User manual SYMANTEC GHOST 14

Norton GhostTM Norton Ghost User's Guide The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Documentation version 8.0 Legal Notice Copyright © 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Federal acquisitions: Commercial Software - Government Users Subject to Standard License Terms and Conditions. Symantec, the Symantec Logo, LiveUpdate, Symantec pcAnywhere, Symantec Backup Exec, Norton, Symantec NetBackup, and Symantec Backup Exec Restore Anyware are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Windows Vista, MS-DOS, .NET, and the Windows logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. VeriSign® is a registered trademark of Verisign, Inc. 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THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be "commercial computer software" and "commercial computer software documentation" as defined in FAR Sections 12.212 and DFARS Section 227.7202. Symantec Corporation 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino, CA 95014 USA http://www.symantec.com Technical Support Symantec Technical Support maintains support centers globally. Technical Support's primary role is to respond to specific queries about product feature and function, installation, and configuration. The Technical Support group also authors content for our online Knowledge Base. The Technical Support group works collaboratively with the other functional areas within Symantec to answer your questions in a timely fashion. For example, the Technical Support group works with Product Engineering and Symantec Security Response to provide alerting services and virus definition updates. Symantec's maintenance offerings include the following: A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the right amount of service for any size organization A telephone and web-based support that provides rapid response and up-to-the-minute information Upgrade insurance that delivers automatic software upgrade protection Global support that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week worldwide. Support is provided in a variety of languages for those customers that are enrolled in the Platinum Support program Advanced features, including Technical Account Management For information about Symantec's Maintenance Programs, you can visit our Web site at the following URL: www.symantec.com/techsupp/ Select your country or language under Global Support. The specific features that are available may vary based on the level of maintenance that was purchased and the specific product that you are using. Contacting Technical Support Customers with a current maintenance agreement may access Technical Support information at the following URL: www.symantec.com/techsupp/ Select your region or language under Global Support. Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the system requirements that are listed in your product documentation. Also, you should be at the computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to recreate the problem. When you contact Technical Support, please have the following information available: Product release level Hardware information Available memory, disk space, and NIC information Operating system Version and patch level Network topology Router, gateway, and IP address information Problem description: Error messages and log files Troubleshooting that was performed before contacting Symantec Recent software configuration changes and network changes Licensing and registration If your Symantec product requires registration or a license key, access our technical support Web page at the following URL: www.symantec.com/techsupp/ Select your region or language under Global Support, and then select the Licensing and Registration page. Customer service Customer service information is available at the following URL: www.symantec.com/techsupp/ Select your country or language under Global Support. Customer Service is available to assist with the following types of issues: Questions regarding product licensing or serialization Product registration updates such as address or name changes General product information (features, language availability, local dealers) Latest information about product updates and upgrades Information about upgrade insurance and maintenance contracts Information about the Symantec Value License Program Advice about Symantec's technical support options Nontechnical presales questions Issues that are related to CD-ROMs or manuals Maintenance agreement resources If you want to contact Symantec regarding an existing maintenance agreement, please contact the maintenance agreement administration team for your region as follows: Asia-Pacific and Japan: contractsadmin@symantec.com Europe, Middle-East, and Africa: semea@symantec.com North America and Latin America: supportsolutions@symantec.com Additional Enterprise services Symantec offers a comprehensive set of services that allow you to maximize your investment in Symantec products and to develop your knowledge, expertise, and global insight, which enable you to manage your business risks proactively. Enterprise services that are available include the following: Symantec Early Warning Solutions These solutions provide early warning of cyber attacks, comprehensive threat analysis, and countermeasures to prevent attacks before they occur. Managed Security Services These services remove the burden of managing and monitoring security devices and events, ensuring rapid response to real threats. Symantec Consulting Services provide on-site technical expertise from Symantec and its trusted partners. Symantec Consulting Services offer a variety of prepackaged and customizable options that include assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and management capabilities, each focused on establishing and maintaining the integrity and availability of your IT resources. Educational Services provide a full array of technical training, security education, security certification, and awareness communication programs. Consulting Services Educational Services To access more information about Enterprise services, please visit our Web site at the following URL: www.symantec.com Select your country or language from the site index. Contents Technical Support ............................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1 Introducing Norton GhostTM ............................................... 13 Getting started ............................................................................ What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 .................................................... New features and enhancements added in the previous release ........................................................................... About the Advanced page .............................................................. Where to find more information ...................................................... 13 14 15 17 18 Chapter 2 Installing Norton Ghost ...................................................... 19 Preparing for installation ............................................................... System requirements .............................................................. Supported file systems and removable media .............................. Unavailable features ............................................................... Installing Norton Ghost ................................................................. Completing the installation ...................................................... Activating Norton Ghost later ................................................... Setting up your first backup ..................................................... Updating Norton Ghost ................................................................. Uninstalling the product ................................................................ 