Creating a basic Ghost USB Boot floppy disk
The first step in getting setup to do Ghost backups is to create a floppy disk that can:
- Boot the computer into MS-DOS. And while doing so:
- Install drivers that enable the computer to recognize a hard drive attached to the USB port.
Ghost 2003 has a Boot Wizard program that does all that.
Creating a basic Norton Ghost 2003 USB Boot floppy disk:
The Ghost USB boot floppy disk does not have the usual MS-DOS boot record, the instructions used to start DOS.
The boot instruction code is “hidden” in the first sector on the first track of a boot floppy disk.
Ghost adds some instructions to the boot record that are probably part of recognizing the USB port.
So, even though it appears to be a regular MS-DOS boot disk, its boot sector code is different.
Only the first 43 bytes of the boot record instruction program code are identical, thereafter the program codes differ.
While it appears you can just format the floppy disk as MS-DOS and then do the usual: Copy System Files
to build the Ghost USB Boot floppy disk, it is probably best to use the disk Ghost 2003 creates.
However, you can make Ghost USB Boot floppy disk copies by using the Windows command: Copy Disk
You use Ghost 2003 to create this special Ghost boot floppy disk. Not complicated, just a bit tedious.
Boot floppy disk initial setup:
– You first will need to install Norton Ghost 2003 to get at some of the needed files.
- Then, determine you have the correct file: Aspiehci.sys Use the Windows Find Files feature to locate it in C:.
Size: 52,106 bytes, 5/28/03 is correct. 49,750 bytes 8/14/02, is wrong, will not work. Very sorry about that.
You can run the LiveUpdate program that came with Ghost 2003 to download the latest version. Or, click here.
– If you are using Windows 98SE, here are the steps that create the initial boot floppy disk:
Format a floppy Disk #1. Then on it do: Copy System Files You might also give it this label: Ghost USB
This installs the standard MS-DOS system files onto the floppy disk.
Format a second floppy Disk #2. Do not bother copying the System files into it.
- If you are using Windows versions XP, ME, 2000, the above steps need to be modified:
Those version does not have a floppy Copy System Files selection. Just do the floppy format.
Instead, you need to manually get the three MS-DOS system files and copy them onto formatted Disk #1.
To get the files, you can click on these links:
IO.SYS Save it to the Disk #1 floppy.
COMMAND.COM Save it to the Disk #1 floppy.
MSDOS.SYS It will load and display as a text page.
Then save it as a “Text Document – MS-DOS Format” to the Disk #1 floppy.
Note: MSDOS.SYS must be on the floppy, even if it is completely empty.
This does not make that floppy disk “bootable”, only provides the Boot Wizard with files it needs.
Create the Ghost 2003 USB Boot floppy disk:
It’s assumed you have already installed Norton Ghost 2003 on your computer.
With the floppy Disk #1 in the drive:
Start the Norton Ghost application program.
In it select: Ghost Utilities
Select: Norton Ghost Boot Wizard.
Select: Standard Ghost Boot Disk
For External Storage Options, select: USB 2.0 Support
And also select: Assign DOS Drive Letters
Select: Use MS-DOS
If you need to “Get MS-DOS”, the Wizard can get it from the inserted Disk #1. Because you placed its three DOS files there.
Do the recommended floppy disk Quick Format operations:
To format you select these steps: Start > OK It formats. When finished, select: OK > Close
It will announce: “….. not enough room on a single disk ….”. Select: OK That’s OK. We’ll fix this later.
It will then copy files to Disk #1.
Then you insert floppy Disk #2.
Again do the recommended floppy disk Quick Format operations:
To format you select these steps: Start > OK It formats. When finished, select: OK > Close
It will then copy files to Disk #2. Mostly, the big Ghost.exe file: 1,001 KB, 10/01/02
It is then “Finished”. To exit click on the upper right X
Edit the USB Boot floppy disk:
Our goal is to require only one floppy disk. But, available disk space is small. Stuff needs to be removed.
The above Ghost Wizard operations copied some files that are not needed, or are to be changed.
- In floppy Disk #1:
Delete the Ghost folder. It’s empty.
In the USB folder, move the Aspiehci.sys file out of that folder up into the floppy “root” directory.
Then delete the USB folder.
Open this file into WordPad: Config.sys
Edit the text to be:
DEVICE = aspiehci.sys /int /all <— Notice that USB\ must be removed.
LASTDRIVE = Z
Be certain to save it as: Text Document – MS-DOS Format
Open this file into WordPad: Autoexec.bat * See the note at the bottom.
Delete all the text in the lower portion to edit it to be just:
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+08:00
GUEST.EXE
Be certain to save it as: Text Document – MS-DOS Format
Delete this unused file: Mouse.com Better yet, first save it somewhere for future use.
- In floppy Disk #2:
In the Ghost folder, copy this big file out onto the Windows desktop: Ghost.exe Just for temporary storage.
Then copy Ghost.exe from the desktop onto floppy Disk #1. Now you can delete Ghost.exe from the desktop.
——————————————————–
The Disk #1 floppy disk now has these eight files: Now you do not need floppy Disk #2.
IO.sys MSDOS.sys Command.com Guest.exe Aspiehci.sys Config.sys Autoexec.bat Ghost.exe
You now have the basic bare-bones Ghost USB Boot floppy disk.
If you boot the computer using it, it will install the needed USB drivers, and assign the USB drive partition letter. Then load MS-DOS.
If you want to make extra copies of this basic disk, use the Windows “Copy Disk” operation.
Next, you need to add your special Ghost Backup, or Restore, batch files to Disk #1.
There is now only about 22 KB of free space on the floppy Disk #1. Just barely made it.
Now that you have the basic floppy disk that boots the computer and recognizes the USB port, you are half way there.
The next step is to install the batch files you create that define the backup / restore operations you want done.
Assigning the Guest backup partition letter:
You might find this useful. There is a switch that you can append to Guest.exe to force it to assign a partition letter.
Guest.exe letter=x
This will assign the letter X to the Guest backup partition. X is high enough it probably will not interfere with other
partition letters you use. This can avoid having to edit the backup partition letters in the B-Script and R-Script files.
For more details on using Guest see: http://24.237.160.4/files/drivers/iomega/FLPY52/GUESTHLP.TXT
Booting from a CD-ROM disk:
If your computer does not have a floppy disk, then it is possible to boot from a special CD-ROM boot disk.
One way to create that boot disk is to use a CR-ROM writing program, like Nero Express 5.5.
Select its “CD-ROM boot disk” feature, and have it copy all the files on your Ghost 2003 Boot floppy disk.
The program will write all those files to the CD-ROM disk, which is also made “bootable”.
The computer’s BIOS ROM selections must be set to boot first from the CD drive, not the hard drive.
You insert the Ghost Boot CD-ROM disk then restart the computer. It will boot from that disk.
Then things proceed much as they do with the Ghost Boot floppy disk.
At “General failure writing drive A, Abort, Retry, Fail?” simply select “A”.
Then the A:/> prompt appears, just as with a floppy disk. Proceed as with a Ghost Boot floppy disk.
Of course, it is not possible to edit any of the files on the CD-ROM disk. So, you might want multiple versions.
And it is not possible to halt the Ghost backup / restore operations before they are all completed.
