Boot Norton Ghost 14 SRD from a USB stick
by krisrowland
I really like Norton Ghost. It’s saved me countless hours/days of reinstalling Windows OSs. My dilemma now, though, is that my new Dell Mini 9 doesn’t have an optical drive. That means there’s no way to boot the System Recovery Disk (SRD) except via USB. Short of buying a USB external optical drive, how can this be done? The answer is to load the SRD onto a USB stick and boot from that. But booting OSs from USB drives can be a real pain… Doing it for the SRD, though, is remarkably simple:
- Boot the SRD disc on a machine that has an optical drive.
- Insert USB stick (may have to do this before booting SRD, depending on how your machine behaves)
- Open a command line (under one of the menu options)
- Run the diskpart command line app. (Type: diskpart)
Enter the rest one after the other:
- list disk, to find the drive number of your usb stick.
- select disk #, to select the usb disk (put the number you found in the previous step in place of the # – be absolutely certain you have the right number!)
- clean
- create partition primary
- select partition 1
- active
- format fs=fat32
- assign
- exit
Now simply copy the contents of the SRD disc over to the USB stick root directory. That’s it! Now, provided you can boot from a USB stick easily enough, you can boot the SRD straight from the USB drive.
Thanks to this Symantec forum post for the solution!
I’m guessing you could do the disk formatting and partitioning outside of the SRD session, but this way makes it possible for those who don’t have any live Windows installs. Handy.
kRow.bLog 
it is “Create partition primary” not “clean partition primary”
Cripes! Thanks Phil! A subtle but very critical typo…
All fixed now 🙂
I hope others realised the error by visiting the provided link to the Symantec site.
Hi, very nice guide. It works also with Norton Ghost 12, just tested! 😉
it was verry helpful thank you!!
but does select partition 1 not be select partition #
i did go for the # and it worked fine (afraight to format my second harddrive what was called 1 by list disk)
From what I remember, that shouldn’t be an issue. When you execute “select disk #”, all subsequent operations are for that disk. So, “select partition 1” should select the newly created partition that the rest of the commands created for that particular disk. However, not seeing your setup directly, it may very well be that the partition of another hard drive is listed as 1, I’d just be surprised. As long as it worked…
Cheers
Works great! Thank You! This trick is very helpful!
When I run the List Disk command, the only drive that comes up is my 160GB hard drive… nothing for my USB stick.
?
Hi Ben,
It’s hard to tell why this would be the case. I suspect it’s more to do with your hardware (USB drive and motherboard, say) than the Ghost SRD. The things I would try would be (in no particular order):
* Physically disconnect your HDD from the motherboard and try again
* Check if your bios can see the USB drive
* Check your existing operating system can see the USB drive (which I’m sure you’ve already done)
* Reformat your USB drive
These are pretty basic things and there’s many more involved paths to take. In the end it could just be that your stick is incompatible with the Ghost SRD software. I’d find this surprising, since it’s based on Windows, but these things do happen.
Good luck!
I work for a school, and we’re rolling out 75 netbooks this fall. Thanks for this post – I tested it and it works brilliantly.
I found the issue. I have XP therefore USB is not recognized as a fixed HDD. But I was able to fix that by following this: http://www.lancelhoff.com/make-windows-see-any-usb-flash-drive-as-local-disk/
Then I followed your method and it worked, except for the format part where the command format is not available in XP. Ik did it from disk management.
Thanks!
Ben,
I’ve encountered the same problems you were having…
After updating the USB driver to turn the USB drive into a Local Drive, I am having issues witht he format part.
At which part did you use disk management to format the disk? Which steps did you leave out of the original instructions?
Thanks!
Awesome! I just tried this on a Dell 9″ Mini Netbook and it totally just saved us! Thanks!!
Thank you very much for this detailed instruction. I have successfully created a bootable USB drive containing Norton Ghost v.14. It worked first time on a Kingston DataTravelar 16GB.
Pavlov
Do you have the knowledge, and if so, could you give instructions for creating a dual boot on a USB stick?
Pavlov
Hmmm… Dual booting from a USB hard drive can be tricky, but dual booting from a USB flash drive is even harder. Are you using a USB HDD or USB flash drive? If the latter, the behaviour of the drive can vary greatly between brands and models. While I could probably figure it out, given the time, some quick Googling seems to indicate dual booting a USB flash drive is not an easy thing to do. Of course, it depends on what operating systems you’re wanting to install. Here’s a post on dual booting Vista and DOS: http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1988. More searching might turn up tutes for Linux etc.