19 19 20 21 22 24 25 25 25 26 Chapter 3 Ensuring the recovery of your computer ........................ 27 About ensuring the recovery of your computer .................................. Testing Symantec Recovery Disk ..................................................... If driver validation fails ................................................................. Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD .................................. 27 28 28 29 Chapter 4 Getting Started .................................................................... 31 Key product components ............................................................... How you use Norton Ghost ............................................................. Starting Norton Ghost ................................................................... Configuring Norton Ghost default options ........................................ Selecting a default backup destination ....................................... 31 32 33 34 36 8 Contents Adjusting the effects of a backup on computer performance ........... Adjusting default tray icon settings ........................................... Managing file types ............................................................... Using aliases for external drives ................................................ Configuring FTP settings for use with Offsite Copy ....................... Logging Norton Ghost messages ............................................... Enabling email notifications for product (event) messages ............. 37 38 39 41 42 42 44 Chapter 5 Best practices for backing up your data ........................ 47 47 48 48 49 49 51 51 52 53 53 54 56 About backing up your data ............................................................ Choosing a backup type ................................................................. Best practices for backing up ......................................................... About backups ....................................................................... Before you back up ................................................................. During a backup ..................................................................... When the backup is complete ................................................... Additional tips about backups ......................................................... After defining your backup job ........................................................ Viewing the properties of a backup job ....................................... About selecting a backup destination .............................................. About backing up dual-boot computers ............................................ Chapter 6 Backing up entire drives .................................................... 57 Defining a drive-based backup ....................................................... Running a One Time Backup ..................................................... Files excluded from drive-based backups .................................... About network credentials ....................................................... Run command files during a backup .......................................... Setting advanced options for drive-based backups .............................. Editing advanced backup options .............................................. About recovery point encryption .............................................. Verifying a recovery point after creation .................................... Viewing the progress of a backup .............................................. About setting a compression level for drive-based backups ................... About Offsite Copy ....................................................................... How Offsite Copy works ................................................................. Using external drives as your Offsite Copy destination .................. Using a network server as your Offsite Copy destination ................ Using an FTP server as your Offsite Copy destination .................... 57 63 65 66 66 68 69 70 71 72 72 73 73 74 75 76 Contents 9 Chapter 7 Backing up files and folders .............................................. 79 Defining a file and folder backup .................................................... 79 Folders excluded by default from file and folder backups ..................... 82 Chapter 8 Running and managing backup jobs ............................... 83 Running an existing backup job immediately .................................... Run a backup with options ....................................................... Adjusting the speed of a backup ..................................................... Stopping a backup or recovery task .................................................. Verifying that a backup is successful ............................................... Editing backup settings ................................................................. Enabling event-triggered backups ................................................... Enabling Symantec ThreatCon Response .................................... Editing a backup schedule ............................................................. Turning off a backup job ............................................................... Deleting backup jobs .................................................................... Adding users who can back up your computer ................................... 83 84 85 86 86 87 87 88 89 90 90 90 Chapter 9 Backing up remote computers from your computer ......................................................................... 93 About backing up other computers from your computer ...................... 93 Adding computers to the Computer List ............................................ 94 Deploying the agent ...................................................................... 95 Using the Norton Ghost Agent ....................................................... 97 Managing the agent through Windows Services ................................. 98 Best practices for using services ..................................................... 99 Opening Services ................................................................. 100 Starting or stopping the agent service ...................................... 100 Setting up recovery actions when the agent does not start ............ 101 Viewing Norton Ghost Agent dependencies ............................... 102 Controlling access to Norton Ghost ............................................... 103 Running Norton Ghost using different user rights ...................... 105 Chapter 10 Monitoring the status of your backups ......................... 107 About monitoring backups ........................................................... Rescanning a computer's hard disk .......................................... Monitoring backup protection from the Home page .......................... Monitoring backup protection from the Status page ......................... Configuring Norton Ghost to send SNMP traps ................................. About the Norton Ghost management information base .............. 107 108 108 109 112 113 10 Contents Customize status reporting ........................................................... Viewing drive details ................................................................... Improving the protection level of a drive ......................................... Using event log information to troubleshoot problems ...................... 113 114 115 116 Chapter 11 Exploring the contents of a recovery point .................. 119 About exploring recovery points ................................................... Exploring a recovery point through Windows Explorer ...................... Mounting a recovery point from Windows Explorer ..................... Opening files within a recovery point ............................................. Using a search engine .................................................................. Unmounting a recovery point drive ............................................... Viewing the drive properties of a recovery point ............................... 