Back up and restore the operating system with Norton Ghost

This post is lesson 13 of 16 in the subject Computer Hardware Practice

1. Why is it important to back up the operating system?

Creating a backup file of the partition containing the operating system is a way to back up the operating system. This is useful in case of a faulty operating system. The backup file can be used to restore the system without having to reinstall the operating system, which saves both time and effort. It is recommended to create this backup file when the operating system is stable and all necessary software has been installed.

Backup files
Backup files of the operating system

An operating system’s backup file is commonly called a “ghost file“. Norton Ghost is a software that is often used to create backup files.

2. Back up the Operating System using Norton Ghost

To back up the partition containing the operating system, use Norton Ghost, which is integrated into Hiren’s BootCD. Refer to the article Partition hard disk drive using Hiren’s BootCD for instructions on using this tool.

Enter Norton Ghost
Choose Norton Ghost

Select “Ghost” (Normal) from the options.

Choose Ghost (Normal)
Choose Ghost (Normal)

Then, select Local -> Partition -> To Image.

To create a backup file, choose Local -> Partition -> To Image.

Select To Image in Norton Ghost
Select To Image in Norton Ghost

Please choose the drive with the partition you’d like to back up.

Choose drive to be backed up
Choose the drive to be backed up

Select the partition to be backed up. It is advisable to back up the partition containing the operating system, which is typically the Primary partition.

Choose partition tobe backed up
Choose a partition to be backed up

To create a backup file, select the partition where the backup file is saved and enter a name for the file.

Name back up file
Enter the name of the backup file

Do you want to compress the backup file?

Compress backup file
Compress backup file

Please click on “Yes” to create a backup file.

Click Yes to create backup file
Click Yes to create the backup file

The screen displays a message confirming the successful creation of the backup file.

Create backup file successfully
Create a backup file successfully

Please verify the backup file. Select Local -> Check -> Image File.

Check backup file
Check backup file

Choose the partition and folder where you saved the backup file. Keep in mind that the backup file will have the extension “.GHO” and will be pretty large.

Created backup file
Created backup file

3. Restore the operating system using Norton Ghost

To restore the operating system using Norton Ghost, select Local -> Partition -> From Image.

Choose From Image in Norton Ghost
Choose From Image in Norton Ghost

Choose the backup file to restore.

Select backup file to restore
Select the backup file to restore

Please choose the hard disk you want to restore from the backup file.

Choose disk to restore
Choose the disk to restore

Choose the partition to restore. Please make sure not to select the partition that contains the backup file.

Choose partition to restore
Choose partition to restore

To restore the partition, click on Yes.

Click Yes to proceed to restore partition
Click Yes to restore the partition

The recovery process has finished successfully. Restart the computer to view the results in the recovered partition.

Restore partition completely
Restore partition completely

4. Requirement of practice

To complete this task, follow these steps:

  1. Create a virtual machine with the name formatted as Student ID.
  2. Please configure it as follows:
    • Operating system: Windows 10
    • RAM capacity: 2048 MB
    • HDD capacity: 100 GB
    • Processor: 1 CPU – 2 cores
    • BIOS timeout: 10 seconds
    • Choose boot device: CD-ROM

Then, use Magic Partition Tool to format and partition the hard drive into:

  • System partition: 30 GB (Primary – NTFS – Set Active)
  • Private partition: 15 GB (Logical – FAT32)
  • Public partition: 15 GB (Logical – FAT32)

– Format Private, Public partitions to NTFS

– Merge Private partition to Public partition with new label Personal

Adjust to resize the size of the Public partition to 5 GB

Create a new partition on an empty partition with the label Social (Logical – NTFS)

Rename System partition to OS

– Install Windows XP or Windows 7/8/10 to the System partition

– Create a backup file for the System partition and store this file in the Public partition with the name backup_system.gho

– Rename System partition to OS

– Using backup_system.gho to restore the System partition to the OS partition

5/5 - (1 vote)
Previous and next lesson in subject<< Install Windows 10 operating system on the virtual machineInstall the CentOS operating system on the virtual machine >>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *