I have easily and successfully used Norton Ghost 2001's ghostpe.exe program (DOS based) for both Win2K and XP. Using the "High" compression setting you get good results, and it will decompress to a new drive in 5-10 minutes. The backup takes about twice as long. You'll need a bootable floppy with CDROM drivers (mscdex.exe) -- the Sony ones were most versatile, but the Ghost DOS tools come with some, too.
Then I ran in to the following snag: Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise Edition). I had 5 partitions (created using FDISK prior to installation -- 1 primary, 1 extended with 4 logical in it).
Ghostpe.exe wouldn't back it up (NTFS error), and indeed it doesn't support it. So I installed Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate edition, and it wouldn't back it up either (have to run v.8, which requires you to license an annual support plan to buy it). Norton Ghost 2003 won't support it, either -- at least officially.
However, I had no problem backing the drives up with ghost.exe (the DOS program in the Symantec CE 7.5 tools only install). However, restoring the drives proved problematic -- only the C: drive appeared! The others could simply not be seen through windows.
So I tried drive partitioning software (in PartitionMagic 7.0, sometimes the NTFS format would become corrupt, and you have to change it to Fat32 and back again for Windows to recognize the drive in its' virtual memory dialog). However that software wouldn't install (OS not supported), neither would v.8 (not supported) -- though I could spend $550 for their enterprise version, which would support Server 2003. Yeah, right.
Veritas Backup Exec has the same problem -- no support for Server 2003 until the latest version, and that only in the enterprise edition for $500.
I found one partitioning program (www.v-com.com) which claimed to support the OS, and only cost $40. I bought it, and it recognized the other partitions just fine (through DOS). It unrecoverably mangled one of the drives, though, when I tried the NTFS-FAT32-NTFS thing.
However it referred to the Windows built-in "Disk Manager", and I found that via the Computer Management.msc dialog. That was the solution: You had to explicitly tell Windows to "see" those partitions. Once done, it saw them just fine.
As such did Symantec 7.5 corp. editions DOS ghost.exe work fine for me -- without added partition software, but with the Windows disk manager.
BTW, the build-in backup.exe in Windows backs up files just great -- but only if they aren't on C:. It made exact copies of my Registry, and of my D: drive -- both restored to pristing shape. The C: drive was another matter! It wouldn't backup about 1/3 of the Windows files -- including.exes and such. As such did that utility appear useless to me.
...they require encryption, and they require "continuous updating" of information from the user to the server. Hence would a one-time download or other request not be covered.
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I have easily and successfully used Norton Ghost 2001's ghostpe.exe program (DOS based) for both Win2K and XP. Using the "High" compression setting you get good results, and it will decompress to a new drive in 5-10 minutes. The backup takes about twice as long. You'll need a bootable floppy with CDROM drivers (mscdex.exe) -- the Sony ones were most versatile, but the Ghost DOS tools come with some, too. Then I ran in to the following snag: Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise Edition). I had 5 partitions (created using FDISK prior to installation -- 1 primary, 1 extended with 4 logical in it). Ghostpe.exe wouldn't back it up (NTFS error), and indeed it doesn't support it. So I installed Symantec Ghost 7.5 Corporate edition, and it wouldn't back it up either (have to run v.8, which requires you to license an annual support plan to buy it). Norton Ghost 2003 won't support it, either -- at least officially. However, I had no problem backing the drives up with ghost.exe (the DOS program in the Symantec CE 7.5 tools only install). However, restoring the drives proved problematic -- only the C: drive appeared! The others could simply not be seen through windows. So I tried drive partitioning software (in PartitionMagic 7.0, sometimes the NTFS format would become corrupt, and you have to change it to Fat32 and back again for Windows to recognize the drive in its' virtual memory dialog). However that software wouldn't install (OS not supported), neither would v.8 (not supported) -- though I could spend $550 for their enterprise version, which would support Server 2003. Yeah, right. Veritas Backup Exec has the same problem -- no support for Server 2003 until the latest version, and that only in the enterprise edition for $500. I found one partitioning program (www.v-com.com) which claimed to support the OS, and only cost $40. I bought it, and it recognized the other partitions just fine (through DOS). It unrecoverably mangled one of the drives, though, when I tried the NTFS-FAT32-NTFS thing. However it referred to the Windows built-in "Disk Manager", and I found that via the Computer Management .msc dialog. That was the solution: You had to explicitly tell Windows to "see" those partitions. Once done, it saw them just fine.
As such did Symantec 7.5 corp. editions DOS ghost.exe work fine for me -- without added partition software, but with the Windows disk manager.
BTW, the build-in backup.exe in Windows backs up files just great -- but only if they aren't on C:. It made exact copies of my Registry, and of my D: drive -- both restored to pristing shape. The C: drive was another matter! It wouldn't backup about 1/3 of the Windows files -- including .exes and such. As such did that utility appear useless to me.
...they require encryption, and they require "continuous updating" of information from the user to the server. Hence would a one-time download or other request not be covered.