The Power of Ghost

The laptop that we used for ID system database crashed yesterday. I remember when it crashed before, it took me days before I was able to restore everything.

You see I’m really not familiar with SQL and its installation and when it was installed on the laptop, our contracted consultant was the one who did all the installation and configuration for SQL. So when it crashed the first time, I was really lost on how I can go about the installation. And if the consultant has to do it for us, then we have to pay them a fee.

So when I was finally able to restore the SQL database and everything was up and running again, I made a ghost image of the laptop by using the Norton Ghost software. What it does is it makes a full system backup of the hard disk by creating a disk image to a separate hard disk or to a CD and DVD.

That image was the one that I used to restore the image of the laptop. I just booted from the diskette, load the CD s containing the image that I created before, and voila after a reboot, the laptop is up and running again. I don’t have to worry on how I can configure SQL and restore the database.

I just love Norton Ghost. Good thing I made an image of the laptop. Otherwise, I might be spending the whole day trying to figure out how I can restore the SQL database on the laptop.