119 120 121 121 122 123 123 Chapter 12 Managing backup destinations ...................................... 125 About backup destinations ........................................................... How backup data works ............................................................... About drive-based backups ..................................................... About file and folder backups .................................................. Managing recovery points ............................................................ Cleaning up old recovery points ............................................... Deleting a recovery point set ................................................... Deleting recovery points within a set ........................................ Making copies of recovery points ............................................ Converting a recovery point to a virtual disk format .......................... Managing file and folder backup data ............................................. Viewing how much file and folder backup data is being stored ........................................................................... Limiting the number of file versions to keep .............................. Manually deleting files from your file and folder backup .............. Finding versions of a file or folder ............................................ Automating management of backup data ........................................ Moving your backup destination .................................................... 125 125 126 126 127 127 128 128 129 130 133 133 134 134 134 135 136 Chapter 13 Recovering files, folders, or entire drives ..................... 139 About recovering lost data ........................................................... Recovering files and folders by using file and folder backup data ......... Recovering files and folders by using a recovery point ....................... Opening files and folders stored in a recovery point .................... If you cannot find the files or folders you want ........................... Recovering a secondary drive ........................................................ 139 139 141 143 143 144 Contents 11 About LightsOut Restore .............................................................. 147 Setting up and using LightsOut Restore .................................... 147 Configuring LightsOut Restore ................................................ 148 Chapter 14 Recovering a computer ..................................................... 151 About recovering a computer ....................................................... Starting a computer by using the recovery environment .................... Configuring your computer to boot from a CD ............................ Preparing to recover a computer .................................................... Scanning for viruses ............................................................. Checking your hard disk for errors ........................................... Recovering a computer ............................................................... Restoring multiple drives by using a system index file ....................... Recovering files and folders from the recovery environment .............. Exploring your computer ....................................................... Using the networking tools in the recovery environment ................... Starting networking services .................................................. Using the pcAnywhere thin host for a remote recovery ............... Mapping a network drive in the recovery environment ................ Configuring network connection settings ................................. Viewing properties of recovery points and drives .............................. Viewing properties of a recovery point ..................................... Viewing the properties of a drive within a recovery point ............. About the Support Utilities .......................................................... 151 152 153 154 154 156 156 160 161 163 163 163 163 166 166 167 168 168 169 Chapter 15 Copying a drive .................................................................. 171 About copying a drive .................................................................. Preparing to copy drives .............................................................. Copying one hard drive to another hard drive .................................. Drive-to-drive copying options ................................................ 171 171 172 173 Appendix A Using a search engine to search recovery points ....... 175 About using a search engine to search recovery points ....................... Enabling search engine support .................................................... Recovering files using Google Desktop's Search Desktop feature .......... If a file cannot be found using Google Desktop ........................... 175 175 177 178 Index ................................................................................................................... 179 12 Contents Chapter 1 Introducing Norton GhostTM This chapter includes the following topics: Getting started What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 About the Advanced page Where to find more information Getting started Norton Ghost provides advanced backup and recovery for your computer. Protect your documents, financial records, presentations, photos, music, videos, historical documents, or any other kinds of data you keep on your computer by making a backup of your computer's entire hard disk. Or, limit your backup to include only those files and folders that mean the most to you. You can schedule backups to capture your changes automatically as you work from day to day. Or start a backup manually at any time. You can also easily configure Norton Ghost to run a backup in response to specific events. For example, a backup can be started when a particular application is started, or when a specified amount of new data has been added to the drive. When you experience a problem with your computer, you can restore a file, folder, or an entire drive, to return your computer to a previous, working state with the operating system, applications, and data files intact. Or if you accidently delete a personal file, get it back with a few simple steps. 14 Introducing Norton GhostTM What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 Using easy-to-follow wizards, set up fast and reliable backups that run while you continue to work. Or schedule your backups to run after hours when you are no longer using your computer. When disaster strikes, Norton Ghost helps you recover your computer from the effects of many common problems, including Virus attacks: Damage might be done before a virus is quarantined. Faulty software installations: Some software can negatively affect your computer's performance, slowing it down to the point that opening programs or documents can require too much time. But once installed, uninstalling a product might not recover unintentional damage done during an install. Hard drive failure: Data can become corrupted on your system drive (typically C), making it impossible to start your operating system Files accidentally deleted or overwritten: Accidental deletion of files is common, but often costly. Corrupted files: Individual files and folders can become corrupted by viruses, or when a program used to modify them encounters an error. What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 Norton Ghost includes many enhancements and new features. Refer to the following table for information about the latest features and enhancements: Note: Not all features listed are available in all versions of this product. Feature Support for NTFS partitions