What does Ghost do with program files?

Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

You need to read up on how drive imaging software works:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Drive+imaging

If you saved the images on your hard drive and it died, you'd
be out of luck. The images are complete only for your machine, so
even saved right, you'd probably be out of luck if your machine went.

If you want to arrange things never again to have to reinstall Windows
on your computer, and are willing to make and manage images of your
hard drive, drive imaging software lets you install whichever you saved
in a few minutes - aps work immediately - rather than the long grind.

wrote in message
...
Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

" wrote:

Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?


It preserves everything.

If you were to make an image of your install, and the HD crashed, you could
install that image, and it would be EXACTLY like it was. All the product
keys would already be there, activated, and installed JUST AS THEY WERE. It
is an EXACT copy of the hard drive at that moment. Just make sure to keep
your backup's safe.

--
Dustin Harper

http://www.VistaRIP.com | Vista Resource & Information Page


wrote in message
...
Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

GHOST has several options, but the most common one a disk image. That will
backup/restore the entire hard drive, with the exception of a few large
files that XP will automatically re-create, namely pagefile.sys and
hiberfil.sys. (You could backup those too, but there is no value, and they
can take up a few Gig.) A disk image also contains the master boot record,
so it can be restored to an unformatted hard drive, and still run XP. (In
contrast, a partition image would usually not save the boot record, and thus
would not run XP after a restoration to a new hard drive, directly, although
it could be used with a few more steps.)

As for product keys/activation, usually restoring either a disk or a
partition image will not invalidate those things, so long as the underlying
hardware (usually meaning the motherboard) has not changed. I have done
this several times with XP, Office 2003, etc.

However, activation will likely fail, if you restore to a new machine (new
motherboard), even if the same brand/model. This is to prevent someone from
buying one license fo XP, MS Office, etc, installing on one PC, then cloning
to other PCs. Note that pre-XP software is less sensitive about this sort
of thing.

If the whole machine dies, then first contact the PC maker for possible
warrantee replacement of hardware, and any software that came with the PC.
Even if post-warrantee, they may offer some deal. After that, try
installing the software and see what it does. But, in general you would
need to contact each software vendor to get activated. This could be as
simple as trading a several sets od numbers with a computerized voice, or it
might involve talking to a real person.

But, be aware, if you are using OEM-type software (e.g., XP came
pre-installed), then that license is non-transferrable to any other
hardware, even if the PC is destroyed. In contrast, retail linceses, at
least from Microsoft, are infinitely transferrable, although they may
eventually ask what you are doing if you call them too often.

wrote in message
...
Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

"Bob Harris" wrote:

GHOST has several options, but the most common one a disk image. That will
backup/restore the entire hard drive, with the exception of a few large
files that XP will automatically re-create, namely pagefile.sys and
hiberfil.sys. (You could backup those too, but there is no value, and they
can take up a few Gig.) A disk image also contains the master boot record,
so it can be restored to an unformatted hard drive, and still run XP. (In
contrast, a partition image would usually not save the boot record, and thus
would not run XP after a restoration to a new hard drive, directly, although
it could be used with a few more steps.)

As for product keys/activation, usually restoring either a disk or a
partition image will not invalidate those things, so long as the underlying
hardware (usually meaning the motherboard) has not changed. I have done
this several times with XP, Office 2003, etc.

However, activation will likely fail, if you restore to a new machine (new
motherboard), even if the same brand/model. This is to prevent someone from
buying one license fo XP, MS Office, etc, installing on one PC, then cloning
to other PCs. Note that pre-XP software is less sensitive about this sort
of thing.

If the whole machine dies, then first contact the PC maker for possible
warrantee replacement of hardware, and any software that came with the PC.
Even if post-warrantee, they may offer some deal. After that, try
installing the software and see what it does. But, in general you would
need to contact each software vendor to get activated. This could be as
simple as trading a several sets od numbers with a computerized voice, or it
might involve talking to a real person.

But, be aware, if you are using OEM-type software (e.g., XP came
pre-installed), then that license is non-transferrable to any other
hardware, even if the PC is destroyed. In contrast, retail linceses, at
least from Microsoft, are infinitely transferrable, although they may
eventually ask what you are doing if you call them too often.

You forgot to give the weather report for the next 24 hours.

