nVRAID and GHOST *SOLVED*

Using Ghost in NVRAID

Problem

The Symantec Ghost Client can interface with hard disk controllers by accessing the

appropriate memory and hardware locations directly. However, in doing so, this can

bypass the RAID enhancements that are provided by the system BIOS. The system

BIOS understands the underlying disk and RAID array structures and formats. In

order to properly use Ghost to interact with a RAID volume, the user should ensure

that the tool is operating in a mode where it does not talk directly to the hardware

resources, but rather communicates using the system BIOS.

Solution

In order to use Ghost in a RAID volume, the user must:

1. Disable the Ghost Direct Disk Access

2. Force it to rely on Extended INT13 to access the disk

Ghost Version 7.5

To set these options for Ghost Version 7.5, do the following:

1. Start Ghost from the DOS prompt. (Not the Windows Command

2. Prompt session)

3. Select the “Options” (ALT+O) menu

4. Scroll to the “HDD Access” tab

5. Select the “Use Extended Interrupt 13h disk access” (ALT+E)

6. Select the “Disable direct IDE access support” (ALT+B)

7. Select the “Disable direct ASPI/SCSI access support” (ALT+B)

8. Press (ALT+A) to activate the “Accept” button to use the new settings

9. Proceed to run Ghost as normal

Ghost Version 8.0

To set the options for Ghost Version 8.0, do the following:

1. Use the command line option to disable direct disk access and enable INT13

2. In DOS prompt, start Ghost with this command line: ghost.exe -ffx -fni

Note:

ffx - Prefers the use of Extended Interrupt 13h disk access for hard disk

operations.

fni - Disable direct IDE access support for IDE hard disk operations.