Just another Ghost 2003 question

[Ed]

Please forgive me for posting this to this newsgroup but I could not
get an answer in the Symantec newsgroups. My problem is with the
speed Ghost 2003 (Running from PC-DOS floppy bootup) seems to be
writing to DVD+R disks. First my equipment.

XPHome-SP2 with all updates
OptoRite DD0401 Optical Drive with latest firmware upgrades
Latest version of Nero
Ghost 2003

Ghost Boot floppy autoexec.bat file has this:
SET TZ=GHO+5:00
MOUSE.COM
CD GHOST
GHOST.EXE -bootcd -ghostoncd -z2


The Optical drive has the ability to write to DVD+R disks at 8x speed.
I have been doing Ghost backups 4x disks because I had a 100 count
drum of 4x DVD+R disks. After running out, I purchased a drum of 8x
DVD+R disks. With the 4x disks, it always took around 1 3/4 hr to do
the backup on 2 disks. With the 8x disks, it takes the same exact
time.

Is there something I am missing? Any more command line parameters? I
just thought that I would be cutting my backup times in half or at
least shortening the time by going from 4x to 8x DVD+R disks.

Regards,
Ed

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Do these DVD+Rs burn at 8X elsewhere???

 

[Ed]

Do these DVD+Rs burn at 8X elsewhere???

Yes they do. I did a test burning a 2gig zip file I made up for the
test. The test was done with Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16. I first
burned it to a 4x and timed it and then to an 8x and timed it. There
was a significant diff in the speed between the two and the burning
log showed that the 8x burned at 8x.

But with Nero, you have places to select what speed you want to burn
at while I can't find anywhere that Ghost has any command line
parameter that let you tell it what speed to burn at. I just assumed
it somehow tested the media before the actual burn and then burned at
the speed it found applicable to use.

Regards,
Ed

 

[Guest]

have you downloaded the latest update from symantec that addresses the 8x
speed burning issue for ghost ?

 

[bxf]

I'll just add my 2 cents' worth here. My experience with Ghost 2003 and
DVDs indicates that Ghost may fail with disks that other applications
use quite happily. This leads me to conclude that Ghost does not write
to the DVD in a "conventional" way, if there's such a thing. Therefore,
Ghost may not properly evaluate the speed at which a given disk is
useable.

 

[Ed]

have you downloaded the latest update from symantec that addresses the 8x
speed burning issue for ghost ?

The Symantec site says that there are "No Updates Available for
Selected Version". Also a search of symantec's knowledge base shows
no hits on keywords 'ghost 2003 dvd write burn speed' in any
combination associated with the burning speeds on optical media.

 

[Ed]

Ghost may not properly evaluate the speed at which a given disk is
useable.

Since I could find nothing on the Symantec site concerning this, I
assume you might be right. Another suggestion from another newsgroup
was that Ghost 2003 might be "locked" into writing at a "Slow" fixed
speed (no matter what the max capable speed of the drive is) so as to
thwart any errors usually associated with burning at higher speeds.

Regards,
Ed

 

[bxf]

Well, I backup 9.6 GB. It is going onto 2 DVD+Rs (using Ghost's
lowest compression mode) and it is taking 1 3/4 hours to do the deed
no matter if it is on 4x or 8x DVDs.

Regards,
Ed

You don't mention anything about your optical drive being external, so
I assume it is not. Had it been an external USB drive I would have
suggested that you may be running at USB1 speed, rather than USB2.

Are you loading any extra drivers into the DOS process? That is, are
you specifying anything to be added to CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT?

Although the time I indicated earlier is not 100% accurate, it is a
reasonable example. I haven't used Ghost for a few months now (True
Image is easier to use), but I do recall that to process about 4GB, it
takes ABOUT 10 minutes and 14 minutes - I just can't recall which time
is for the backup and which is for the restore. These times are
obtained when using an external USB2 DVD drive, running under DOS, and
using FAST compression.

Given my experience with Ghost and various media, I'd suggest that you
try one disk of a different brand, preferably one that has been on the
market for some time, just to increase the chance that the drive's
firmware is aware of it.

Finally, I'll mention that you may want to post your problem here:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage?lnk=li&hl=en

 

[bxf]

Have you tried running Ghost from Windows? It will, of course, boot
into DOS to perform the operation, but you will be able to see the
generated CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT statements, and if it works at a
more appropriate speed, you can then replicate them in your DOS
startup. Also, if it works at a correct speed, you will at least know
that the problem is fixable, as you will probably need is teh correct
DOS drivers, etc.