Ghost image vs. Format + Re-install...

[cYpHeR-]

Here's a good question:

When your pc "crashes," how many people format and re-install everything compared to the people that make a ghost image and just quickly reload that?

[mooker]

I usually just do a reload. Maybe it's cuz I'm too lazy to make an image of the computer once it's setup just how I want it :D . I dunno. But reloading doesn't take too long, not to mention you can just get any updates you need when you're done.

[LiGhTfast]

what do u use to make a ghost image??

norton ghost? and does it save a lot of time instead of reinstallin?

[ZzPcPzZ]

hey, wat about burining the whole hard-drive on CD, and just copying all the files when ur system crashes?will that work>?

[Baigley]

I made an image of my HDD right after i installed windows and got everything working just right...

It takes less than 7min to do the ghost, which does all of the following..

- Formats

- Installs Windows Again

I really like it, because i just have to tell it where the image is, and it does the rest... I do not have to stand around and type in ****. So thats what i would suggest

[Sleeper Veteran]

hmmm, lets see 20/30mins to restore a image or 5hours installing and tweaking to get my system back to the way i like it........

i wonder.

[freeza]

making IMages is a LOT better than formatting specially when you have settings galore and color settings registry tweaks/hacks all that **** that you'd forget to do again if you did format that along with all the programs you may have installed etc. but i guess a good format is good every once in a while

[ElGato]

I keep meaning to Ghost me PC, or Drive Image it, just never quite get 'round to it. It is quick, I would recommend it to anyone.

[PM5K]

It might change in the future but I usually just format and reinstall.

I don't Ghost because from one month to the next the applications I use can change, also they can be updated, and drivers get updated also.

Maybe in the future I'll consider it, maybe not.

[vodkacow]

umm...jus one question...

how much space does ghost require??

n' can i burn the image onto cd's???

[PM5K]

It really depends on how much is on your disk. You can use cd's for the backup, but not cdrw's last time I checked.

It might be possible to use cdrw's somehow, but from within the dos application I couldn't.

[Arpit]

on a 30 GB HD of which 10 GB is used, how big will the ghost image be? *approximately*...??

[wazat]

Ghosting is much better if you had to do what I did last year. Our company is contracted to the bigest steel producer in Africa and they requested a complete change from 386/486 and Pentium1/2 up to P3's running Windows 2000. Now all the PC's were already loaded with Windows 2000 when we received them but they needed to have updates and security settings done as well as Office 2000, Antivirus package and various programs installed. So doing something like 3000 installs was going to be much easier with a ghost.

So for about 2 months I was doing installs on a few hundred PC's. The image sure did help as it only took about 10 minutes per PC. Now to load the whole lot would have been around 2 hours per PC. Work out the difference and multiply that by 3000 and you get the idea on what a time saver it is.

But for a single user I guess formatting and installing once in a blue moon is not gonna be much of a problem. I wanted to image after my last format but never got round to it. Best is do as many updates as possible to the OS. Install must have software then tweak and then finally make an image. That way it is at it's best setup so that you can bugger it all up without a worry.

[cYpHeR-]

It would be interesting if it were possible to update images "on the fly" - as far as program and operating system updates are involved. Who knows, only time.

[Sleeper Veteran]

the last time i imaged mine, the total space taken on my HD was about 4.5GB and i got it onto 4CD's

[Crash5]

I didn't understand what this Ghost Image thing do.

Can someone explain me what is it do and what program do I need to use for this?

Thanks.

[Keldyn]

"Ghosting" is basically creating a copy or "image" of your harddrive which you can use to restore your system with later in case of failure as an example. The benefit of this is its fast, around 10 mins on average as opposed to an hour or two to reinstall manually and then your apps and favorite tweaks.

This image can be burned to cd and can be used as many times and on as many systems as you like. It is an exact copy, so it will restore everything, your apps, settings, and your OS.

Visit www.norton.com and see if they have a trial version of Norton Ghost on offer for download.

Greetz