Description Norton Ghost now supports NTFS partitions up to 16TB (formatted with 4k clusters). The new Offsite Copy feature adds an additional level of protection to your data by copying recovery points to a second hard disk drive. You can use an external USB or FireWire drive, or copy them over the network to a remote location through a local area connection, or using FTP. See "About Offsite Copy" on page 73. Offsite Copy Introducing Norton GhostTM What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 15 Feature Description Create and manage aliases for your external To help you more easily identify external drives drives for use as backup destinations, Norton Ghost lets you assign an alias to each external drive. Doing so does not change the drive label, but is for use only when you are accessing those drives from within Norton Ghost. See "Using aliases for external drives" on page 41. Symantec ThreatCon integration Symantec ThreatCon is Symantec's early threat warning system. You can now configure Norton Ghost to detect a change in the threat level whenever your computer is connected to the Internet. When the threat level meets or exceeds the level you specify, Norton Ghost automatically starts a backup job. You can specify a different ThreatCon level for each backup. See "Enabling Symantec ThreatCon Response" on page 88. Send Feedback tool We want to hear what you think. From the Home page, you can now share your opinion with us. We look at every comment we receive and consider how we can make our product better. Tell us what you think. To help you help yourself, a new Help and Support dialog provides direct links to available resources for helping you to get the most out of Norton Ghost. Help and Support center New features and enhancements added in the previous release If you are upgrading from an earlier release, you might be interested to know of the following enhancements added in previous releases of Norton Ghost. Feature Enhanced ease-of-use Description An improved user interface simplifies what you need to know and do to successfully back up or recover files, folders, or your entire computer. And for Norton Ghost experts, the Advanced page gives you a single view to most product features. 16 Introducing Norton GhostTM What's new in Norton Ghost 14.0 Feature Windows Vista support Description Norton Ghost has been designed and tested to run in the new Windows Vista operating system, and still supports previous versions of Windows. See "System requirements" on page 19. Improved Easy Setup Now setting up your first backup is even easier with the enhanced Easy Setup, which appears either during install (unless you choose to skip it), or automatically the first time you run Norton Ghost. Specify a few preferences, and Norton Ghost can start backing up your computer on a regular basis. Limit your backup to include a select set of files or folders. File and folder backups are especially useful if your backup storage space is limited and you make frequent changes to important documents that you want to back up. Need to back up your data quickly? The new One Time Backup feature lets you define and run a backup at any time without saving the backup job for later use. Search for and recover files stored in recovery points using Google DesktopTM. File and folder backup One Time backups Desktop search engine support Convert a recovery point to virtual disk format LightsOut Restore Convert recovery points to one of two virtual disk formats for use in a virtual environment. Restore a computer from a remote location, regardless of the state of the computer, provided that its file system is intact. Simplified schedule editor You can now easily edit your existing backup schedules without having to click through multiple dialogs or complete the entire backup wizard again. Manage backup data Because recovery points and file and folder backup data require storage space, Norton Ghost gives you the freedom of where and how to handle the amount of disk space used for storing backup data. Norton Ghost offers simple tools for managing your backup data, and can even manage it for you automatically. The home page offers the backup protection status in a single view. But you can also use the new Backups Calendar to view past and upcoming scheduled backups to see how protected your data really is. Norton Ghost automatically detects when a new storage device is connected to your computer, and can prompt you to change your default backup destination to the new drive. Enhanced browsing of files and folders inside recovery points makes recovery quick and easy; the new file and folder backup feature also lets you quickly search for and recover files or folders. Improved backup and recovery status Automatic backup destination detection Browse lost or damaged files and folders Introducing Norton GhostTM About the Advanced page 17 Feature Event-triggered backups Description In addition to scheduled and manual backups, Norton Ghost can detect certain events and run a backup automatically whenever they occur, providing an added level of protection for your computer. Manually adjust the effect of a running backup on the performance of your computer to better match your needs at the moment. This feature is especially useful if you are working on your computer and don't want the backup process to slow you down. And if you know the demographics of your network traffic, you can now set network throttling to prevent network overload. Performance throttling Maxtor OneTouchTM integration Modifiable Symantec Recovery Disk If you have a Maxtor OneTouchTM external hard drive, you can back up your computer with the push of a button. No need to start Norton Ghost. When you cannot start Windows, the newly enhanced Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD) makes recovery easier than ever. If the Symantec Recovery Disk is missing specific drivers, use the Create Recovery Disk feature to create a modified Symantec Recovery Disk that includes the exact drivers needed to successfully boot your computer into the recovery enironment. Note: If you purchased Norton Ghost pre-installed on a new computer, some features in the recovery environment may or may not be included, depending on how the computer manufacturer chose to install it. The recovery environment has likely been pre-installed on a special partition on your computer. About the Advanced page The Advanced page offers experienced Norton Ghost users a single view of the most common product features. If you have a good understanding of Norton Ghost, you might prefer to perform most tasks from the Advanced view. Note: When refering to the documentation while using the Advanced page, the first one or two steps do not apply because they indicate where to access each feature from the other pages of the product interface. From that point on, follow the remaining steps of each procedure. The Advanced page can be hidden from view if you do not plan to use it. To hide the Advanced page 1 2 Start Norton Ghost. On the View menu, click Show Advanced Page. 18 Introducing Norton GhostTM Where to find more information To show the Advanced page 1 2 Start Norton Ghost. On the View menu, click Show Advanced Page. Where to find more information To learn more about Norton Ghost, visit the new Help and Support page. Depending on which version and language of the product you have installed, the Help and Support page includes one-click access to more information, including the product help system, the product User's Guide, and access to the Symantec Knowledge Base where you can find troubleshooting information. To access Help and Support 1 2 Start Norton Ghost. On the Home page, click Help > Help and Support. Chapter 2 Installing Norton Ghost This chapter includes the following topics: Preparing for installation Installing Norton Ghost Updating Norton Ghost Uninstalling the product Preparing for installation Before you install Norton Ghost, make