Norton Ghost 14 from Symantec is a software program that allows you to back up your computer drives, folders and files. With Ghost, you can establish a backup process to make copies of anything you want on the computer in case something important gets damaged or lost. Ghost 14 supports works with Windows Vista or XP Service Pack 2.
Installation
Ghost 14 requires 250 to 300 megabytes of hard-disk space. You need 256 megabytes of RAM for Ghost Agent and the user interface and 512 megabytes for Symantec Recovery Disk. You must be logged onto your computer with an administrator account to install the program. Load the installation CD. Once the browser panel appears, click on "Install Norton Ghost ." Be sure to check on the box accepting the terms of the license agreement, then click "Install Now." You can select "Custom Install" and select which programs you want installed--options are User Interface, Backup and Recovery Service, CD/DVD Support, Recovery Point Browser and LiveUpdate. Click "Finish" to complete the installation. You must restart the computer before you can run Ghost. To start the program after installation, click on the Norton Ghost icon in the system tray or go to Start/Programs/Norton Ghost in the taskbar.
Backing Up Drives
To define a drive backup, click on "Run or Manage Backups" on the Ghost Home page, click on "Define New" and select " Back up my computer ." Select the drives you want backed up, then choose "Define a new backup" or "Add drives to an existing backup." Select the type of recovery point the backup will create--a set or independent point. Go to the Backup Destination page and choose a folder field location or a network share to store the recovery points. You can also rename the recovery points and choose two off-site locations where you want to to copy the points. In the Options page, you can give a name for your backup, choose its compression level and test if the the files/recovery points are corrupt. Select whether you want the backup to run at a scheduled time period--you need to customize this if you chose an independent recovery point. You can choose to run the new backup immediately by selecting "Run Backup Now." Otherwise, click "Finish."
Backing Up Folders/Files
Go to "Run or Manage Backups" in the Home page, click on "Define New" and select " Back up selected files and folders." Select the files and folders you want backed up. Type in a name for the backup in the Name box and a description in the Description box. Use the "Browse" button to find a location for the backup. On the Advanced page, you can add a password or encryption and remove folders from the backup. If you want the backup to run on a schedule, click "Schedule" and select the dates for the backup to run. You can now choose "Run backup now" or end with "Finish."
Restoring From a Backup
To recover a file or folder, select "Recover My Files." In the left pane of the window that appears, select "File and Folder" and search for the specific item by typing its name into the search box. Select the items you want, click " Recover Files " and choose to restore them to their original folders or to save the recovered files to another folder. To recover a drive, click on "Recover My Computer" from the Tasks page, select a recovery point and click "Recover Now." You can simply click "Next" to recover the drive, or you can customize the recovery by selecting "Custom." You can now check for system errors, verify if a recovery point is valid, restore the original disk signature and assign a drive letter to the partition.
