Ghost32 Image Restore

[davidre1d]

Hello,

We are currently running into some issues when we try to restore an image back to the same system we took the image from. We are trying to build an automated DVD, that boots with WINPE, launches the ghost session, and pulls the image from the DVD, then writes it back to the disk as a certain size on the second partition. Here is our script:

ghost32.exe -clone,mode=restore,src=C:\Images\<image name>.GHO,dst=1,sze1=F,sze2=60416M -sure -rb

We are running the following command before the above command:

gdisk32.exe 1 /del /all

The issue is we want to set the second partition to 65 GIG, and leave the remaining 4 GIG as open space. However, Ghost keeps writing the entire disk out, instead of allowing us to resize according to all the research we have done, and the commands that are "supposed" to work.

Any insight into this problem would be appreciated.

Thank you

David

[dencorso]

You should use a partition image, not a full disk image, for what you want to work. And then use gdisk32 to delete, the to recreate the needed partition structure, before restoring the partition image... Then again, another, better and faster way to do it is to actually create a full disk image containing the complete stucture you want (say, compressed with the -z9 switch), and then just restore it... since it'll be a full-disk image, in this case, there's no real need to use gdisk32 to erase anything, because restoring the image will overwrite the whole disk. But if the second, smaller partition, is meant to start empty, just after image redeployment, make sure it's zeroed out (you may do this with sysinternals sdelete) before you create your master image, because zeroed-out free space compresses much better. Good luck!

[davidre1d]

The image is from a Dell Server, that has the utilities partition on it, which is only 40 MB. The second part of the image is the entire C:\ Drive, which is only 3.x GIG's, but images the remaining drive as 69 GIG's.

I was under the impression, that even if you created a partition, the image would over write that partition with the image you are restoring? Does gdisk32 actually allow for the creation of the partition, then Ghost32 will only restore to that partition based on the size we predetermined? This actually may help us resolve our problem.

[dencorso]

It all depends on what you tell Ghost32 to do, when acquiring the image: if you tell it to do a partiton image or a disk image. Even so, its possible to restore individual partitions from some types of disk images, but that's more tricky. So, the rule of thumb is a disk image overwrites the whole disk, while a partition image overwrites just the partition you point to it. Of course Gdisk32 allows you to do what you want. RTFM! Ghost_imp_guide.pdf

[Ponch]

Have you tried using smaller than "60416" to see if the command actually works or if it's a problem of Mega being 1000 vs 1024 ?