If the disk fails, Ghost will allow a quick and easy replacement.

If the computer fails it may help, bu the differences in hardware with a new
(and probably different model) computer may cause issues with getting Windows
to boot.

"Uncle Grumpy" wrote:

You forgot to give the weather report for the next 24 hours.

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/

If the disk fails, Ghost will allow a quick and easy replacement.

If the computer fails it may help, bu the differences in hardware
with a new (and probably different model) computer may cause issues
with getting Windows to boot.

"Uncle Grumpy" wrote:

You forgot to give the weather report for the next 24 hours.

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/

Which is usually remedied by doing an XP repair.

Here's a substitue weather report: Dark tonight, less dark tomorrow
until nightfall with periods of light.


--

Regards,

Twayne

OO0 is a GREAT MS Office replacement
www.openoffice.org

Please respond to the newsgroup, not to
my e-mail, so that all may benefit. I do not
always respond to newsgroup e-mails.

Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive?

Yes. In this case you would need the CD burned with the .iso that comes
with Ghost. Be sure to burn that CD just in case of such a situation.

Would they work immediately,

If only the drive were changed, it would work immediately. If you've
used reactiviation recently for other reasons recently, you might have
to make the free phone call instead of online activation but it's no big
deal at all.
Chances are good if only the drive changes it'll just work and that
will be it.


or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

No. Even if something went wrong you wouldn't need to get new product
keys; the ones you have would still work. This would only be an issue
if you also changed other components, especially the motherboard at the
same time w/r to XP, and not at all for other programs such as Office
apps.

HTH

--

Regards,

Twayne

OO0 is a GREAT MS Office replacement
www.openoffice.org

Please respond to the newsgroup, not to
my e-mail, so that all may benefit. I do not
always respond to newsgroup e-mails.

Thanks to all for your responses to my OP. I hadn't realized that the
motherboard is how it's determined whether a program is being
reinstalled on the same machine. Does that mean if a power surge
fries the motherboard, you're out of luck with Ghost or any other
imaging method?

Bob F

Only if you are using a BIOS locked OEM copy of Windows that came
preinstalled on the computer.

wrote in message
...
Thanks to all for your responses to my OP. I hadn't realized that the
motherboard is how it's determined whether a program is being
reinstalled on the same machine. Does that mean if a power surge
fries the motherboard, you're out of luck with Ghost or any other
imaging method?

Bob F

On Feb 5, 10:59 am, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
Only if you are using a BIOS locked OEM copy of Windows that came
preinstalled on the computer.

wrote in message

...

Thanks to all for your responses to my OP. I hadn't realized that the
motherboard is how it's determined whether a program is being
reinstalled on the same machine. Does that mean if a power surge
fries the motherboard, you're out of luck with Ghost or any other
imaging method?

Bob F

I was assuming that Dreamweaver, etc. all use motherboard-verification
and that I'd lose any purchases copy-protected programs if I lose the
motherboard.

Bob F

You can't assume that.

wrote in message
...
On Feb 5, 10:59 am, "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
Only if you are using a BIOS locked OEM copy of Windows that came
preinstalled on the computer.

wrote in message

...

Thanks to all for your responses to my OP. I hadn't realized that the
motherboard is how it's determined whether a program is being
reinstalled on the same machine. Does that mean if a power surge
fries the motherboard, you're out of luck with Ghost or any other
imaging method?

Bob F

I was assuming that Dreamweaver, etc. all use motherboard-verification
and that I'd lose any purchases copy-protected programs if I lose the
motherboard.

Bob F

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 19:44:21 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

Why ask HERE? Ghost is a program that is totally separate from the OS
and not even sold by MS!

Ask elsewhere

Because he's ghosting Windows. Lighten up.

"NoConsequence" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 19:44:21 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Will Norton Ghost preserve everything on my hard drive? I'm using
Windows XP, and I have purchased by download MS Office and
Dreamweaver. If my hard drive were to crash (or, worse, if the entire
machine were damaged beyond repair) would Ghost enable me to copy them
to a new hard drive? Would they work immediately, or would I need to
contact tech support at each vendor to explain the situation and get
new product keys?

Thank you,

Bob Feduniak

Why ask HERE? Ghost is a program that is totally separate from the OS
and not even sold by MS!

Ask elsewhere