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| Norton Ghost 14.0 | 
 enlarge | From: Symantec
Category: Software
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $39.00
You Save: $30.99 (44%)
New (39) Used (8) from $32.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 88
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.2
MPN: 13517991
Model: 13561463
UPC: 037648622356
EAN: 0037648622356
ASIN: B0012YKRSI
Release Date: February 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
No Longer the Cream of the Crop April 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a longtime user of Ghost (going back to the DOS days), I realize old habits can die hard but there is a point we all have to take a good hard look. Most software works best when it focuses on a particular task and does it extremely well - a strategy that had served all the Norton family products well for years. Unfortunately, like Microsoft with Windows, Symantec has sought to make its software all things to all people and has become a jack of all trades that is master of none.
With this edition of Ghost, Symantec is trying too hard to load it down with every bell and whistle and fold in less successful product lines to the extent that functions can seem redundant and you may not be sure you are doing what you think you are doing. There is a humorous component in becoming a perfect complement to the equally overblown Windows Vista, but the joke may be lost on someone trying to recover precious lost data.
This is not to say it is an awful product. It worked on both machines I tested once I figured out the purpose of all the features but the classic Ghost software was the stuff of legend - easy to use, intuitive, and flawless in execution. Against such high standards this bloatware is disappointing but still functional once you get used to it.
 Excellent for Auto-back-ups April 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Norton Ghost is ideal for people who can't trust themselves to regularly back-up their data as well as for those who want to create restore points for their systems. You can schedule daily back-ups and/or restore points. There is a great deal of flexibility regarding exactly what data is automatically backed up including backing up only your documents or your entire hard drive and I recommend anyone who purchases this software take the time to customize the settings to make sure that they are backing up everything they need. It'll save you from being disappointed later when it seems Ghost missed making a copy of something crucial.
One point to keep in mind about Ghost is that it runs rather sluggishly on older machines. My PC is a single processor 1.8 Ghz consumer model with a decent amount of memory and it takes a very long time for the application to launch when I wanted to alter settings (such as the scheduled time for back-ups). For a back-up utility application, I think it's a bit on the piggish side and that's why I deducted one star from my rating. Also, if I attempted to do some other tasks while Ghost was backing up, my computer ran slowly so those that use it on older machines would be better off setting the back up time for some time when they are away from their computers.
 Simple Intuitive Interface April 7, 2008
I have never used Ghost before. Prior to this, I have used an older version of Acronis True Image. While True Image is a more feature-rich piece of software, Ghost is super simple and easy to deploy. Easy to manage backups, intuitive simple interface, highly recommended! I do, however, find that the backups are very slow, even on my fast system. However, they run nicely in the background and do not slow the system down.
 Some good tools but not user friendly April 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can still remember how much I liked Norton Utilities years ago. Some of that still shows through here because when I boot my system from the CD I get access to some very nice tools (including an excellent partition editor, virus scan, internet access and all my drives are visible). The disk-to-disk copy tool is also very handy if you are migrating an entire hard drive to another hard drive (AKA disk imaging).
The backup application is badly lacking. For starters it operates very slowly. Every operation, no matter how trivial, takes a long time to complete. Further, when I tried to create a Recovery Disk or LightsOut Restore I got an "Error EC950008" for which Symantec currently has no solution.
Perhaps the most annoying thing of all is that you cannot easily select files within a folder. You can either select a whole folder or a single file but you can't go into a folder and just use checkboxes to select files. This is something EMC Retrospect has and I think it is absurd that a backup tool would lack that functionality. For purely backup purposes I'd recommend Retrospect Express over Norton Ghost.
 Good in theory if you don't trust the built-in back up and restore of Vista. April 2, 2008
12 out of 19 found this review helpful
Here's the problem I see in marketing products like these. Norton has more than three products that I know of that provides data back up and protection - Norton Save & Restore 2.0, Norton Ghost 14.0 and Norton 360 Version 2.0. They have overlapping features and non-overlapping features at a price point within reach from each other. With this kind of confusion, I would be looking elsewhere for a company whose product distinction is clearly labeled as home, business or enterprise.
However, if I were a simple home user looking to back up my data then I would just rely on the built-in back up and restore features of Windows XP and more importantly, Windows Vista Ultimate version. In fact the simple, elegant interface of Vista makes it easy and pleasant to use. And if we're talking about avoiding a buggy OS, then installing third-party software won't stop your computer from acting up in the first place.
If I were an enterprise user, I would have a real solid plan of RAID protection as well as off-site back-up.
So I honestly don't know who this product will target except if I don't trust Microsoft's back up features which doesn't make sense if I trust to run their operating system in the first place. if this were the case I wouldn't be running Microsoft software at all and just turn to other OS including Apple's Mac OS X and activate the built-in Time Machine.
If you still choose to use this product and trust Norton for security and back up then the good news is that it installs without any hitch and in less than five minutes. Simple usual button clicks, a user agreement and a restart.
What is a turn-off for me is the GUI of the product. If you've seen the product packaging which looks like a product of the 1980s, then you have an idea of what creativity they have in store for their GUI. I've never seen a product that looks so unattractive and uninspiring to use. It makes me go thru the whole menu of features in the quickest way possible so I can get it out of the way from my sight fast.
The truth is looks may not matter, but if they didn't pour this much effort in making the user experience as pleasant then I don't trust the effort they built into creating the program as well. Windows Vista and Mac OS X both look sexy and visually pleasing to use. Underneath those GUI is a bunch of features worthy of their price. With Norton Ghost, it may as well be a ghost and disappear from sight.
The great thing about this product though is that it virtually backs up to anything - attached internal or external hard drives, CD or DVD media as well as off-site and NAS.
There is, I have mentioned, a calendar to schedule and show back up as well as activity on the progress of your back up. You can do a full-system back up or a specific folder or file. Norton includes an integrated Google Desktop to make file searching and indexing easier and faster than ever. While you can save space by custom compressing your back up.
Like any back-up to hard drive, please use another physical and dedicated disk. A Gig of media is cheap these days. Backing up to a virtual disk via partition is the same as keeping your valuables in the trunk of your car. Should the car get stolen...
In all honesty, I would save my money and place the it toward purchasing a bigger hard drive for use as a dedicated back up drive and use instead the built-in back and restore of the OS. If I trust to run Windows OS in the first place, then I might as well trust to run the included features. But that's just me.
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