Is there any type of "Norton Ghost Server" application that can run under a Linux server to be able to clone an image of a WindozeXP workstation? I usually have to reload XP about every 4 months, this would save me ALOT of time (as you know, windoze gets alot of bugs, trojans and junk).

The app is called "Partimage".

http://www.partimage.org/

It has some features that Ghost doesn't and is missing some features that Ghost has.
I won't go into details since I posted the link.

By the way, Partimage comes on the Knoppix cd (which everyone should get) as does Qtparted. (a partition resizer)

If all you're after is imaging a harddrive partition, I personally use dd (check the man page). It's a bit primitive (command line) but it gets the job done. I also pipe it through gzip for a compressed file. For partition resizing, I have a gratis "partition resizer" on a freedos disk, but I haven't tried it out yet.

Hey,
I just remembered "g4l", the website is pretty sparse but it might be worth a look.
I've been using "image for dos" run from a modified "winme" boot floppy to make images
to a cd, but ftp would sometimes be more convenient ........ I think I'll check it out myself!

http://g4l.networks-ltd.de/

hey sir!

could you give us the syntax please. well, i dont want to mess up with that new command, just a newbie here, having difficulty following the man pages..lol. i need a backup to image my xp partition in /dev/hda 20GB to my linux partition on /dev/hdb 30GB available.

thanks.

While dd is very usable and flexible it is by no means a replacement for Ghost in itself. A better solution is Mondo, which works really well for me.


Håkan

for something like that the syntax would be something like:

dd if=/dev/hda | gzip >> <insert filename here>.img.gz

(if= means "input file", by default dd reads and writes to stdin and stdout. You're piping the results to gzip for compression, then writting results to some random file.)

try reimaging it to a different harddrive before you rely on the image as a backup. Make sure that the test harddrive is at least as big as the one you imaged. Since you're imaging the whole harddrive this *should* get the MBR.

syntax for the write:

gzip -dc <insert filename here> | dd of=<insert dev entry of harddrive here>

(the -dc switches mean "decompress" and "to stdout" respectively, piping results to dd, of means "output file".)

Er... and read my sig.

crazyeddie740= ah yes nice siggy, i'll try it anyway...nobody can stop me!.lolz

hw-tph = actually i am downloading the iso right now, hope it works and easy to use like ghost.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP PEOPLE!