to-peer connection types:

	LPT	USB 1.1	*USB 2	Net BIOS	TCP/IP Peer-to-Peer	Mapped drive
Symantec Ghost 8.x	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Symantec Ghost 7.5	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Symantec Ghost 7.0	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Norton Ghost 2003	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Norton Ghost 2002	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No

*Norton Ghost 2003 supports USB 2 for connecting a computer to an external storage device but not for connecting two computers to each other.

Available Translations:

Document ID: 2000012111391925
Last Modified: 12/16/2007
Date Created: 01/21/2000
Operating System(s): DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Linux, Novell NetWare
Product(s): Symantec Ghost 7.0, Symantec Ghost 7.5, Symantec Ghost 8.0, Symantec Ghost 8.2, Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 1.0
Release(s): Ghost 7.0 [All Releases], Ghost 7.5 [All Releases], Ghost 8.0 [All Releases], Symantec Ghost 8.2 [All Releases], Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 1.0 [All Releases]