This is a tutorial or review of how to take an image, or backup, of a computer using Norton Ghost 15.0 I have used the Ghost program in the past and always found that the best recovery scenario was to use a restore floppy. It always worked just fine. This is a review of the Norton Ghost hard drive imaging process.

I downloaded the program from the Symantec site and installed it with no problems. I have a bad habit of not reading the directions and just trying the program. I don’t believe it should take a 5 hour training course to use a program that I am semi familiar with. This is what I found.

After the installation, live update and a reboot, this screen came up.

Easy Setup

I plugged in a Lacie external hard drive and Norton Ghost found it with no problems.

New storage device found

As you can see on the next screen, Norton scanned my system and recommended this strategy. Of course, I took the recommended settings.

recommended settings

The recommended settings on this screen looked like what I wanted to accomplish so I accepted it and clicked next.

Define Backup Wizard

Of course I wanted to choose my C Drive.

Choose Drive C

I had to think about this next screen for a minute. The recommended setting looked like what I wanted but the other choice said that I should always create an independent recovery point. I took the recommended setting and clicked next.

Recovery Point Type question

Norton Ghost chose my external drive as the backup destination.

Backup Destination

Then there were a couple other screens that really didn’t tell me much so I took the defaults to get to the next screen. This screen just tells you what the program is going to do. It looks good to me at this point, so I checked the Run Backup Now checkbox and smacked the Finish button.

Completion of the Define Backup Wizard

All is going well. As you can see, I can still work while the program executes its commands, which is a great feature.

Progress and Performance

When Norton Ghost was finished with the image, I checked to see if the file were indeed where it was supposed to be. It was.

View Image File Created

So far, so good. Norton Ghost 15.0 created an image on a separate drive so that I can store that file in a safe location in case something happens to my computer. Now let’s see how Norton Ghost does at a restore of this image in the next tutorial.

On a scale of Bytes to Brontobytes, Norton Ghost hard drive imaging gets a Petabyte. The imaging process worked but there were a lot of steps that could have been eliminated to make the disk imaging process easier.

Norton Ghost 15

Norton Ghost 15.0 - Too many unexpected things can happen to your computer that would make you wish you had this program. If your hard drive crashed, Ghost would be there to restore your data to a new drive. If the Operating System (Windows) crashed, Ghost can restore it back to a working state in minutes! Check the Norton Ghost Restore Process.

