document updated 15 years ago, on Oct 27, 2008
These switches can be used with GHOST's command line mode in order to enhance the
automation and diagnostic process.
General Switches:
@argument.fil | Command line arguments read from this file
@MCsessionname | Connect to Multicast "sessionname" (see Multicast documentation)
@MTx | Designates which tape device to use (0 through N)
-AFILE=path | Override default abort log file with "path"
-AUTONAME | Autonames spanned dump files
-BATCH | Prevents Abort messages waiting for user acknowledgement
-BFC=x | Specifies the maximum number of bad sectors before abort
-BLKSZE=x | Sets the block size in "x" Kbytes for writing to image files
-CRC32 | Extract and compare file lists from images (see addendum below)
-CRCIGNORE | Allows restoring of dump files that contain some corrupted files
-DD | Dump disk metrics to GHSTSTAT.DMP
-DFILE=path | Override default dump log file with "path" - (see -DD)
-DI | Display diagnostics
-DL=x | Specifies the highest slot for fixed disk detection
-DRB | Disable image file read buffering
-DWB | Disable image file write buffering
-E | Overcomes EA DATA.SF problems
-FATLIMIT | Prevents GHOST from resizing FAT partitions beyond 2Gb
-F12 | Allows resizing of Fat 12 partitions when the -CLONE switch is used
-F64 | Allow 64K cluster size when loading from old image files
-FDC | Forces dongle check
-FFD | Disable the use of the the BIOS IDE Fixed Disk Parameter Table
-FFF | Force the use of the BIOS IDE Fixed Disk Parameter Table
-FFG | Override the detection of attempts to write beyond disk's capacity
-FINGER | Displays Fingerprint information
-FRO | Continue cloning even if source contains bad blocks
-FNF | Turns off Fingerprint creation
-FNX | Force disabling of Extended INT13 calls if present
-FX | Exit program when finished cloning
-H | Display help on switches
-INT41 | Use DOS drive table for determining drive geometry
-IA | Image all - forces sector by sector copy
-JL:x=d:\file | Create Multicast diagnostic file (see Multicast documentation)
-JS=n | Increase hops required to contact Multicast server (default is 10)
-LPM | Launch GHOST as LPT Master
-LPS | Launch GHOST as LPT Slave
-MEMCHECK | Diagnostic memory dump for technical support issues
-NBM | Launch GHOST as NetBIOS Master
-NBS | Launch GHOST as NetBIOS Slave
-NOFILE | Turns off dump file dialog box
-OR | Override destination drive space limitations
-PWD | Prompt for a password when creating an image file
-PWD=password | Where "password" equals the image file's password
-QUIET | QUIET mode - no user intervention allowed or screen display
-RB | In batch mode this forces automatic reboot after completion
-SKIP=filename | Where "filename" is the file to skip during image creation
-SLEEP | By popular demand - A switch to slow down GHOST's execution
-SPAN | Turn on spanning
-SPLIT=x | Split image file into "x" megabyte spans
-SURE | Used in conjunction with -CLONE to avoid the final 'Proceed' question
-SZEx | Controls partition sizes in batch mode (see GHOST documentation)
-TAPEBUFFERED | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes
-TAPESAFE | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes
-TAPESPEED=x | Where "x" equals 0 - F. 0 is default, 1 - F increase speeds
-TAPEUNBUFFERED | Use on old DAT drives with unreliable tapes
-VDW | Verifies disk writes
-VER | Displays GHOST version number
-VFY | Verifies writes to an image file
-WD- | Turns off Disk Write caching
-WS- | Turns off Disk Read caching
-XINT13ON | Force use of BIOS Extended INT13 system calls if present
-Z or -Z1 | Compress image file when dumping - low compression (fast)
-Z2 | Compress image file when dumping - high compression (slower)
-Z3 thru -Z9 | Compress image file when dumping - higher compression (slowest)
NTFS Specific Switches:
-NTD | Enable NTFS internal diagnostic checking
-NTC- | Disable NTFS contiguous cluster run allocation
-NTN | Inhibit CHKDSK on NTFS volume boot
-NTIL | Ignore non-empty NTFS Log File check (Inconsistent volume)
-NTIC | Ignore the NTFS volume CHKDSK bit
-NTX:x | Set size of NTFS volume cache in "x" kilobytes. The default is 8000
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Command Line Syntax:
-CLONE,mode={COPY|LOAD|DUMP},src={drive|file},dst={drive|file}
-CLONE,mode={PCOPY|PLOAD|PDUMP},src={drive:partition|file:partition},
dst={drive:partition|file}
-CLONE,mode={COPY|LOAD|DUMP|PCOPY|PLOAD|PDUMP},src={drive|file},dst={drive|file},
szen={F|V|nnnnM|nnP},sze{F|L}
GHOST command line arguments can be read from a file, using the syntax:
GHOST.EXE @argument.fil
Argument.fil can contain any command line argument, one per line, except for -AFILE=
and -DFILE=. This feature is a workaround for the MSDOS command line limit of 150
characters.
Some examples of batch cloning via GHOST's command line syntax:
ghost.exe -clone,mode=copy,src=1,dst=2 -sure
- COPIES drive one to drive two in local mode without final prompt.
ghost.exe -nbm -clone,mode=dump,src=2,dst=c:drive2.img
- CONNECT via NetBIOS to a GHOST slave running on a remote PC and DUMP a disk image
of local drive 2 to the remote file C:DRIVE2.IMG.
Note that the slave GHOST can be started with: ghost.exe -nbs
ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=e:savdsk.img,dst=1
- LOADS the disk image file SAVEDSK.IMG file held on the network partition
E: onto drive 1 of the local PC.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=pdump,src=1:2,dst=g:\imgs\part2.img
- DUMPS the second partition of drive 1 to an image file.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=pload,src=g:\imgs\part2.img:2,dst=1:2
- LOADS partition 2 from an image file onto the second partition of local hard drive 1.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=pcopy,src=1:2,dst=2:1
- COPIES the second partition on drive one to the first parition on drive two.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=g:\imgs\2prtdisk.img,dst=2,sze1=60P,sze2=40P
- LOADS drive 2 from an image file and resizes the destination partitions into a
60/40 allocation.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=e:\imgs\3prtdisk.img,dst=1,sze1=450M,sze2=1599M,sze3=2047M
- LOADS drive 1 from an image file and resizes the first partition to 450 megs, the
second to 1599 megs and the third to 2047 megs.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=copy,src=1,dst=2,sze1=F,sze2=V,sze3=V
- COPIES a three partition disk and keeps the first partition on the destination drive
the same size as on the source disk, but divide up the remaining space between the
other partitions leaving no unallocated space.
ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=g:\imgs\2prtdisk.img,dst=1,szeL
- LOADS a disk from an image file and resizes the last partition to its capacity.
The first partition utilizes the remaining space.
ghost.exe -clone,src=@MCrestore,dst=1
- Join Multicast session named "restore" and load image to disk 1.
ghost.exe -clone,src=1,dst=@MCcreate
- Join Multicast session named "create" and dump image from disk 1.
Please see the included GHOST5.PDF for more detailed information on switches and their usage.
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CRC32 Switch Usage Addendum:
The -CRC32 switch allows making a list of the files on a disk or partition or in a
dumpfile with CRC values for each, and to verify that list against the original or a
clone. The purpose is to allow both quick listing of the contents of a dumpfile and
verification that a GHOSTed disk contains the same files as the original. CRC checking
works file-by-file with FAT partitions. NTFS partitions are CRC checked within a dump
file by each MFT table. It is not possible at present to obtain a list of files failing
a CRC check with an NTFS file system. When a CRC file is created for an NTFS partition,
only a single CRC value is generated. You can also create a CRC file from a dumpfile,
and verify against a disk.
