bootable CD
[432 byte] By [jet9153] at [2007-11-19 10:01:19] 
I am trying to automate norton ghost on several computers. The problem is that some of these computers do not have floppy drives. I am working with norton 7.5 and Easy cd creator 5 platnium on windows XP and 2000. From what I have read the CD has to be windows 98 format for norton ghost to boot properly. I can not parition the computers. So my question is, how do I make a bootable CD for norton ghost that does not use a floppy?
# 1 Re: bootable CD
Just use Easy CD Creator to do a bootable CD. From there make it emulate a 1.44 floppy disk. On the floppy disk you emulate, make it a Windows 98 bootdisk with Norton Ghost.PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:40:25 >
# 2 Re: bootable CD
okay thanks peejavery, I'll try that. One other question...I just realized that the ghost image will not fit onto a CD and i can not user a DVD, can i also map to a network server from the CD, access a ghost iamge and load it to the HDD?jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:41:25 >
# 3 Re: bootable CD
That all depends on what type of login system you have. If you have a Novell network, you can set the server to allow DOS login. There are DOS abilities to log on to server, the problem is loading all the drivers. The biggest issue is finding a dos driver for your NIC if you have a newer card.PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:42:28 >
# 4 Re: bootable CD
Worst comes to worse, can you just pop in the harddrive with the image and then ghost from that?PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:43:33 >
# 5 Re: bootable CD
I want my solution to work automatically on any system and between having the correct NIC driver and having to login to access the network this is a little tricky. Thank you for your input, I am going to continue researching for possible alternatives, like paritioning or other software applications.jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:44:32 >
# 6 Re: bootable CD
Right now, your problem lies with having a ghost that is larger than 700MB. Am I correct?If this is so, another software will not solve the problem unless it can log into a remote server. You might find one but I have yet to see software that can do this.
As concerning partitions, they are on the same drive and it would come to little or no use at all.
If your machines are new enough, you could use an external HD connected through USB or FireWire and ghost from that.
PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:45:35 >
# 7 Re: bootable CD
First of all thank you peejavery for your help so far. My thought are jumping around alot b/c i am working at a new location, so i am learning how things work here as we speak. When i try to make the boot it fails.I tried with Easy CD Creator 5, using a boot disk that i made with norton ghost, when i rebooted ~4 garbage characters were printed to the screen. If i pressed a key the system would output more garbage, so i just rebooted manually.
I downloaded the trial version of Nero SmartStart Reloaded. Again making the bootable CD with ghost.exe on it, emulating a 1.44MB floppy disk. When I rebooted the system said "Cannot boot from CD Code 4" and then it began to boot from my HDD.
Does anyone (peejavery) have any ideas of what i am doing wrong?
jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:46:39 >
# 8 Re: bootable CD
I am sorry about this taking so long. There is only so much to do with forums. Have you ever looked at http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm. It is a great site for working with drives before operating systems.You can use this to make a formatted 1.44mb bootdisk and then use that as an image for a bootable cd.
PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:47:32 >
# 9 Re: bootable CD
No worries about about the time. I've learned alot already about the boot procedure, but aparently not enough.I do not have a floppy drive on my labtop but I found a friend of mine who does. I took the Norton Ghost bootable floppy disk, that is tested to work on his laptop. I then used Nero to burn a bootable CD using the floppy. I configured the burn so that it would be fully functional in DOS, according to Nero( removing relaxed parameters, ISO 9660 chars, level 1). After burning the CD i rebooted his system after taking the floppy disk out and i got the same garbage data from before.
To ensure that these machines can actually boot off of a CD i downloaded the Ultimate Boot Disk ISO and that booted and functioned properly.
I am going to try and play with the Ultimate Boot disk ISO to incorporate Ghost and modify the autoexec to run Ghost for me. I'll let you know how it goes. If you have any other suggestions please feel free to let me know.
jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:48:34 >
# 10 Re: bootable CD
I've tried making a bootable CD based off my Norton ghost boot disk with no success. I tried using Easy CD Creator 5, and trial version of Nero 6 Reloaded. For Nero i followed the instructions in the help manual for making a bootable CD. Everytime I boot off a CD, a few garbage characters are printed to the screen. If i press a key the same garbage characters are printed again.Two of the boot CDs i made said "Cannot boot from CD code 4" and then immedaitely booted my OS. I can not remeber exactly what i did to get that. I have burned liek 10 CDs by now i am starting to forget what did what.
I downloaded the iso of ultimate bootdisk, burned to a CD as an image and that booted successfully to DOS, so i know my labtop supports bootable CDs.
Btw i am working with a IBM A31p labtop running Windows XP Pro. I want to boot Norton Ghost in DOS without the use of a floppy, b/c i do not have a floppy drive. A friend of mine has the same labtop but with a floppy disc drive so i use his to create the CDs.
Any suggestions would be very helpful
jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:49:35 >
# 11 Re: bootable CD
i forgot. Once i modified the ultimate bootdisk that no longer worked.jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:50:34 >
# 12 Re: bootable CD
I figured it out. I created a bootable CD by following the instructions at http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ section: Bootable dos CD-Rom.jet9153 at 2007-11-10 3:51:35 >
# 13 Re: bootable CD
Wow, I am an idiot. We use BartPE for our IT department. I totally forgot about that. I guess I got on a one track mind. Sorry.PeejAvery at 2007-11-10 3:52:41 >