See all of the Advanced Backup and Recovery features of the new Norton Ghost

Post your comments or questions about Norton Ghost

Comments	Date
By Kelly	2013-05-07 14:00:49
Neat Stuff!!
By ryan	2013-01-13 03:03:48
thanks
By gin	2013-01-03 01:42:58
is there any advantage and disadvatages of these cloner,,? any idea about this,,??? please..??
By Ali shah	2012-12-25 02:22:42
Hi i cant make a backup of os installed in my pc. and after getting backup by windows it self when i run to other computer it needs activation . please help me to do this job with out requiring activation. thx
By boewy	2012-09-21 08:02:27
how can i do it
By Lazola Joni	2012-07-03 05:10:00
Question: I have an Image of XP installed as my Operating System. After I installed an application that I want to use on my computer, whenever I try to open it it gives me the error that reads: "Unable to retrieve hard drive information to determine System Identification." Please help...
By Rahul	2012-05-07 23:44:14
It's very good norton Ghost by the whole pc backup on the drive of hard- disk.
By khan	2012-05-05 05:25:50
how to hard driver make a bootable
By SHAHDI	2012-04-25 08:30:38
it is very good but not avialable in boot able versions and not in easy
By Meesam Abbas	2012-04-25 05:04:20
i want to know how should i import Image File of Ghost 14.0 i have back of My system But i cant Install It on my Another Hard drive plz Help me...
By biren acharya	2012-04-25 01:17:04
how to restor the ghost
By raftr	2012-03-03 12:24:49
My Vista premium 64.bit crashed and I was caught without a full file backup. After reinstalling software etc, I found files on my D drive with .iV2i extensions. They were prior to crash date. Can Ghost 15 recover them? Will they be restored to original format?
By Bruce	2012-02-08 20:38:26
I am new to Ghost and am having problems with the terminology. But, I want make sure I can do what I want to do. I want to create an image so that when my "C:" drive fails, I can plug in a new drive and use the image to restore the "C:" to the state of the of image. Is this a two step process. First, create a bootable CD image which will restore the operating system and make the new HD bootable and restore the backup image which will totally restore new HD to the same as the failed drive was. Is there a "turtorial" out there which can help? I googled but didn't find one. Thanks...
By compudoc	2012-01-20 16:28:18
I bought the #15. I have several hard drives that I want to backup. #15 puts a catalog file on the hard drive. If you attempt to recover using external dvd's or usb drives, it can't find the catalog file and will not see the ghost img to recover. Ghost 10 would allow using multiple backups of multiple drives without the catalog file. If the main drive fails, the catalog file goes with the drive which renders all ghost images invalid and un-findable or un-usable. This is baaaadddd!!!! Sort of negatews the whole backup to be safe senario doesn't it?
By shamsn	2012-01-11 02:42:13
Gust
By cris	2012-01-10 03:01:11
thanks for the info, btw i remember the .gho in older but its v2i in ghost 15. :D
By bekar admi	2012-01-06 05:35:23
much risk with if you r having important data... Be carefull
By takim	2011-12-11 19:09:58
PLEASE send IN FROM THE FILE ISO Norton Ghost
By Manoj ku Das	2011-09-28 00:58:18
Norton Ghost very good.But I do not know how to make bootdisk of my system that automaticaly load os and my application software. Regards M DAS
By dilawer	2011-08-07 02:51:47
best
By dilawer	2011-08-07 02:50:53
best
By Macossay	2011-07-27 09:47:07
Ignore my previous message. Norton Ghost 15 does NOT create an image file, even if you use the copy entire drive tool. Norton Ghost 15 simply copies files from a source drive to a destination drive. It is a very advanced copy program, mind you, with all sorts of features that someone, somewhere, might actually find useful, but at its core it simply drags and drops files from one place to another. Again, I have found no way to create an image file with it.
By Macossay	2011-07-16 20:09:58
Dude, you didn't create an image. You just created a backup. It's not the same thing. To create image using Norton Ghost 15 you have go into tools/copy my entire drive/copy drive wizard.
By Ps	2011-06-12 10:39:20
if i create backup point, how to recover it if the windows was damaged ?
By Doug	2011-05-04 19:27:48
Can you create a ghost image of a ghosted operating system?
By john	2011-03-27 14:15:56
But how do we create a Master image from one computer to load on several other (same model) computers?
By skender	2011-03-18 19:38:39
thenks
By TJWright	2010-11-27 14:17:42
i have a recovery point on a backup drive using 15. I am recovering about 250 GB on a new 500 GB sata drive in a dell laptop. the recovery goes great but at the end the transfer graphic keeps running showing data being moved but neither drive is running and the data graphic flashes every 10 seconds or so. IS IT Stuck? or do I need too be patient?
By ramil	2010-11-21 19:18:22
thaks a lot of ths sftware,.. no comets , 50x thumbs up
By Gene	2010-11-07 09:34:55
Can I use Ghost to make an exact copy of a USB hard drive to store away in case of a HD failure? I usually back up pictures and documents to DVD. Do I have to prepare the external HD or will Ghost perform a format/analysis? I read that Windows7 has an active MSR partition that also needs to be saved. Will Ghost 15 automatically search for that? Thank you, Gene
By Deb	2010-09-17 06:30:23
Can I use norton ghost for a back of a drive in which Linux is installed? In another words Can I take Linux machine backup? Thanks deb
By Randy	2010-07-20 15:11:08
Those shots are from the previous version but not much changed so a new review of ghost didn?t seem necessary. There is a Symantec Ghost Solution Suite for mass deployment and imaging. More info here: http://www.symantec.com/business/ghost-solution-suite
By Phil Pense	2010-07-20 14:23:08
Are these screenshots that of Norton 15? Additionally, is there a professional version of norton for IT professionals performing a high volume of imaging? Much thanks for an informed reply.
By kelvin	2010-07-19 12:25:37
ghost
By Bob D.	2010-06-11 19:33:01
