[dba-Tech] Petulant PC

Arthur,

The way that I have used Ghost is a disk-to-disk clone; I've never
created a Ghost image file, as such, just a straight copy of
everything.  That means that the second (Ghosted) drive is directly
accessible from Explorer.  I have an 80 GB drive that's about 2/3 full
and it only takes an hour or so to clone the drive.  It's just this
flaky behavior after the clone is complete has now gone beyond the
pale.

I'm running a level 4 Spinrite scan now; started at 7:30 this morning
and should be complete by 9:00 pm tonight.

Last night the "missing or corrupt" System file message no longer
appeared, but the system reboots faster now.  The blue XP progress bar
only has a chance to do 1-1/2 little cycles and the system reboots.

I WAS able to start up ERD Commander 2002 and examine the drive.  I'm
just not sure what to do.  Should I copy the Ghosted System (.exe, I
think...the error message doesn't make it clear WHICH System file was
corrupt or missing) file from my D: Ghost drive over to C:?

I was also able to start the Windows XP install disk and I went into
the Recovery console...but, again, I'm not sure what to do.  So I fall
back on making sure that my drive integrity is as good as I can
determine with the tools I have.  Don't know what you think of Gibson,
but I like his stuff.

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI


On 6/3/07, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com> wrote:
> The following is no help at all to your current situation, but since you
> have used Ghost for a while, and I never have, even though I had it included
> in a previous version of Norton, I thought I would ask:
>
> Let's say your current boot drive has 250GB capacity and 150GB is occupied
> when you Ghost. How big is the Ghost file? Do you need another HD upon which
> to plant said file?
>
> The reason I ask is this: a bare-bones installation already comes with my HP
> computer. (This is achieved by partititioning the HD, creating a
> read-only partition with the initial image on it, then allowing you to start
> over anytme by re-initializing drive c: from the r-o drive d:. However, even
> though I love this ability, it still means after re-initializing I have to
> spend the better part of a day reinstalling Office, Office Developer,
> SP1...n, NoteTab, winRAR, VS.NET, SQL 2005 and so on. So even though I can
> reinit the original, I still lose a day implanting the rest.
>
> So let's assume that the total install that satisfies me is > 50% of the
> disk. Does Ghost compress it? Even if it does, I think there is no
> alternative but a pair of disks of whatever size in the machine of interest.
> Ok. Given that if I'm talking about a box with a 500GB disk, therefore I
> need a pair, in fact three (the third on another box, so I can copy the
> Ghost file to safety).
>
> This sounds:
> a) like a recursive problem;
> b) reminiscent of the days of FastBack, when I needed 50 3.5 disks to back
> up my HD (currently the number of dual-layer DVDs is smaller, let's see
> 250GB / 4.7 GB = 50 + single-layer DVDs. That assumes the drive is full. I
> never let a drive get even 50% before I think it's time for another.
> Fortunately prices plummet in relatively direct proportion with my
> compulsive need to install more software and create new data.
>
> Either way, it seems that backup has been momentarily possible and then
> suddenly impossible, then possible, then impossible, then possible, then
> impossible (repeat until exhausted). Hofstadter, so to speak.
>
> Even the alleged massive storage of Blue-Ray apparently leaves us in the
> FastBack situation of multiple disks. 200GB to back up, 50GB on a Blue-Ray.
> Back in the FastBack situation. If disk 3 has a problem, I have a BIG
> problem.
>
> A.
>