(((Now simply copy the contents of the SRD disc over to the USB stick root directory.)))
Do you mean the whole files includes folds from entire CD?
Hi Ricky,
Yes, just copy everything on the CD to the root directory of the USB drive. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done this (and since I’ve used a DOS terminal) but you can do this from the command line:
Make sure you’re in the USB drive’s root folder (replace e: with the drive letter of the USB drive):
cd e:
Copy the contents of the CD to the root of the USB drive (replace d: with the drive letter of the CD drive):
cp -r d:\ .
The exact command may be a little different; nothing a quick bit of Googling can’t fix.
Alternatively, you can copy the files over any other way you’d like. e.g. using a graphical file manager in your favourite Linux or Windows distro.
Hope that helps 🙂
“DUAL BOOT USB” For reasons of portability I would always prefer a USB flash drive. However, I do have a couple of Toshiba’s USB 1, 8 ̈̋ HDD which are pretty portable. I’m aware of how difficult this question is. I’m familiar with the website you linked to. Also, I have experience with the program EasyBCD. I just can’t get a dual boot working on a flash drive. I’ll be watching this bLog carefully, waiting for the day you may find the answer! Pavlov
Hi!
Maybe somebody can help me.I think i become crazy.I don´t get run the Ghost USB.Step by Step.Maybe i make something wrong.My System is an WIN XP Home.I have install Ghost 10.0.After Win XP is boot finish,i open the cd-rom drive and put the Ghost 10.0 cd inside and close it.The autrun of the cd starts.i close this startup window.I put the usb stick inside.With “cmd” i start a Dos prompt.Follow i type -diskpart, -list disk, -select disk 2, -clean, -create partition 1, -select partition 1, -active, -assign, -exit -> with xp i don´t have the option “format fs=fat32”.After this i change to workstation to my USB Stick -> reght mouse click -> format -> fat32 (i have also try “ntfs”)
After formated i go back to DOS prompt and type xcopy f:\*.*/s/e/f g:\ Now the data copied to the stick.Finish.
After reboot i select my USB and get follow message “remove volume -> press a key”.If i have tryed with “ntfs” here i get this message “ntldr is missing -> reboot with strg+alt+entf”
I have try this stick to make bootable with dos (HP usb format tool + win98 bootdisk) and its run.so i think my stick is bootable.
The first error message (remove Volme …) i remember from first time,when i try the ghost 10.0 cd without installation ghost before.There i get the same message.
Somebody an idea ???
greats klaus
Hi!
I have find a way.I post the way here for people they have the same problem.Its very easy.Put your Ghost CD in CD-Rom Drive.Load PEtoUSB from here :
http://www.gocoding.com/page.php?al=petousb
open the programm -> search your usb-stick -> Foramt options: mark only “Enable Disk Format” -> Drive Label “what you want” -> Source Path to built BartPE/WinPE Files : (put here the CD-Rom Drive. example F:\ ) -> mark “Enable File Copy” and set “Overwrite Always” -> start.
Thats was it.Not more.
System: Win XP
USB: PConKey 2GB
Ghost: 10.0
I followed the procedure step by step but I keep getting stumped upon boot up.
‘Remove disk or media. Press any key to restart”
I’ve tested with a 2GB Card and a 8GB card. Both cards have been configured as Local Drives. Ghost v14.0 cd has been copied to both cards aswell…
What am I doing wrong?!
NOTE: I’ve also tried the BartPe method but cannot find the plugin’s for BartPE and Ghost v14.0
Hmmm… My first guess would be that you’re using an SD card (?) instead of a USB flash stick. If so, then you’ve got to find a way to make your SD card bootable. Is the card bootable with BartPE? If so, then I’m not sure what you have to do to the USB flash drive Ghost installation procedure to make the SD card bootable… Some quick Googling indicates that at least some people have had luck, but I’ve never tried it. It seems they, like you, have tried BartPE, but don’t give any more details! Uuugh. Some people just don’t know how to reply to forum posts.
Let me know if you figure it out. Good luck!
Good guess! The 2GB card is actually a SD/USB card reader with a 2 GB SD Card. I can get BartPE to load and run using the SD/USB card reader, but still no way of running Ghost v14.0 from BartPE.