The full syntax for this switch is:
-CRC32,action={create|verify|pcreate|pverify|dcreate|dverify},
src={{Disk Spec}|{Part Spec}|{File}},{crcfile={File}|vlist={File}|vexcept={File}}
(No spaces are allowed in the command line).
crcfile={File} :: ASCII CRC file - default=ghost.crc
vlist={File} :: Verification list file - default=ghost.ls
vexcept={File} :: Verification exception file - no default
The possible actions are:
Action Description
------ -----------
create Create an ASCII CRC file from a disk
verify Verify a disk from a CRC file
pcreate Create an ASCII CRC file from a partition
pverify Verify a partition from an ASCII CRC file
dcreate Create an ASCII CRC file from a dump file
dverify Verify a dump file from an ASCII CRC file
Some examples of -CRC32 in action:
ghost -fcr
- CREATE a CRC file (called GHOST.CRC) while making a dumpfile.
ghost -CRC32,action=create,src=1,crcfile=ghost.crc
- CREATE a list of files and CRC values for a disk.
ghost -CRC32,action=dverify,src=x:dumpfile.gho,crcfile=ghost.crc
- VERIFY the list against a dumpfile.
ghost -CRC32,action=create
- CREATE an ASCII CRC32 file from the primary hard drive. Note that the default disk
is the primary drive, the default ASCII CRC32 file is GHOST.CRC.
ghost -CRC32,action=create,src=2,crcfile=myfile.txt
- CREATE an ASCII CRC32 file. Same as previous except you specify the disk and ASCII
CRC32 file. This example uses disk 2 as the source drive and the output file
MYFILE.TXT.
ghost -CRC32,action=verify
- VERIFY the contents of the primary drive against CRC32 file. Once again, the default
disk is the primary drive and the default ASCII CRC32 file is GHOST.CRC (in the
current directory). In addition, the default verification list file is GHOST.LS.
ghost -CRC32,action=verify,src=1,crcfile=myfile.txt,vlist=myfile.out
- VERIFY the contents of the primary drive against CRC32 file. Same as previous, but
specify the disk, CRC file and list file. This example uses disk 1 as the source
drive, MYFILE.TXT as the ASCII CRC32 file and MYFILE.OUT as the verification list
file.
ghost -CRC32,action=verify,src=1,crcfile=myfile.txt,vlist=myfile.out,vexcept=myfile.exc
- VERIFY the contents of the primary drive against CRC32 file. Same as above with the
inclusion of the EXCEPTION argument which exludes compared files based upon its
entries.
The VEXCEPT argument specifies files which are not checked with CRC. This is normally
used to exclude files which are always changed on boot.
A sample exception text file is:
[Ghost exclusion list]
\PERSONAL\PHONE
[Partition: 1]
\WINDOWS\COOKIES\*.*
\WINDOWS\HISTORY\*
\WINDOWS\RECENT\*
\WINDOWS\USER.DAT
\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CACHE1\*
\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CACHE2\*
\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CACHE3\*
\WINDOWS\TEMPOR~1\CACHE4\*
[Partition: 2]
*\*.1
[End of list]
The exclusion list is case sensitive; all files should be specified in upper case.
The * wildcard follows Unix rules, it is more powerful than the MSDOS *. In particular,
it matches the . as well as any other character, but other characters can follow the *.
Thus a wildcard of *br* will match any files containing the letters "br", e.g.
brxyz.txt, abr.txt, abc.dbr.
The specification of \WINDOWS\COOKIES\*.* above means "match all files in the
subdirectory \WINDOWS\COOKIES which have an extension. To match all files with or
without an extension, \WINDOWS\COOKIES\* should be used.
Short file names should be used in exclusion files.
Files specified before the first [Partition: x] heading will be used to match files
in any directory.
A directory of * matches any subdirectory, regardless of nesting. The above exclusion
file will match any file with an extension of .1 in any subdirectory on the second
partition. Apart from this, wildcards should be used for files, not for directories.
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