Symantec Norton Ghost 10.0

Feature Limited

Posted Jan 21, 2006 - This program is lacking any serious features. It doesn't support XP's volume shadow copy, nor any similar feature of its own, which could lead to corrupt data if the data is being modified when the backup program is running. It also doesn't support customized image sizes when spanning, only a drop down of pre-selected sizes. It has no CD/DVD burning support, relying on your own burning program to do that. It will restore backups when booting off the product CD, but it will not create them. It will only create backups while running in Windows. It also doesn't feature backing up individual files or folders. It also doesn't support creating any bootable restore/recovery media disks (which is what I was told it could do when I bought it). The product requires you to be online to activate it within 15 days of installing, and I simply could not figure out how to delete a custom backup schedule once it was created. The bootable product CD has some nice features, like scanning for viruses and some troubleshooting features, but nothing truly functional and not worth using other than to restore a previous backup. Additionally, the product CD takes FOREVER to boot on a speedy system. The product includes a copy of Ghost 2003, which has some features that are lacking in the latest version, although the interface is clunky and hard to use for a beginner. It is also possible to create a bootable restore disk with the 2003 version, with the help of some online tutorials that tell you how to do it. The only significant feature Ghost 10 adds to Ghost 9 is encryption, and neither Ghost 10 nor Ghost 9 are worth the extra money over Ghost 2003. Overall, I'd say this program stinks and you're better off getting a competitor's product, or buy an old copy of 2003 by itself and learn the extra steps to make it worthwhile.

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Norton Ghost 10.0 (Full Product) worst edition yet!

Posted Mar 1, 2007 - Norton Ghost 10.0 (Full Product) does backup files and emails, but failed to make a complete image backup of hard drive after numerous attempts. I had an 80GB hard drive in my notebook and wanted to upgrade to a 160GB drive. Uninstalled Norton Ghost 10.0 and ended up using Seagate's DiscWizard for Windows and performed perfect image within 30 minutes.

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Product does everything that I need!

Posted Apr 2, 2006 - The product was easy to install, automatically found my external USB drive and created a default backup that was what I wanted, backed up everything, and allows me to restore just files and folders--I don't have to restore everything if I don't want to, which is something that worried me before I purchased the product.

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Norton Ghost 10.0

Posted Aug 13, 2006 - purchased this software to backup and install a larger hard drive. When I used it to ghost my existing hard drive to the new hard drive it didn't work as advertised. When I reconfigured and booted from the new hard drive after the "ghost" process there were all kinds of problems from the icons not loading to software that didn't work. I had to reinstall my original hard drive and removed the Ghost program. Tech support were of little help. Of course they blamed everything on my computer hardware or my failure to follow directions. Another waste of money on my part. Don't buy this product.

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I was able to create only 1 backup during the time ...

Posted Jun 20, 2006 - I was able to create only 1 backup during the time I had the product. I assume it was becuase I need to defrag my hard drive. Well, then I tried to make a follow-up backup of my hard drive and I kept getting errors. I tried everything... I ran norton system doctor, I defrag'd again, I ran chkdsk /f, which always came back with no problems to fix. I tried emailing Symantec tech support but it wasn't until I sent customer survice a nasty note, that I finally got a reply from tech support. Needless to say, they were never able to fix my problem. I am now using Power Quest Disk Image 5.5... and it works like a charm. To this day I am still dumbfounded as to why Ghost 10 did not work on my system.

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Norton Ghost 10.0

Posted Jan 3, 2006 - I have had previous trouble getting Ghost up and running,so I purchased version 10.0. The trouble I found with 10.0 appeared to be with the activation process. The frustations were all too familiar. I used Ghost successfully until about two years ago, when I installed an update. Meanwhile, I organized my large hard drive set up using the ghost methodology, with the result that my usual back up process, which involved copying entire drives on a rotating basis, doesn't function, and I'm resorting to all kind of mickey mouse oddities in an effot to back up my files.