But still doesnt explain why I cant run it on the 8 GB USB Flash Drive…
When doing the diskpart I could not format fs=fat32. (I’m running XP). Although I can format the drive via windows (right click properties, select format…). Does this override the previous steps? I think this is the problem…
Someone HELP!
As long as you format the 8GB flash drive in windows, and THEN run all steps except formatting from the Ghost boot disk (as above), then I can’t see why it wouldn’t work… What errors does diskpart give when trying to format fs=fat32?
… and always keep in mind, some flash drives just plain don’t work with some things. I’ve had many drives over the years and a lot of them don’t behave the same way as others when it comes to making them bootable, etc. It’s a pain, but there’s not much that can be done about it. Do you have any other usb flash drives you can check? If it works with another flash drive, then it might be an issue with the 8GB stick itself.
got it.
Apparently format fs=fat32 is not available in WinXP. It was not listed in the diskpart commands.
Solution:
1. Download UltraISO
2. Insert Norton SRD
3. Select open CD/DVD
4. Select Bootable tab
5. Select the disk drive, Write Method USB-HDD+, then click Write
=)
not so… confusedEngineer
Wow! That’s a great solution! It’s a shame it’s proprietary software, though.
The method outlined above requires you to boot from a burned Ghost System Recovery Disc. Is that what you did, or was it all through a local XP installation? If it’s the latter, then I think your solution is the best option if you don’t want to burn a real CD. If the former, then I’ll have to revise the instructions above.
The above method was done using the in-box Norton Ghost v14.0 SRD CD. The USB Drive was created directly from the CD.
I also make an ISO of the CD and UltraISO has an option to mount the ISO on a virtual drive (have not tested burning from a mounted drive to the usb drive).
I also added my recovery point to the USB stick, making re-install a breeze. <25 mins for Windows XP. This will be my new perfered method of re-installing windows with Norton Ghost v14.0
This method can also be used to create Windows XP, Vista, 7, USB Boot drives.
Yes, it's a shame it is proprietary software, but it is worth the demo d/l or even the $29.95. =)
i searched for days for a solution and that works perfect!
In the new version () it’s a bit different!
Thought I’d share how I got it to work:
5. Write Disk Image.
Select diskdrive (your USB-stick)
Write method: USB-HDD+
So you didn’t try booting into the SRD using a physically burned disc and THEN formatting the USB stick, as above? I just want to understand exactly how it went.
So you’re saying you can create bootable installations of XP, Vista, and 7, on a USB drive using UltraISO? That’s great! I recently wanted to figure out how to do this, and there isn’t much about the ‘net on how to achieve it. I might try it out soon 🙂
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[…] 01:35 PM If you have another Windows PC you can use, follow the general instructions here. Where it talks about "booting the SRD", just mount the Windows CD so that you can copy […]
Excellent.. Worked like charm
Thank You so much!! DEll sucks, and the Dell Inspiron Mini 1011v does not recognize any CD Rom under bios for a ghost boot. This is a known “LIMITATION”. They even shipped them with restore diskette’s. Anyhow I have to use ghost for all of my pc’s and your article made it possible. THANK YOU!!
I successfully create a boot up USB and it worked with Ghost 15 and an external Free Agent USB hard drive. Thanks alot!
It’s good to know that I could also call this post “Boot Norton Ghost 15 SRD from a USB stick”. Thanks 😀
excellent information it works perfect, after days of searching.
Thank you so much.excellent method.
thax is works coi…. em tested in ver.15 and smokey…
Thanks for this. Very handy!
format fs=fat32 quick
Will save a few minutes
thank you!
works for ghost15, too
interesting. myself I have just found this cool CD for booting and repairing Windows at windowsbootcd.com, trying it out right now
Thank you! It worked great and saved me from a lot of trouble.
[…] […]
thx so much, great info, worked inmediately
[…] With the UFD I created an Active FAT32 partition with Diskpart and then copied the Win8 files to the UFD. Similar to this… Boot Norton Ghost 14 SRD from a USB stick | krisRowland.bLog […]
[…] Boot Norton Ghost 14 SRD from a USB stick | kRow.bLog – 2008-09-26 · Hi Ben, It’s hard to tell why this would be the case. I suspect it’s more to do with your hardware (USB drive and motherboard, say) than the Ghost SRD…. […]
[…] Boot Norton Ghost 14 SRD from a USB stick | kRow.bLog – 2008-09-26 · I really like Norton Ghost. It’s saved me countless hours/days of reinstalling Windows OSs. My dilemma now, though, is that my new Dell Mini 9 …… […]