sure that your computer meets the system requirements. System requirements Table 2-1 lists the system requirements for Norton Ghost. Table 2-1 Component Operating system Minimum system requirements Minimum Requirements The following Windows 32- or 64-bit operating systems are supported: Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Business Windows XP Professional/Home (SP2 or later) Windows XP Media Center 20 Installing Norton Ghost Preparing for installation Table 2-1 Component RAM Minimum system requirements (continued) Minimum Requirements The following memory requirements are grouped by key components: Norton Ghost Agent: 256 MB Norton Ghost user interface and Recovery Point Browser: 256 MB Symantec Recovery Disk: 512 MB minimum Note: If you are installing a multilingual or double-byte version of the product, you must have a minimum of 768 MB of RAM to run the Symantec Recovery Disk. Norton Ghost LightsOut Restore feature: 1 GB Available hard disk space When installing the entire product: Approximately 250 to 300 MB, depending on the language of the product you are installing Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0: 280 MB of hard disk space is required for 32-bit computers, and 610 MB is required for 64-bit computers Recovery points: Sufficient hard disk space on a local hard disk or network server for storing recovery points. The size of recovery points depends on the amount of data you have backed up and the type of recovery point being stored. See "Best practices for backing up " on page 48. Norton Ghost LightsOut Restore feature: 2 GB CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive The drive can be any speed, but it must be capable of using as the startup drive from the BIOS. Norton Ghost uses Gear Software technology. To verify that your CD writer or DVD writer is compatible, visit http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/recorders/index.cfm. You can look up information about your writer if you know the name of the manufacturer and model number of your writer. The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is required to run Norton Ghost. If the .NET Framework is not already installed, then you will be prompted to install it after Norton Ghost is installed and your computer is rebooted. Software Virtual platforms (for converted recovery points) The following virtual platforms are supported: VMware GSX Server 3.1 and 3.2 VMware Server 1.0 (replacement/rename for GSX Server) VMware ESX Server 2.5 and 3.0 VMware Infrastructure 3 (replacement/rename for ESX Server) Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Supported file systems and removable media Norton Ghost supports the following file systems and removable media: Installing Norton Ghost Preparing for installation 21 Supported file systems Norton Ghost supports FAT16, FAT16X, FAT32, FAT32X, NTFS, GUID Partition Table (GPT), dynamic disks, Linux Ext2, Linux Ext3, and Linux swap partitions. Note: You must decrypt encrypted NTFS drives before you attempt to restore them. You cannot view the files that are in a recovery point for an encrypted NTFS drive. Removable media You can save recovery points locally (that is, on the same computer where Norton Ghost is installed) or to most CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R(W), and DVD+RW recorders. You can find an updated list of supported drives on the Symantec Web site. Norton Ghost also lets you save recovery points to most USB devices, 1394 FireWire devices, REV, Jaz, Zip drives, and magneto-optical devices. Unavailable features Norton Ghost is packaged to meet various markets. Some features might not be available, depending on the product you have purchased. However, all features are documented. You should be aware of which features are included with the version of the product you have purchased. If a feature is not accessible in the product user interface, it is likely not included with your version of the product. Refer to the Symantec Web site for information about features included with your version of Norton Ghost. When you delay licensing If you choose to delay installation of the product license (for a maximum of 30 days from the date of installation), the following features are unavailable until you install a valid license: Copy Drive Create Recovery Disk LightsOut Restore Convert to Virtual Disk All other features are enabled during the 30 day grace period. If you are using an Evaluation copy of the product, it also expires after 30 days. However, all features are enabled until the end of the evaluation period, at which time you must purchase the product or uninstall it. You can purchase a license at any time (even after the evaluation period expires) without reinstalling the software. 22 Installing Norton Ghost Installing Norton Ghost Note: If this product came pre-installed from a computer manufacturer, your trial period could be as long as 90 days. The product licensing or activation page during install will indicate the duration of your trial period. See "Activating Norton Ghost later" on page 25. Installing Norton Ghost Before you begin, you should review the requirements and scenarios for installing Norton Ghost. See "System requirements" on page 19. Note: During the installation process, you might be required to restart the computer. To ensure proper functionality after the computer restarts, log on again using the same user credentials that you used to log on when you installed Norton Ghost. The installation program scans your hardware for the required drivers. If the program does not find the required drivers, you receive a driver validation message. If you receive this message, you should test the Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD). Testing the SRD verifies whether the drivers are required or if the devices on your system have compatible drivers that are available on the SRD. The driver validation process should not interfere with your ability to install the product. See "About ensuring the recovery of your computer" on page 27.. Warning: The SRD provides the tools that you need to recover your computer. It is included with your product either on a separate CD, or on your product CD, depending on the version of the product that you purchased. You should store the CD in a safe place. To install Norton Ghost 1 2 Log on to your computer using either the Administrator account or an account that has administrator privileges. Insert the Norton Ghost product CD into the media drive of the computer. The installation program should start automatically. Installing Norton Ghost Installing Norton Ghost 23 3 If the installation program does not run, type the following command at a command prompt:. :\autorun.exe where is the drive letter of your media drive. 4 5 6 In the CD browser panel, click Install Norton Ghost. Read the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement. Do one of the following: Click Install Now to begin the installation. If you want to customize your settings, click Custom Install, select or deselect the options you want installed, and then click Install Now. Installation options include: User Interface Installs the product user interface that is required for interacting with the Norton Ghost Service. Backup and The primary service that is required to back up or recover Recovery Service your computer. CD/DVD Support Required for backing up directly to CD/DVD, and for creating a customized Symantec Recovery Disk CD. A CD/DVD burner is required to use this feature. Recovery Point Browser LiveUpdate Enables you to browse, mount, copy, verify, and restore files and folders using recovery points. Keeps your Symantec software up-to-date with the latest product updates. Click this button if you want to install Norton Ghostto an alternate location. Change 7 If a driver that is used on your computer is not available on the Symantec Recovery Disk, you receive a notification message that includes the name of the driver. Write down the name of the driver file, and then click OK to dismiss the message. Drivers are critical in the event that you need to use the Symantec Recovery Disk CD to recover your system drive (the drive where your operating system is installed). See "About ensuring the recovery of your computer" on page 27. 