Norton Ghost: a simple, powerful and reliable disk imaging application, protecting you from valuable data loss

Over the years, Norton Ghost, a product by Symantec, has maintained a well-deserved reputation as a powerful and reliable disk-imaging application.

The latest version, Ghost 2003 maintains that tradition, by adding more storage options and an improved interface. the Windows interface acts only as an intermediary between the user and the DOS application that does all the work.

Thanks to its familiar Windows interface, Norton Ghost installs painlessly, with its wizards guiding you through the intricate process of creating and restoring a disk image. The DOS application does all the work, while the Windows interface acts only as an intermediary between the user and DOS.

This version of Ghost by Norton can copy an exact image of a hard disk or a partition onto an internal hard disk, an external USB 1.1/2.0 drive, a network drive, or a FireWire drive. It can clone a hard drive onto another system via a network, USB, or parallel connection.

It also supports removable media, such as recordable CD and DVD drives. The Ghost Explorer utility, which looks like Windows Explorer, lets you view the contents of an image of both the folders and the files contained within them, as well as extracting a single folder or file.

Symantec has done an excellent job of documenting its Norton Ghost 2003's features.

Two downsides appear to detract from its otherwise superb reputation.

One is that it is mired in its DOS-based roots and the practice of shutting down to DOS while performing basic tasks has several downsides.

The second is that because of what appears to be a confusing manual, questionable Web support, and pricey support, inexperienced users should beware. 

Before making any final decisions, do more research. One option may be to start with a free version. Check out the article at download-norton-anti-virus-free.