Parttion that will boot into Ghost?

[samsayit]

Is there a way to make a partition that will boot into Ghost? Instead of having floppy/CD to boot from...
So, when you start the computer, the boot manager will give you an option to boot into XP or Ghost.

So basically, what I want it to create a bootable partition, copy the contents from the Ghost boot media onto it, and then alter the boot.ini file. But I know it's not that simple, if even possible.

Anyone?

Alternatively, I would be interested in creating a Ghost bootable USB thumb drive.
Problem in a nutshell is: I have a netbook and don't want to carry around a portable CD drive. So I need a way to boot into Ghost without floopy/CD.

 

[GhislainG]

You could use BartPE and install it to a USB Flash drive: http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10806

 

[samsayit]

I don't see how that will allow me to boot into Ghost!

 

[GhislainG]

Ghost is an application, not an OS. Therefore you can't boot into Ghost; you need to boot Windows and then run Ghost.

 

[samsayit]

Ohhh - sorry I didn not make that clear.
I'm talking about booting into MSDOS and from there run the Ghost.exe.

That same Ghost.exe cannot run from a 32 bit OS - can't run from BartPE.

Running the full Ghost application (the one you can install in Windows) is not an option for me.

---
Again, the Ghost Boot CD/floppy will boot into MSDOS. So I guess my original post/question can basically be rephrased - if it's possible to make the regular MSDOS boot floppy into a boot partition on the harddrive?

Alternatively, make the MSDOS boot floppy into a bootable USB flash drive.

 

[4Ryan6]

If I remember correctly Dell used to have a DOS partition on the HDD to run Ghost to restore the operating system to a factory released restore state.

You probably could use Partition Magic to do what you need I know its capable of creating a DOS partition, but to have 2 bootable Primary C:\> partitions on the same HDD would require you being able to hide one from the other.

This is an interesting problem you want to resolve, do you mind my asking what is your major intention behind wanting to do this?

You should be able to Google some exact step by step guides on this subject and get more direct to the point advice, here will be hit or miss to find someone that has actually done this successfully.

 

[samsayit]

>> 4ryan6 >> The reason I want to do this is that my netbook computer has no CD/floppy drive, and I don't want to be dependable on a portable drive.

My secondary objective with this is work related. In our lab (software test environment) we restore Ghost images 20-30 times daily, and the waiting time of a floppy boot is a nag, and even when we have CD boot on some of the systems, it's always a nag having to locate, insert, remember to remove the CD before reboot after restoring, etc...
It would be awesome to simply have the boot manager give you a ~5 second option to do Ghost every time you boot...

 

[4Ryan6]

So initially the Ghost restore is restoring the OP/SYS to a clean status after the test software has corrupted it, so you can retest from a fresh install everytime? Correct?

 

[samsayit]

Ghost will restore your entire partition as it was mirrored.

 

[GhislainG]

Alternatively, make the MSDOS boot floppy into a bootable USB flash drive.

It can be done. http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2004/10/utility-to-make-usb-flash-driv.html

I still prefer BartPE as it allows me to add/load the required drivers for various systems (servers with RAID controllers in particular) and then run Ghost32.exe which you can't use to backup your bootable disk, but runs perfectly when booting from a BartPE CD or USB Flash Drive. I've been doing that for years and that's how I backup 32-bit OS (it doesn't work properly to backup Vista 64, etc.) What version of Ghost are you using?

 

[4Ryan6]

Ran across this looking for info on this subject, links to the right side are quite interesting.

http://radified.com/blog/archives/000141.html

 

[4Ryan6]

Alternatively, make the MSDOS boot floppy into a bootable USB flash drive.

It can be done. http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2004/10/utility-to-make-usb-flash-driv.html

I still prefer BartPE as it allows me to add/load the required drivers for various systems (servers with RAID controllers in particular) and then run Ghost32.exe which you can't use to backup your bootable disk, but runs perfectly when booting from a BartPE CD or USB Flash Drive. I've been doing that for years and that's how I backup 32-bit OS (it doesn't work properly to backup Vista 64, etc.) What version of Ghost are you using?

Personally, I gave up on Ghost about 3 yrs ago and started using Acronis, works for XP and Vista with absolutely no problems activation wise.

The OP is trying to find a time saving solution since they restore about 20 times a day testing software.

Discovering exactly how Dell did their DOS Ghost OP/SYS restore on their HDDs is probably his best option to his goals.

Thats just my 2 cents, trying to add not discount anything you've posted. Ryan

 

[samsayit]

I'm not sure what version of Ghost it is - it's a couple of years since I made the discs.
I may consider using the BartPE and the Windows version of Ghost.exe since it was mentioned it works - at least this is an option for now until I figure out how to make the boot partition.

Btw I've been using Ghost for about 10 years now and have never had any problems using it - 98, XP, 2K, 2K3, Vista, 64-bit versions of 2K3/XP/Vista as well. Also on SATA drives, RAIDs, etc. I heard a lot of people praising Acronis and I might even consider that one day if it offers me something I can't get/do with Ghost, but for now I'm happy

I'd like to thank you guys so far for your interest and suggestions. I'm going away for a few days tonight and will not be able to reply to any posts until the weekend.

Thanks!!