24 Installing Norton Ghost Installing Norton Ghost 8 9 Click Finish to complete the installation. Remove the product CD from the media drive, and then click Yes to exit the installation wizard and restart the computer. If you click No because you plan to restart your computer yourself at a later time, note that you cannot run Norton Ghost until after you restart your computer. Completing the installation After you install the product, you are prompted to license or activate your product. You can then run LiveUpdate to check for product updates, and then configure your first backup. Note: If this product came pre-installed from a computer manufacturer, your trial period could be as long as 90 days. Refer to the Activate later label. To complete the installation 1 In the Welcome panel, click Next. If the product was installed by your computer manufacturer, the Welcome page might appear the first time that you run Norton Ghost. 2 Do one of the following: Click I've already purchased the product and have a product key. Note: You can find the product key on the back of your product CD jacket. Do not lose the product key. You must use it when you install Norton Ghost. Click Activate later to delay the activation of your license. After the trial period ends, the product will no longer work. If this product is a trial version of Norton Ghost and you want to purchase a product key, click Symantec Global Store to connect to the Symantec Web site. 3 4 5 Click Next. Click Run LiveUpdate to check for any product updates since the product shipped. Click Launch Easy Setup to open the Easy Setup box when you complete the install process. Installing Norton Ghost Updating Norton Ghost 25 6 Click Enable Google Desktop File and Folder Recovery if you want use Google Desktop to search your recovery points for the files and folders that you want to recover. If you select this option, Norton Ghost automatically catalogs each file as it creates a recovery point. Google Desktop can then use this catalog to search for files by name. It does not index the content of the files. Note: This option is available only if Google Desktop already is installed on your computer. If you plan to install Google Desktop, you can enable search engine support later. 7 Click Finish. Activating Norton Ghost later If you do not activate Norton Ghost before the trial period ends, the software stops working. However, you can activate the product at any time after the trial period expires. To activate Norton Ghost at any time after installation 1 2 On the Help menu, click Unlock Trial Product. Refer to step 2 in the To complete the installation procedure. Setting up your first backup Unless you unchecked the Run Easy Setup check box during the setup wizard, the Easy Setup window appears. If you don't run Easy Setup during the setup wizard, it appears the first time you open the Run or Manage Backups window. When the Easy Setup window opens, you can either accept the default drive and file and folder backup settings, or you can click on any of the settings to modify them. If you want the new backup to run immediately, be sure to select Run backup now, and then click OK. Updating Norton Ghost You can receive software updates that are associated with your version of the product over your Internet connection. LiveUpdate connects to the Symantec LiveUpdate server and automatically downloads and installs updates for each Symantec product that you own. 26 Installing Norton Ghost Uninstalling the product You run LiveUpdate as soon as you install the product. You should continue to run LiveUpdate periodically to obtain program updates. To update Norton Ghost 1 2 3 On the Help menu, click LiveUpdate. In the LiveUpdate window, click Start to select the updates. Follow the on-screen instructions. When the installation is complete, click Close. Some program updates might require that you restart your computer before the changes take effect. Uninstalling the product When you upgrade Norton Ghost from a previous version of the product, the install program automatically uninstalls the previous versions. If needed, you can manually uninstall the product. Follow your operating system's instructions on how to uninstall software. Chapter 3 Ensuring the recovery of your computer This chapter includes the following topics: About ensuring the recovery of your computer Testing Symantec Recovery Disk If driver validation fails Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD About ensuring the recovery of your computer If Windows fails to start or it does not run normally, you can recover your computer by using the Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD). The drivers that are included on the recovery disk must match the drivers required to run your computer's network cards and hard disks. To help ensure that you have the drivers that you need to recover your computer, the installation process runs a driver validation test. The driver validation tool compares hardware drivers that are contained on the recovery disk with the drivers that are required to run your computer's network cards and hard disks. The installation process automatically runs the driver validation test. You can also run a validation test at anytime by running the Symantec Recovery Disk Wizard. You should run the driver validation test any time you make changes to the NIC cards or storage controllers on a computer. See "If driver validation fails" on page 28. 28 Ensuring the recovery of your computer Testing Symantec Recovery Disk Note: Wireless network adapter drivers are not supported by the driver validation tool or by the SRD. Testing Symantec Recovery Disk You should test the SRD to ensure that the recovery environment runs properly on your computer. Note: Depending on which version of the product you have purchased, the SRD is either included on your product CD, or as a separate CD. You should place the CD containing the SRD in a safe place. Should you lose the CD, you can create a new one if you have have a CD burner. Testing the SRD allows you to identify and solve the following types of problems: You cannot boot into the recovery environment. See "To configure your computer to boot from a CD" on page 153. You do not have the necessary storage drivers to access recovery points on the computer. You need information about your system to help you run the recovery environment. To test the SRD 1 2 3 Run the driver validation tool to test whether the SRD works with the network cards and storage devices on the computer. Boot your computer using the SRD. See "Starting a computer by using the recovery environment " on page 152. When you have booted into the recovery environment, do one of the following: If you want to store recovery points on a network, run a mock restore of a recovery point that is stored on a network to test the network connection. If you want to store recovery points on the computer, run a mock restore of a recovery point that is stored locally to test the local hard-drive connection. If driver validation fails The driver validation test verifies whether the drivers for all storage devices and network cards in use by the computer are available in the recovery environment. Ensuring the recovery of your computer Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD 29 If the drivers are available on the recovery disk, you receive a validation message. If any drivers are missing from the recovery disk, the Driver Validation Results dialog appears. Without access to the correct drivers, a device cannot be used while running the SRD. Therefore, if the recovery points required for recovering your computer are stored on a network or a local hard drive, you might not have access to them. You can find the drivers and copy them to a CD or a floppy disk, or you can create a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD. See "Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD" on page 29. Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD Even if driver validation succeeds and your Symantec Recovery Disk CD appears to work, you should create a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD. A custom CD will contain your computer's current network and storage device drivers, helping to ensure that in an emergency you can get to the recovery points required to restore your computer. Note: You must have a writeable DVD/CD-RW drive to create a custom Symantec Recovery Disk. To create a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD 1 2 3 4 5 6 Start Norton Ghost. Attach and turn on all storage devices and network devices that you want to make available. Insert the Symantec Recovery Disk CD into your CD-ROM drive. From the main Norton Ghost window, click Tasks > Create Recovery Disk, and then click Next. If prompted, click Browse, select the drive that contains the Symantec Recovery Disk CD, click OK, and then click Next. Do one of the following: Click Automatic (Recommended), and then click Next. Click Custom, and then click Next. 30 Ensuring the recovery of your computer Creating a custom Symantec Recovery Disk CD Select this option only if you know which drivers to select. 7 Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the wizard. Warning: Be certain to test your new, customized Symantec Recovery Disk CD to make sure that it can start your computer and that you can access the drive containing your recovery points. See "Testing Symantec Recovery Disk" on page 28. Chapter 4 Getting Started This chapter includes the following topics: Key product components How you use Norton Ghost Starting Norton Ghost Configuring Norton Ghost default options Key product components Norton Ghost includes two key components: the program itself, and the Symantec Recovery Disk. Table 4-1 Key Component Key product components Description Norton Ghost program (user interface) The Norton Ghost program lets you define, schedule, and run backups of your computer. When you run a backup, recovery points of your computer are created, which you can then use to recover your entire computer, or individual drives, files, and folders. You can also manage recovery point storage (backup destination), and monitor the backup status of your computer to make sure your valuable data is backed up on a regular basis. 32 Getting Started How you use Norton Ghost Table 4-1 Key Component Symantec Recovery Disk Key product components (continued) Description The Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD) is used to boot your computer into the recovery environment. If your computer's operating system fails, use the SRD to recover your system drive (the drive where your operating system is installed). Note: Depending on which version of the product you have purchased, the SRD is either included on your product CD, or as a separate CD. You should place the CD containing the SRD in a safe place. Should you lose the CD, you can create a new one if you have have a CD burner. See "About recovering a computer " on page 151. How you use Norton Ghost While Norton Ghost does the work of backing up your files, folders, or entire drives, you need to tell Norton Ghost what to backup, when to back it up, and where to put the backed up data. Using Norton Ghost includes the following key tasks: Defining a backup Running a backup Recovering files, folders, or entire drives Refer to the following figure to understand the relationship of these tasks. Getting Started Starting Norton Ghost 33 Figure 4-1 Using Norton Ghost Starting Norton Ghost Norton Ghost is installed in the Windows Program Files folder by default. During installation, a program icon is installed in the Windows system tray from which you can open Norton Ghost. You can also open Norton Ghost from the Windows Start menu. Note: To use the full version of Norton Ghost, you must activate the software. See "Activating Norton Ghost later" on page 25. 34 Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options To start Norton Ghost Do one of the following: On the classic Windows taskbar, click Start > Programs > Norton Ghost. On the Windows XP or Windows Vista taskbar, click Start > All Programs > Norton Ghost. In the Windows system tray, double-click the Norton Ghost tray icon. In the Windows system tray, right-click the Norton Ghost tray icon, and then click Open Norton Ghost. Configuring Norton Ghost default options The Options dialog box includes several views that let you configure the following default settings: Options General Description Specify a default location where a backup will create and store recovery points and file and folder backup data. If the location you choose is on a network, you can enter your user authentication information. See "Selecting a default backup destination " on page 36. Performance Lets you specify a default speed for backup or recovery processes. Moving the slider closer to Fast increases the speed at which the program backs up or recovers your computer. However, choosing a slower speed could improve the performance of your computer, especially if you are working on your computer during a backup or recovery. Note: During a backup or recovery, you have the option to override this default setting to fit your needs at the time. You can also configure network throttling to limit the effects of backups on network performance. See "Adjusting the effects of a backup on computer performance" on page 37. See "Enabling network throttling " on page 38. Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options 35 Options Tray Icon Description You can turn the system tray icon on or off and specify whether to show only error messages when they occur, or to show both error messages and other information, such as the completion of a backup. See "Adjusting default tray icon settings " on page 38. File Types Lets you manage file types and file type categories, which are used as a method for selecting the types of files you want included in a file and folder backup. See "Managing file types " on page 39. Google Desktop If Google Desktop is installed on your computer when you install Norton Ghost, you have the option of enabling Google Desktop file and folder recovery. When you enable this feature, you can search for files (by file name) inside a recovery point that was created with search engine support enabled. If Google Desktop is not installed on your computer when you install Norton Ghost, you have the option of clicking a link to the Web site where you can download and install Google Desktop for free. See "About using a search engine to search recovery points" on page 175. External Drives Delete or rename the unique names you have given to external drives used as backup and Offsite Copy destinations. See "Using aliases for external drives" on page 41. Configure FTP Specify default FTP settings to be used with Offsite Copy. See "Configuring FTP settings for use with Offsite Copy" on page 42. Log File Lets you specify the types of product messages to log (errors, warnings, and information), where to store the log file, and set a maximum file size for the log file. See "Logging Norton Ghost messages" on page 42. Event Log Lets you specify the types of product messages to log (errors, warnings, and information) in the Windows event log. See "Logging Norton Ghost messages" on page 42. 