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Nortons

Posted Sep 30, 2006 - Free Trail for 15 days I recommend don't be stupid go to the Norton Symantec website look to the left side of the screen for Trail software downloads; Download Try it and see if you like it or hate it First, but don't buy it first and cry about it later. Norton Ghost 10 I see that now the Norton Ghost Company has a Trial, of Norton Ghost 10, so I download it and tried it. At first I was Trying to make a image file of C: Drive and store it on Drive E: it said the file was to big, I look at Drive E: and it had 16 GB of free space on it, Drive C: was only 6 GB, I kept looking I finally saw, that it was trying to grab Drive D: and C: and put them both on Drive E: I could not figure out how to just select Drive C: only. I though LOL, I wont to back up my computer my way Norton Ghost 10 not yours, in the end I figure out that Norton Ghost 10 was more of a incremental kind of back up software were it creates check points, sort a like window XP lets you do check points. I do not like check points at all, I wonted to make a image file for a full restore in case of my computer crashes. So I will keep using Acronis True image 9, because it does make image files for a full restore. Norton ghost I have found out after some research that they never made the Ghost Software, it was made by another company called Binary Research, Norton bout it out and then just renamed it Norton Ghost, and now here again they just buy out a company called PowerQuest's and they rename it Norton Ghost 9 and 10. The PowerQuest’s company makes the DriveImage software that is repackaged and then relabeled as Norton Ghost 9 or 10, now that is innovation LOL Nortons Ghost 9 and 10 are for windows XP only and Norton Ghost 2003 is for every thing else, and this is why when you buy Nortons Ghost 9 or 10 it comes with 2 Disk in the box they include Ghost 2003 just in case you can't use Nortons Ghost 9 or 10. Plus you have a Activation process of Nortons Ghost in 15 days, and not a key like you get with other company like acronis software. After pulling my hair out with Norton Ghost 10 Free trial, I started the hunt for a Backup & Restore Software that would be faster, easier to use, and light on memory hogging. Acronis True image 9 impressed me with website reviews like cnet & user comments. So I download there Free Trial put it to use instantly. Within an hour of install, I understood the basic functions of the program, and created a full backup of my drive, for a complete restoration if need be (having lost family photo's and video's to virus about 2 years ago, I wonted a good back up solution.). The backup went cleanly and fast, I thought almost to fast just 4 minutes. I then wonted to test the back up image. So I did, The image file restored every thing, it was perfect no missing files at all, it restored the drive entirely without any issues! What a rewarding feeling! Thank you Acronis True image 9 The Acronis Company also builds ALL of there own software so they strive for excellence and quality all around. I'd recommend Acronis to anyone looking for a very robust backup & restore program that runs cleanly & without problems or hassles. Hay just go to Acronis website and try there 15 day trail you will love it and then you will buy it, you have nothing to lose at all a Free Demo. There is a Free 15 day trail of Norton Ghost 10; I say please try both Acronis True image 9 and Norton Ghost 10 see witch one you like better, I liked Aronis. PS if you decide to buy Acronis True Image 9, I saw it at www.newegg.com for $29.99 as a download or as retail box for $34.00 PS if you buy it, first uninstall the Trial version and then install the Full version you bout.

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Do NOT buy

Posted May 30, 2007 - I have used Ghost for years and had been using Ghost as part of Norton Systemworks 2003. After I installed the program, the rest of Systemworks did not work including my paid antiviral program. It caused multiple computer problems. Symantec tech support was of zero help. I ended up uninstalling this program, Systemworks, and then installed Ghost 2003 (which came with the program). Despite having used Symantec products for many years, I will never use their products again. I am looking for a replacement for Ghost 2003 as it does not work in my laptop. If Symantec continues with this trend, I would not be surprised to see them out of business.

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Would Not Work on My PC

Posted Nov 4, 2006 - I purchased Norton Ghost with high expectations of a simple mechanism to backup my hard drive - both in the case of a complete failure and in the case of lost files. After installation, it refused to back up my primary disk (a RAID drive). After searching product documentation, support web sites and forums, I got it to the point it would at least start a back up before failing. But that was it. It also was unable to back up a simple (non-RAID) drive. After playing with it for a month I gave up and listed it for sail on eBay.

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Norton Ghost 10.0

Posted Feb 11, 2006 - I've been a using this Ghost for years. The "Explorer" feature allows viewing of the images/recovery points as if they were additional drives from which selective file restores can be performed. The scheduler will perform backups/Recovery points (Rp) on my time and I choose full or incremental. These are great features as three family members use one computer and someone is bound to lose/delete something they wanted to keep. Ghost is so much better than the OEM "recovery" CD's because once you have the system the way you want (apps, AV) take an Rp for peace of mind, then set Ghost to backup after any future software installs.

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Norton Ghost 10.0

Posted Jun 12, 2006 - This is a good product once you learn to use it but I feel most users will be somewhat frustrated to start with.There is a excellent support at www.symantec.com.

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Great Application!

Posted May 6, 2006 - Ghost is a great application that I've been using various versions of it for many years. The last couple versions have let you do just about everything within Windows. I believe this is a great product and plan on continuing to use it for many more years.

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Ghost

Posted Feb 7, 2007 - Easy to use, fast and reliable. This is exactly what you would expect from this product. The tool has already proven invaluable when I had a crash and needed to restore.

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Long time Ghost user

Posted Nov 4, 2006 - I have been a user of Ghost since 1999. Version 9 was a major improvement after Symantec bought Powerquest in 2003 including for the first time on-line image and incrementals. Ghost 10 improves on performance especially to USB drives. My first grip with both v9.0 & v10.0 is that the software waits until the last CD/DVD is created before starting the verify pass. Ghost makes you swap the first and last disk a few times and load all the other disks in sequence. It should be able to verify each disk as it is created. Because it is time consuming, I only image to DVD once a quarter. I mainly use image & incrementals to an on-line disk and limit the file size to what will fit on a DVD. V10.0 added the ability to do more than one incremental in a day. Its a good feature if you make a lot of changes daily on your system. Restore works flawlessly from either an incremental or image to drives it sees including USB and firewire external drives. The only issue with the standalone mode is that I have not been able to get either version to recognize a stripped (raid 0) disk on my Promise controller even when I have loaded the Promise XP driver. I have not had any problems with mirror (raid 1), raid 5 or JBOD disks. My system disk is a raid 1 disk set. Another nice feature I like is the ability to look in the backups and restore individual files. It is great if you need go back to an earlier version of a file or recover a file deleted or corrupted.

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Norton Ghost - As Good As Good As It Gets!

Posted Jun 22, 2006 - Ghost is simply the standard by which all others are judged. It is reliable and works with just about everything out there. It will send an email when the scheduled backup is complete and has a browser to verify the integrity of the backup file. It will also copy hard drives for upgrades, etc. My wife and I run a small business and Ghost has saved us several times in the past and we simply wouldn't be without it. Doug in Falls Church, VA

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