HDD backup help

i have Norton Ghost 10. i backed up my 80gb notebook hdd onto an external usb 2.0 hdd. my laptop hdd died, and dell sent me a new one. it has all the factory installed os and bullshit already on there. i install norton ghost and try to restore, and it says i can't do it in the os. so i burn ghost, and boot with it, and i try to restore, but it won't read my external hdd.

so i formated the hdd completely and booted w/ ghost, and tried to restore, but it still won't read my external hdd. wtf?!?!?


am i doing something wrong? or does ghost just suck?

Yes & yes. I dislike ghost. But since thats the backup you have. I suggest giving it 1 more try.
Go here, http://dban.sourceforge.net/. Download DBAN for installation on CD and DVD media. Burn it. New DBAN users should read the README.TXT file. After wiping. Then try ghost again.
If this works or not. I suggest replacing ghost with Paragon Hard Disk Manager Pro. The Recovery CD Image version.
Let us know.

sounds good. thanks!

normally, if i were to boot using the ghost cd, i should be able to read off external usb 2.0s right?

i'm getting another 2.5" sata drive so i can keep a backup version of my hdd. i'll try this dban on it.

is paragon hard disk manager pro the best hdd backup utility?

Differing thoughts on that. For images I use Paragon. For clones I use Acronis MigrateEasy.

I suspect the problem is that ghost does not support your combination of USB controller and external harddrive.

This link might help
http://ghost.radified.com/external_drive.htm

Personally I'd consider putting the laptop drive in a another computer as a secondary drive. You can get a 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor if it's an IDE drive.
Not sure if SATA laptop drives have the same connector as normal harddrives, my knowledge is a bit out of date there.

Edit: Sorry my idea won't work.