Norton Ghost Reviewer's Comments

Norton Ghost by Symantec is a complete system backup tool, not just a data backup tool. This is one of the few backup software programs we reviewed that makes full image backup. Symantec's Norton Ghost does an excellent job and allows you to customize a partial backup—by backing up individual files and folders.

Feature Set:  

Norton Ghost made a perfect image of the hard drive then restored it. You can also clone all your data—this means you can simply make an exact copy, bit for bit (not a compressed copy that requires a restore to use).

Norton Ghost backs up the entire hard drive at once and then restores the entire hard drive. This software also backups individual files and folders. It doesn't, however, make differential backups. Furthermore, you can't backup to remote FTP locations, encrypt passwords or perform drive spanning. You are able to restore individual files and folders without restoring the entire system.

Ease of Use:  

Norton Ghost was easy to use; the main controls are intuitive and logical. But Norton Ghost didn't receive a perfect score in this area because we feel the technical options in the drop-down menu would challenge a novice. For example, Norton Ghost presents you with choices involving DOS type, peer-to-peer settings, TCP/IP and SCSI driver settings, and virtual partition free space options-no novice would know what these terms mean. Default settings would make the program easier to use.

Other than the technical options, Norton Ghost was simple to operate and does an excellent job making a full hard drive backup.

Backup/Restore:  

Norton Ghost backed up and restored everything that it was supposed to, but we did receive an error backing up data for a printer driver. This was a small quirk and was easy to fix. (We simply reinstalled new printer drivers.)

Norton Ghost restarted the computer, booted up in a secure screen, then restarted our computer exactly as it was before, but using the backup file. All we had to do was follow instructions in the Norton Ghost backup wizard for both backup and restore.

Help/Documentation:  

The help documentation was excellent. A handy user manual came in the box; an electronic version of that manual is available for quick reference.

However, Symantec doesn't offer email support. Instead you must look up answers on the Frequently Asked Questions page, summit a question to support and wait for them to contact you. The only other option is to contact technical support and pay by the minute.

Summary:  

We recommend Symantec's Norton Ghost for those who want only full image backups as well as backup individual files. The program does an excellent job and is simple to use.