Hi.



I have not used ghost to capture images before, but when I use RDeploy I need to specify which disk I want to create an image of. I do this by adding “–d2” in the “Additional Parameters” box in the Create Disk Image wizard. I guess ghost have a similar switch.



Try "ghost32.exe /?"

The ghost commands are controlled by imagetools.ini, which is in the root of the express share (at least is was up to 6.9 - 6.9SP1 added 'full integration' of Ghost into DS). However, jahmar is right on, you can tell it which disk to capture, and add additional command line options that work with ghost.

Hmm, if Ghost could see it, I'm sure I'd be able to add that parameter. My problem is that ghost and imagex are both seeing that I have a 70 GIG drive, but that it has 1 partition, and that partition happens to be the embedded automation partition. (I'm using embedded, and not the hidden option). While booted into the automation partition, I can launch F:\ghost\ghost32.exe and it shows my drive as drive 1... but if I choose to capture that, it ends up capturing the information from the automation partition. If I use F:\ghost\gdisk32.exe, it says I only have 1 partition. It's almost as if when the computer is told to reboot into automation, the partition table is screwed with... and I can't see my real data??



Now, lets add even more to the confusion..



I used ghost32 in the automation partition to successfully re-image that very machine. So, I can lay an image onto it, I just can't capture an image of it.

Just to check that WinPe can see the disk and partitions. Boot from WinPe and exit the dagent when it pops up.



Enter "diskpart" in the command window.

Enter "list disk"



Enter "select disk X" (replace X with the Disk # you got in the previous command).

Enter "list partition"



What is the output?

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition



Partition ### Type Size Offset

---------------- ----------- ------------ --------

Partition 1 Primary 240 MB 7233 MB



****************



As you can see, it shows only one partition at 240MB (the size of my Embedded Automation Partition), and no others. So, what in the world is going on here? Is this because I'm using embedded? I can lay an image down onto the disk, but I cannot grab an image of anything but that visible 240 MB partition.

Hmm. You might want to do some reading on embedded partitions. I remember back in the 6.8 days that embedded partitions over a certain size could cause some strange issues. Of course, I can't remember any of THOSE specific details, sorry.

This may be a stupid question but is the rest of the drive even partitioned?

Yes it is.



Lets say I have a Windows XP computer. I install AClient or DAgent on it, and also install the "embedded automation partition" I created using the boot disk creator. It's an Altiris WinPE 2.1 automation partition. I let it reboot, and it finishes install, then reboots back to production. I then go into deployment console, and assign a "create disk image" job to the computer. I say "run immediately". The machine gets the job, and reboots into automation. Here's where the problem starts. When it boots into automation, the disk it sees is my disk, at the right size and everything... but it doesn't see my actual windows partition... only the automation partition. The task completes.. it grabs the image, but obviously, the image it grabs is of the automation partition. When the task completes, it reboots back into production. The process itself works... but something's wrong with the embedded automation partition.



Is anyone else able to try this on a test machine?



Thanks for your time all,

I'm going to to try it out, but what is the size of the image that is created when you use "Create Disk image"? Is it less than 250 MB?

The size of my image is only 130 MB.

If I run ghost32.exe manually I can see the disk, but only the automation partition and not the partition with Windows XP.

If I use RDeploy also in WinPe automation then both partition are captured.



This is the default command line for capturing images with Ghost from DS:

"F:\Ghost\ghost32.exe -clone,MODE=create,SRC=1,DST=<path and filenavn dest> -sure"



I do not think you can solve this problem with some additional parameters. I think this is a bug in Ghost.

quote:
Originally posted by: jahmar

I do not think you can solve this problem with some additional parameters. I think this is a bug in Ghost.

Strange though, that diskpart and imagex have the same issue seeing that partition... I don't think it's ghost, it's gotta be something with the way the machine is being told to boot into embedded automation...



I've tried 150 MB up to 250 MB embedded partitions... same thing.



Also... for the hell of it, I tried RDeploy to capture, and sure enough... looks like it captures more than just the automation partition.

I know it's been a while, but thought I'd ping this thread.



I had other projects I was working on in the meantime, sorry.



I left off wondering why RDeploy is able to see both partitions and captures successfully, but why DISKPART, GDISK, GHOST, and ImageX will not see it??? There has to be some way of making my production partition visible to these apps in Altiris Automation, otherwise, it's pretty damn useless unless PXE booting, or booting with CD.

I am having the exact same issue trying to use embedded partitions to get a ghost image.



The only partition that I can access after the WinPe boot is the embedded partition itself which is 140 mb. Ghost can see that partition and my DVD drive - but no OS partitions. I have a C:\ and a D:\ partition that do not show up.



Can anyone get ghost to image with an embedded partition?

Obviously, the "production" partition seems to get hidden really well. I started doing a little more digging while inside the automation partition...



I set up a task that just basically pauses the automation partition, so it stays in it indefinately. While in there, on the command prompt, I came across the FIRM.EXE command line tool. I can use FIRM to read info in the production partition, and obviously it looks like RDeploy has the built in ability to see it too, but Ghost doesnt, even though Symantec added "support" for it... In fact, nothing other than FIRM.EXE and rdeploy seem to see that the production partion even exists! ImageX, Diskpart, gdisk, ghost... all don't see the partition.



My idea of support is more than just having a task be able to run the ghost executable, cuz you can do that yourself with a vbscript or batch file... "support" should mean you can actually USE it with some degree of usefulness.



I did a "firm.exe dir prod:\" and it showed a directory listing from my production partition. Firm lets you move files between prod and automation too: "firm.exe copy prod:\myfile.txt auto:\" for instance.



Does anyone else seem to know more about the process of what actually happens when the machine is told to boot into the embedded automation? Also, what happens at the END of automation that tells the computer to boot back into production again? Obviously, a boot loader is installed, and there must be some "flag" or ini file that gets set to tell the boot loader whether to load the production or the embedded automation partition. If I could understand more about that, then maybe I could keep digging enough to come up with a workaround to be able to use imagex, ghost etc to capture images.



/rant