Corrupted Ghost Image; NEED TO EXTRACT FILES!

November 20, 2008 3:58 PM

Corrupted Ghost 8.0 image! Is there a way to at least extract files off one of the img files?

We used Ghost 8.0 on an (sigh) important client's machine. This resulted in a total of 7 files (imgfile.ghs, imgfile001.ghs thru imgfile006).

An integrity check showed all the files to be ok, and the backup appeared successful. Only after formatting the HD, shipping the unit to and from the original manufacturer, and attempting to install the image did ghost tell us that the image was corrupt.

Ghost Explorer is an utter failure. We can't explore a single image unless all the images are mounted. From what we've been able to find out, imgfile002.ghs seems to be the corrupted image. Our client wants her files (pics, music, docs) back and we can't seem to find any program that will allow us to explore a single selected image file.


This forum directed me to a small executable (ghofixup.exe) that could be used to mess with the header files of the image, but without the desired results.

Please help guys! Any insights or instructions that have worked for you to solve this issue or at least extract files, please please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

posted by Zeker to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

You want to call Symantec. Really. This is one of those questions where in other contexts people recommend you call a lawyer, go to the emergency room, DTMFA, and so on. Both Ghost and The Internet are pervasive enough that if you can only find one reference to anything close to your problem, it's time to call support.
posted by rhizome at 5:14 PM on November 20, 2008

These people claimed to do Ghost Image recovery at one time:
http://www.swstars.com/

No idea if they still do. I'd also recommend calling Symantec, but if my past interactions with their support people is any indication, you won't get anywhere.

Good luck.
posted by cnc at 8:01 PM on November 20, 2008

Mr Bewildered here:

I work for Symantec on Ghost. The best advice is buried further down in that forum link you specified -- restoring the image to a spare drive like this really is the best way to repair things.

"The simplest next step is to use Ghost to restore the image to a spare hard drive (ideally with the -ntexact switch, if there are NTFS volumes) and then use chkdsk to try and repair the damage to the restored volumes that results from the image being incomplete. That should let you recover what is recoverable from the image."

I've also sent you my email address -- so you can follow up with me directly. If the suggestion above doesn't work for you (but hopefully it will), there may be some other options.
posted by slightlybewildered at 12:37 AM on November 21, 2008