So, I decide to backup my notebook computer using Norton Ghost, which does so in an arcane fashion by dropping to DOS, backing up everything, then rebooting into Windows. It does this because you can’t backup everything while in Windows because Windows has files open and you can’t backup an open file.
The backup finishes. Ghost reboots … and goes back to DOS again. Hello, I want my Windows! Nothing worked. I poked around a bit in DOS, thought maybe I’d tweak things a bit, decided this might be dumb if not disastrous so I called Symantec tech support.
Shiva in India walked me through the process. It required some serious voodoo. We reset the BIOS to boot off the CD then ran some major league propeller-head DOS commands and happily, my Windows returned back from the Phantom Lands. Yikes. I’m a hardened pro, and this one even unnerved me.
Norton Ghost appears to have major problems if there are any USB devices active besides the one you are backing up to. In 2005, this so last century. So, no more Ghost for me. Anyone know of alternatives?