Restoring from Ghost image - logs in then out again

[chipzoller]

Anyone ever come across this problem restoring a drive (or imaging onto another drive) from a ghost image...

Imaged to another hard drive (Ghost 9, updated) and then booted to it (Win XP pro, no dual boot, no partitions) but when I log in with my user/pass, it logs me in then immediately off again. Explorer never loads or anything, just log in, then automaticaly off.

[Fluffbutt]

I dunno about that one, but I've had a LOT of problems with Ghost after version 7. Corrupted image files is the main one - they all seem ok, read, test ok, but when ghosted back they're buggered.

Try Acronis DriveImage, no problems at all here with that one.

[chipzoller]

I'll take a look. I've never had a problem with Ghost that was substantial, and certainly no problem in doing a simple drive copy, such as what I'm talking about here. If anyone has any ideas drop me a line. thanks.

[spolja]

Maybe WinXP needs activation (exact thing occurs when WinXP is not activated within 1 month).

[chipzoller]

No, it's activated and has been for a while.

[spuddog]

If the hard drive is a different size than the original you may have to fix the MBR(master boot record). It involves using a windows boot disk, ( I use win98 )
I don't remember the exact command, but you can look around the net. It caused my system to hang at the login screen.

[raquete]

If the hard drive is a different size than the original..if the new hd(or partition)have more size this is irrelevant,if have less size Ghost will ask you something(i forgot the right words)before to put the image.remember,ghost always format(quick) the hd before restore and always will advice you about it.
the best version that i found and use is ghost6.5. boot the system with some boot disk(cd or diskette)and call the ghost executable.as you did the image with version 9,version 6 don't open images did with new versions.
chipzoller,
hint: always format new hds with 98 boot disk and this hd will accept all windows systems(98,ME,2k,xp..etc)if you format with new system versions,older windows don't will work(no matter if with ghost image too)
did you used fdisk to create partitions(if any) and did a full format before use ghost9?
if you have big patience,follow this hints and everything will work!
sorry my english.

[chipzoller]

@ raquete

In my experience, and it has been significant, it makes no difference if you format a HDD with a 98 boot disc. Since I don't partition a HDD and only install an OS to the whole physical disc, I usually have no file system present on the HDD to start. Ghost is smart enough to catch anything strange like you mentioned. I didn't figure out the problem, so I tried out Acronis TrueImage and it worked great. It does everything I need it to do, so I'll check into purchasing it. I would highly recommend it!

[raquete]

In my experience, and it has been significant, it makes no difference if you format a HDD with a 98 boot disc.format your hd in xp(for example) and try to intall any older ( 98se...another example) without fdisk and tell us what you got!hint: always format new hds with 98 boot disk and this hd will accept all windows systems(98,ME,2k,xp..etc)if you format with new system versions,older windows don't will work(no matter if with ghost image too) if you don't use others systems alone(no dual boot),then you don't need it.

Since I don't partition a HDD and only install an OS to the whole physical disc, I usually have no file system present on the HDD to startwithout any system present? i never did but sounds strange(means "impossible" depending of the OS)install any OS without fdisk and format first! :confused:

Anyone ever come across this problem restoring a drive (or imaging onto another drive) from a ghost image...
In my experience, and it has been significant,.... in my short experience using ghost (5 maybe 6 years) and computer technician for 20 years i never had any problem with ghost image/restore.
i have images from all win OS alone or dual boot...all works but the hd was fdisk/format first!
think now what can be wrong?!?!? (seems impossible,i know)

Acronis TrueImage ... I would highly recommend it! yeah,seems cool but ghost65 with only 726Kb amaze me,i can take it in one single floppy disk and run "all jobs" ... and don't need to install.
;)

[chipzoller]

I don't know...I've never wanted or needed to install an older OS from a Windows XP format. I usually either use WinXP or some flavor of Linux.

Since I don't partition a HDD and only install an OS to the whole physical disc, I usually have no file system present on the HDD to start

Again, I've never done it (or needed to) with Win98 or ME. All the "newer" OSes will offer to partition and format the partition when installing.

in my short experience using ghost (5 maybe 6 years)

Well then I guess we're about even :) I've never had a problem with Ghost until now. It is still a great tool to use, but it seems it's leaning more towards "bloatware" with the newer versions.

Speaking of imaging software, ever used DriveImage XML? I came across it yesterday but haven't checked it out.


You mentioned having images from all different OSes, and this goes hand in hand with swapping a HDD into a new system (new motherboard for example): One problem I've found with restoring images created with one hardware setup and moving it something new, or moving an old drive with one setup and transporting to another system is (with WinXP anyway) the OS not being able to boot because of incompatible chipset drivers. This has happened to me several times in the past and I haven't found a way to remedy the situation. You may swap a drive into a new system and boot only to be stopped by the BSOD and a driver stop error, same thing with a ghost image. Have you ever had this problem? I'm not sure what can be done to remove the vendor-specific chipset drivers so that the system boots on the new hardware with just default drivers...maybe a driver rollback or uninstall?

[raquete]

Have you ever had this problem? I'm not sure what can be done to remove the vendor-specific chipset drivers so that the system boots on the new hardware with just default drivers i'm right(with restrictions) that here is your problem!
i have images from differents systems but to be used in the same pc.

(new motherboard for example)
if you change the hardware,better is do another new image. i never take the image from one pc to another because is very bored configure "all again",was impossible in some cases when i upgrade to a new one.
better is a new image to a new pc...i always install all from start and do a new image.
:-)

[chipzoller]

No, I wasn't implying that my problem with the log-in/log-out problem was swapping a ghost image to a new system with new hardware. That was just a sort-of "by the way" comment.

But I'd still like to know how to fix this problem in the future.

[raquete]

But I'd still like to know how to fix this problem in the future. me too!!!
believe or not: a friend call me in telephone now talking that have the same problem!!! :eek:
he is not a member here but is reading this thread...(i send the link,of course)
if we're lucky,he can find the solution,who knows?!??

HNY chipzoller! :-)

[chipzoller]

Well, like I said, the problem is because the system-specific chipset drivers you load in your OS that makes speed increases possible. But because these are loaded as critical startup drivers (even in safemode, i think) it makes it impossible to start the same OS in different hardware environment. This happened to me specifically when I had an OS with Via drivers and I switched it over to an Intel-based motherboard. You should probably try going into the IDE controller and motherboard control group in the device manager and seeing if you can either uninstall or rollback those chipset-specific drivers in favor of generic system drivers.

I hope some other people jump in this discussion as I could use some other opinions here.

You can't change the thread topic, can you?