Norton Ghost 14.0 [Old Version]

Ive used past versions of Norton Ghost to do backups and recoveries when they are needed and I have found the software to do what it says it will but its not the most intuitive product in the world. Having said that, I think that the older versions were better overall. The interface was very simple but it seemed to lighten the bells and whistles stuff and stuck to the basics. I think that with the new interface the product looks nicer but when you try to do too much and release a product too early it can cause problems. After reading other reviews regarding bugs and problems using the software I will have to say be careful. The backups that I did worked fine and I didnt have problems but with multiple warnings out there on the web I cant give this more than a 3 star rating. Ghost will do backups but theres too many warning signs to make this a recommended purchase. ***

This program is a MUST have if you are serious about protecting the data on your system! It will save you from worry that will take years off your life when your system eventually crashes and you are in peril of loosing all of your vital information. This Norton Backup utility is the Dean of software in this class. What else could you expect from the Norton people ? This robust backup package features a full system backup that backs up EVERYTHING on your hard drive or partition, A file and folder backup where you can selectively choose files and/or folders that you want to protect instead of doing the whole drive. Comprehensive system protection will let you do a recovery even when you cannot boot your OS. This package will point to FTP sites and will allow you to restore your system anywhere! Now this version has a Google Desktop integration using search able backup indexes that make the recovery super fast. This Norton 14.0 will back up other Norton Ghost installations version 12.0 or higher. Norton uses its exclusive ThreatCON integration where it will automatically back up your latest files when the ThreatCon meets or exceeds a specified level that you set. Norton claims that this feature is good for people who have PCs without antiviral protection. In the past, previous versions of Norton Ghost have appeared to have problems doing incremental backups but this version appears to have solved that problem. Installation is a breeze that will let even the most naive computer novice get the system up and running in moments. Finally, this is a great resource for protecting your system from those eventual crashes. Although people have complained about this product in the past, all that is needed to make the product perform as stated is to READ the instructions and FOLLOW those instructions as the company intended. Then it should work as advertised

Works very well to back up my entire operating system of Windows XP after reading between the line on the instructions. The instructions could be a little clearer for system backup. When finished it gives an exact backup of your disk drive, I backup to a spare IDE drive and a USB drive. I am bummed that Ver 14.0 wont work with Windows 7 without buying a newer version

This product has a lot of potential, but when I disconnected my drive one afternoon and Ghost started its daily backup, it spiked my processor and locked up the system. Major bug! I showed the tech support person and he said you must have the drive connected to backup. Of course, but what if the drive isnt connected - crash! Because of this one problem, I decided to try a different backup software.

Unlike the older version I have, Ver. 14 does not include the ability to clone a hard drive over a network.

This is one of the few software apps available that can backup your system AND help you upgrade to a bigger internal hard drive. Usually when attempting to swap out your entire main hard drive (C: drive with the operating system on it) you can only upgrade to an identical size partition, so what is the point?!. Norton Ghost lets you back up your current main C; drive on a separate disk, even a USB drive!, swap out your main drive to a higher performance and bigger drive, and then load your backup to the newly installed hard drive. Norton at this point lets you select if you want to make the new partition use the full new drive size, then it works flawlessly to do what it says. I updated an old laptop with a 32gb drive to a 250gb 5400rpm (PATA) drive and my performance improved 6 fold. Highly recommended. Oh yes, the incremental backups are fast too after you capture the first disk image.

As an IT professional I can make Norton Ghost perform the tasks I want it to do. I was able to backup my internal 100GB hard drive to my external 500GB drive without too much difficulty. I have never found a product that does a good job with backing up everything, including the OS, and restoring it good as new with little effort, so I wasnt too surprised to see that this product fails in that area too. Personally, I think people are better off using WinZip to backup critical data to an external medium than using something as hard to use as Norton Ghost. Just expect that when your HD dies, youll need to get a new one, format it, load the OS and your apps from source media, then restore your files from the WinZip backup files. This approach is FAR more reliable than supposed one-step solutions like this one.

] Norton Ghost is supposed to be a top-of the line backup program. I got it from Amazon for a steep discount. It requires matching the drivers on your computer to the drivers contained on the software CD. IF your drivers dont match or if your CD/DVD drive does not use GEAR technology, you cant perform the function I bought the software for -- creating your own system recovery disk to recover your system in the event of failure. This version is supposed to have both 32- and 64-bit drivers on its disk. it apparently had some 64-bit drivers, because I passed its driver validation test with the exception of my WAN miniport driver. My system is 64-bit. The program told me that I couldnt create a system recovery disk because my drivers didnt match the drivers on the Norton Ghost disk (32-bit drivers). It wanted me to add my own 64-bit drivers from my own system to its disk. I couldnt find all of my own drivers. If I did, how am I going to know Ive found them all and none were left? Oh, also if you dont have an external hard drive to save backups on, Norton Ghost 14 thinks youre screwed. Also, my CD burner stopped functioning while NG 14 was installed... Tried to send Symantec feedback using their feedback feature in the software and they timed out my connection before I finished. I gave up and uninstalled NG 14.0.

Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users were unfortunately ripped off when the product didnt come with a standard backup feature built into the operating system. Thus, solutions like the legendary Norton Ghost. - First good news is it installed within minutes on Vista x32 and x64 - Second good news is backing up to my external Maxtor One Touch was flawless. It backed up nearly 200GB in a little over an hour. - Third piece of good news is when making the Symantec Recovery Disc, you can tell it exactly where to find your driver files and load those onto the disc. But. . . - First bad news is the UI stinks to high heaven. Trying to go the simplified look with high feature rich innovation like of Apple didnt work here. Symantec failed miserably. I had to search online or in the Help more than once to figure out how to use many of the features. - Second bad news, is its failure to restore, which is an essential feature in a backup & restore solution. So many bad reviews on Amazon, but so few of the reviews anyone actually trying to do a OS restore. So you backup your pictures and docs to a USB drive, big deal. A manual copy & paste does that. But restoring a crashed OS is a key feature that should be tested. Suffice it to say, the restore process failed for me like it did for the few others who posted reviews where this was attempted - Third bad news is the online support for actual error messages stinks. If you get lucky and find an obscure message board with a fix, then count your blessings because the online knowledgebase from Symantec needs help for the Ghost v14 product. Im a support manager by trade and every business report will tell you the #1 deflector of calls in to Support is to get online resources. . .Guess Symantec isnt partaking in standard business practices OVERALL: If you need something that will backup your data automatically, this works. But for the price you might try searching Sourceforge first to find a free solution. The worst part, every review that tried to do an OS restore, including myself, was unsuccessful. A key reason NOT to get this product.

WARNING to anyone thinking about buying this product! Please understand that you will not be buying this product only RENTING it. If you do not renew every year the product stops working....COMPLETELY! Im not just talking about updates, etc. It actually tells you that it has stopped working and it wont work unless you renew. I have just wasted more than 2 hours with Nortons online tech support. This is the case with ALL Norton products and I am quoting the tech.