The Norton Ghost software has made such a reputation for itself over the years, that when one thinks of the best disk imaging software, its name invariably crops up. Having used the updated version myself, in this Techspirited article, I present you with a short review for your perusal.
Disk cloning or disk imaging software programs like Norton Ghost 15 can save you from a lot of hassle when your hard drive or operating system suddenly crashes. These programs can perform system recovery, full system back-up, a full hard drive upgrade, and even provide a facility for a complete restore and reboot. They are especially useful to have when you are configuring more than one computer.
One such disk cloning program is the Norton Ghost. This backup software was first developed by Murray Haszard, when he was working for the company Binary Research. Later it was acquired by Symantec. The ‘Ghost’ in the original software program stood for ‘General Hardware Oriented System Transfer’. Norton Ghost 15.0 is the latest version of this software. In the next section, I provide a you with a review of the Norton Ghost, presenting the latest new features that have been incorporated in this software.
This new version comes with a lot of improvements over the older ones. These new changes have mainly been incorporated to enhance the usefulness of this software for businesses as well as for the general users, who use it for protecting their valuable data.
System Requirements
The following are the important system requirements, with which this software works best:
- Windows 7 / Windows Vista
- Processor with > 300MHz clocking frequency
- Required RAM: 512 MB (Recommended RAM 1GB)
- At least 430 MB of free hard drive space
- DVD ROM or CD ROM required For Software Distribution
- Compatible with FAT 16, FAT 32, FAT 16X, FAT 32X, NTFS, GPT and Dynamic Disks
Support for Virtual Formats
With the increasingly widespread use of virtual platforms, Norton Ghost 15 now offers support for Vmware ESX 3.5i and 4.0i, as well as Vmware ESX 3.5 and 4.0. This is a helpful feature for many small scale businesses in the IT industry. It also supports the Hyper V virtual server format provided by Microsoft. Besides Windows 7 compatibility, the software now even offers a bitlocker encrypted volume support.
Blu-Ray Disc Support
Earlier, you could only back up drive or copy recovery points to a CD or DVD using Norton Ghost. Now the program offers you the facility to copy recovery points and back up data to Blu-ray discs too.
Cold Imaging
Cold imaging involves creating a backup image of your hard drive volumes using the recovery CD. This useful feature has now been added to this program, however, one problem with it is that every time you use it, you are required to enter the serial number.
Besides these features the, new version offers incremental as well as differential back-up. The most important update that I would like to share with you in this review, is the return of the recovery CD image creation feature which lets you create customized recovery CDs.
This program’s Windows 7 compatibility will make it useful for users on this platform. The listed price of this software is $69.99, but it is sold at a discounted price of $29.99 on Amazon. If you don’t have this program yet, it is highly recommended that you buy your copy soon, as the money spent will certainly be well invested.