Boot from USB, and then run DOS version of Ghost

I have a Boot CD with a DOS version of Ghost in it (Ghost 11). I used to use it for booting a PC, running Ghost from there, and creating an image of a hard drive partition. I did that under Win Vista, Win 7, Win 8.

Now I have a PC with Windows 10 and no CD reader. My intention is to be able to backup and restore images, without having Ghost installed in my system. So I would need to boot from a pendrive, and run Ghost from the command prompt (as I did before with no problem).

What I got so far: I booted from a pendrive formatted with Rufus and FreeDOS. I copied the exes there. But:

When I execute ghost32.exe or ghost64.exe I get "This command cannot run in DOS mode".
Using dir a:, etc. I do not find my hard drive.

So, my questions are:

I wonder if there is any other thing that I can do to be able to boot from USB and run my exes.
I think I do not have installation disks for a Windows version, since my Win 10 came preinstalled. I have another Win 8 PC, which also came preinstalled.* And I have another Win Vista PC (I may not have the installation CDs).
Even in this case, I wonder if ghost will find my hard disk partitions. Perhaps if I manage to make a bootable USB with some Win installation, that automatically allows the OS to recognize the HD partitions.

EDIT - PS: I found How can I run Ghost from a bootable USB key drive? . I tried the Hiren's way (as pointed out by ubiquibacon). It successfully booted and opened Ghost in the Win 8 PC. But in the Win 10 PC it started booting and expanding programs to the ramdrive R:, where it hangs.

* All sources that I found pointed to methods requiring the installation CDs (e.g., this). It is worth noting that I only need to be able to boot. Many pages warn that I would not be able to make a bootable USB out of a preinstalled Win PC, since the preinstalled Win is intended only for one PC. The argument would not apply, since I only want a bootable USB, not a boot+WinInstall USB.

sancho.s Reinstate Monica

Posted 2016-03-29T01:23:35.953

Reputation: 2 404

Sounds like you need WinPE: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn613860.aspx

– Tom Yan – 2016-03-29T04:50:40.463

@TomYan - Interesting suggestion. I am not acquainted with Win PE. I will check that. In the meantime, do you have any experience with it that is relevant to my case? (perhaps Win 10 + Ghost... that would be awesome, but if not at least Win 10). – sancho.s Reinstate Monica – 2016-03-30T12:55:39.450

To be honest, I don't have experience with WinPE or Ghost at all. But I think you just need to prepare a USB drive or so following the documentation, and then run the ghost executable in WinPE. (In other word, I don't think the two ghost executable you mentioned are really dos program) – Tom Yan – 2016-03-30T13:23:13.757

Answers

This video provided a partial answer: The issue involves the high memory (perhaps due to having a solid state hard drive?). I could open Ghost, but it does not recognize my hard drive.

But this probably belongs to a separate question.

sancho.s Reinstate Monica

Posted 2016-03-29T01:23:35.953

Reputation: 2 404

I still use ghost myself, and have been in this same situation. I suggest using YUMI to create bootable Flashdrive, and download Hirens BCD or FalconFour BCD. From there boot into either. Doing this will allow you to boot into a limited version of Windows XP from there browse to the flash drive you have Ghost installed on and Run the .exe.

b14smith

Posted 2016-03-29T01:23:35.953

Reputation: 11

As stated in my PS, I managed to boot, and start loading HBCD. But it hangs in the process. I didn't use YUMI, but Hiren's method, and I suspect this is not the issue. I did not try entering Win XP mode with HBCD, either. I would try both things. In the meantime, what system do you use this with? Win 8/10? And (probably not relevant) what PC brand? – sancho.s Reinstate Monica – 2016-03-30T05:14:56.407

I run a Dell Latitude 790 Running Windows 10. Yes running through the GUI might be your best bet. Also keep in mind if this is a newer machine to disable secure boot, otherwise you won't be able to read the HDD in Ghost. – b14smith – 2016-03-31T13:05:30.450

Tried loading Mini Win XP, and got a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death). Technical information: STOP: 0x00000A5 (...). On an ASUS K501U, 256GB SS HDD. – sancho.s Reinstate Monica – 2016-03-31T23:01:40.167

-1

Regards, I have Ghost v12.xx and with Windows 7 if you run Windows Shadow copy service, you can "hot image" running systems. I use it on Windows 10 and 7. Tried hiren which works too, tried USB dos boot with modern drivers and got snow crash (kernel panicked). Using hot image technique is painless. I use grub4usb to make USB bootable.

user1284084

Posted 2016-03-29T01:23:35.953

Reputation: 1