36 Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options Options SMTP E-mail Description If you want a history of actions taken by Norton Ghost, or of error messages and warnings, you can choose to save them in a log file on your computer, or to have them emailed to an address you specify. See "Enabling email notifications for product (event) messages " on page 44. SNMP Trap If you have a Network Management System (NMS) application, you can enable SNMP Traps support to send notifications to you NMS application. See "Configuring Norton Ghost to send SNMP traps" on page 112. To configure default options 1 2 Start Norton Ghost and click Tasks > Options. Select an option you want to modify, make any necessary changes, and then click OK. Selecting a default backup destination You can specify the default destination for storing recovery points and file and folder backup data created when you run a backup. This default location is used if you do not specify a different location when you define a new backup. To set a default backup destination 1 2 3 On the menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click General. Check Prepend computer name to backup data file names. This is especially useful if you back up more than one computer to the same drive. For example, you might back up a laptop and a desktop computer to the same USB or network drive. By prepending the computer name to each backup data file name, you can more easily identify which backup data files belong to which computer. Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options 37 4 Check Save backup files to a unique subfolder if you want Norton Ghost to create a new subfolder that will serve as your backup destination. Note: The new subfolder is given the same name as your computer. For example, if your computer name is "MyLaptop", the new subfolder would be named \MyLaptop. 5 Enter a path to a folder where you want to store recovery points and file and folder backup data, or click Browse to look for a location. You cannot use an encrypted folder as your backup destination. If you want to encrypt your backup data to prevent another user from accessing it, refer to the Advanced options when you define or edit a backup. 6 7 If you entered the path to a location on a network, enter the user name and password required to authenticate to the network. Click OK. Adjusting the effects of a backup on computer performance If you are working on your computer when a backup is running--especially one that is creating an independent recovery point--your computer might slow down. This is because Norton Ghost is using your computer's hard disk and memory resources to perform the backup. However, you can actually modify the speed of the backup as a way of minimizing the impact of Norton Ghost on your computer while you work. To adjust the default effect of a backup on my computer's performance 1 2 3 4 5 On the main menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click Performance. If you want to improve your computer's speed performance, move the slider bar closer to Slow. If you want the backup to complete more quickly, move the slider bar closer to Fast. Click OK. Note: During a backup or recovery, you'll have the option of overriding this default setting to fit your needs at that moment. See "Adjusting the speed of a backup " on page 85. 38 Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options Enabling network throttling Similar to computer performance adjustments, you can also limit the impact of a backup on network performance. However, because network performance is affected by many variables, you should consider the following issues before enabling this feature: Network cards: Is your network wired or wireless? What are the speeds of your network cards? Network backbone: What is the size of your network pipeline? Does it support 10 MB transfer rates, or 1 GB transfer rates? Network server: How robust is your server hardware? How fast is its processor? How much RAM does it have? Is it fast or slow? Backing up: How many computers are scheduled to back up at the same time? Network traffic: Are backups scheduled to run when network traffic is heavy or light? Consider using this feature only when you know what your network can handle. If you schedule your backups at staggered intervals, and if you schedule them when network traffic is low, you will likley not need to use this feature. Gather the required information about your network's performance and then schedule backups accordingly. Then, if necessary, enable this feature and set the Maximum network throughput to a setting that matches the circumstances. To enable network throttling 1 2 3 4 5 On the main menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click Performance. Check Enable network throttling. In the Maximum network throttling field, enter the maximum amount (in KB) of network throughput that Norton Ghost can send per second. Click OK. Adjusting default tray icon settings You can turn the system tray icon on or off and specify whether to show only error messages when they occur, or to show both error messages and other information, such as the completion of a backup. Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options 39 To adjust default tray icon settings 1 2 On the main menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click Tray Icon and select one of the following: Show system tray icon Displays the Norton Ghost icon in the system tray. You must select this option to enable or disable any of the remaining options. Show missed backups Notifies you when a backup was scheduled but did not run. This can happen when your computer was turned off at the time a backup was scheduled to run. Show system tray questions Offers helpful prompts in the form of questions that can help you keep your data backed up. Displays messages about the status of backup operations, such as notifying that a backup has started, or that your backup destination is getting full. Displays error messages when errors occur so that you can resolve any issues that might hinder data protection. Show status messages Show error messages 3 Click OK. Managing file types When you define a file and folder backup, file types are a quick way to include files you use the most. For example, if you keep music files on your computer, you can configure a file and folder backup to include all music files (for example, .mp3, .wav). The most common file types and extensions are already defined for you. But you can define additional file type categories as needed, and then edit them at any time. For example, if you install a new program that requires the use of two new file extensions (.pft and .ptp, for example), you can define a new file type and define the two file extensions for that category. Then when you define a file and folder backup, you can select the new category. When the backup is run, all files ending with .pft and .ptp are backed up. 40 Getting Started Configuring Norton Ghost default options To create a new file type and extensions 1 2 3 4 5 On the main menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click File Types. At the bottom of the File types list, click the Add a file type (+) button to add a file type category. Type a descriptive name of the new file type category, and then press Enter. At the bottom of the Extensions for list, click the Add an extension (+) button, and then type an asterisk (*) and a period, followed by the extension of the file type you want to define, and then press Enter. Click OK. 6 1 2 3 To edit a file type and extensions On the main menu bar, click Tasks > Options. Click File Types. Select a file type from the File types list, and then do one of the following: Click the Rename a file type button (at the right of the - button) to edit the name of the selected file type. Select an extension in the Extensions for column and click the Rename an extension button (at the right of the - button) to edit the name of the extension. Click either the Restore default file types list or the Restore default extension list button to restore all default file types or extensions. Caution: Any file types and extensions you have set up are removed. Once removed, you will have to add them again manually.