Just purchased Norton Ghost 15. The only drawback is that if you're cloning/ghosting an older drive to a newer drive with the intent of replacing the older drive, expect trouble. There is NO drive re-lettering feature. Example: Older 80GB HD low on space, want to replace it with a 500GB HD. Normally you slave that 500GB into the system and do your cloning - BUT that drive is assigned (say) drive letter D: (and it will STAY drive D:). Do NOT use the Computer Mgmt snap-in, it will NOT re-letter any boot/system drive. And guess what drive letter all your reg-keys point to... I made the mistake of thinking I could re-letter my C: to E:, then re-letter the clone drive (D:) to C: - NOT HAPPENING!! And you've just hosed your C: drive. This means you will hang at the logon screen, never getting the logon prompt..! RecoveryConsole will not fix this problem. I had to pull the drive, and slave it into another system, launch regedit, highlight HKLM, import hive -> Drive(?), windowssystem32config and the "SystemMounted Devices" key. Changed the key that had "D:" on it to "C:". Unload the hive (MUST DO!). Pull the drive, and put it back into the other system, got on my knees and prayed that it would work - it did... But what a nightmare! All Symantec had to do was give the option to re-letter, and I would have been finished in 5 minutes (minus the cloning time). Hope this helps, ~Bob.
By Chris Lowther	2010-06-05 23:26:26
Source and destination drives do not start after I perform Copy My Hard Drive operation in Norton Ghost 15.0 on Windows 7. My machine was pre loaded with Windows 7 Enterprise and I do not have a Windows Installation Disc. I cannot find Startup Repair loaded on on my hard disc. Anyway I might create/download it? Thanks.
By jakirajam	2010-05-28 15:03:33
I HAVE TAKEN C DRIVE BACK BY USING NORTON GHOST SOFTWARE. BUT I DONT KNOW HOW TO UTILISE THE BACKUP FILES . MEANS WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF RECOVERY THE SYSTEM BY USING BACKUP DATA. PLEASE ARRANGE SCREEN SHOTS IN ANSWER
By sumit	2010-04-30 07:30:46
suppose my system is working fine with some installed programs then i make a ghost image of it, but suppose after some use my windows gets corrupted then can i get origan windows and all the programs installed during imaging, thanks
By Jim	2010-02-04 09:15:53
Yes, you can configure Ghost to backup multiple drives. While I don't find the wizard particularly intuitive, once you get it configured and scheduled it will pretty much take care of itself.
By Lewis Eigen	2010-02-03 18:33:53
I am thinking of buying Norton Ghost for backup. My laptop computer however has two (2) hard drives--one 360 gb and the other 500 gb. Can i set Ghost to automatically backup BOTH drives the way I do with my Windows 7 OS?
By mukulmishra	2010-01-01 05:55:59
thnx budy plz be in tuch
By wilson	2009-11-09 13:09:13
it waz good
By anil dutt sanwal	2009-10-01 23:44:26
about the ghost image process.
By Niel Gifted	2009-09-15 15:10:50
I have vista system now, and I am going to update to Windows 7 next month. Do you think that Noron Ghost 14.0 will do the job if I want to go back to vista in case I don't like Windows 7.0? Also, how long does imaging take to restore you system for a HDD, with 250 GB, Running on Vista Premium? thank you
By Ken	2009-07-20 21:05:28
I have Norton Ghost 12. Somehow I've managed to get 2 of my external HD's selected as a backup destination, when I only want 1 of them to be. How can I convince Ghost I don't want the other drive to be a backup destination? (It has my video files on it.)
By Eric D	2009-05-30 20:30:36
Forgot to ask the obvious, does Norton Ghost 14 work automatically in the background second by second recording all changes to the system without having to manually or schedule points for it to remember? Again, does it do exactly what GOBACK used to do? Also can it keep this backup file on the same partition with the OS as GOBACK does or do you have to put it on a seperate drive or location?
By Eric D	2009-05-30 20:20:28
I have used GoBack for many years, even before it was purchased by Norton. I currently use Norton GoBack 4 on my windows XP with great results. It has saved my system hundreds of times. If I install ANY type of software that either I do not like or may cause problems for my system, I just tell GoBack to put my system back to a time previous to the install. It also works if your system is taken over by a virus or any other problem. MY question is, does Norton Ghost 14 do the same thing as GoBack would do. That is, COMPLETELY revert the ENTIRE computer back to the exact state it was in at the point you choose? Any emails or any work done or saved or installed, any file that was created at any point that was after the GOBACK point no longer exists on the computer other than in GOBACK where you can retrieve it if you want. Does Norton Ghost 14 do that? If so, I WANT IT! if not, forget it!
By Syed Ansar Ghani	2009-05-10 02:30:09
Many thanks Randy, yup, i am restoring the whole backup which is roughly of 6GB in size. actually i need the original windows, i have toshiba x205, i installed Vista Ultimate, found it not good enough, now i want to revert back to the original windows that came with the laptop. didn't have original restore DVD that's why i created the ghost. but now its not working. thanks for your prompt response. Best Regards
By Randy	2009-05-08 08:14:28
Syed, Are you trying to restore the entire image or just some files? You should be able to restore the image using Ghost 14 but it will restore the original version of Windows. Not sure if it will restore separate files (backups) to a different version because I have never tried it. You say you lost your hard drive ? that could be more of a hardware issue that would affect the Ghost Restore process.
By Syed Ansar Ghani	2009-05-08 07:12:11
hi, just read your article related to Norton ghost. you have explained it in such an excellent way. i have a question. i will really appreciate your help and guidance. Do we have to have the same version of windows at the point of restoring, the one we had at the point of creating backup? i had vista home premium when i created the backup. currently i have Vista Ultimate, and i am unable to recover it successfully. i stuck at some point during the process. i have approx. 6 GB of backup. does the size make any difference? 2ndly during the process it stuck, and i was forced to restart the system, due to this interruption or unsuccessful restore, i nearly lost my hard drive. found it after extensive process of hard drive utilities. one more point i want to mention here is that i created the backup using Norton Ghost 12 and now i am using Ghost 14. could there be any problem with the versions? i will be really thankful to you for your time and suggestions. Best Regards S.A. Ghani
By blogster99	2009-05-05 20:43:54
Your question above: An incremental backup point will back up your system again (lets say a week later (when you schedule it), and only back up the files that have been changed since the last backup. The other choice will perform a full backup every time. (every single file, which should not be necessary every time you back up). note: Not to worry about the first backup anyways, because when you run either option for the first time, your backing up all files (obviously). The first time, "either choice" is the same (logically).

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