Ghost Open Source Alternative

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As we know Ghost is a software used to image your Windows installation, in other words it help you to have a complete backup of a PC for later restore or replication in environment such as School,University, Computer Training lab, and so on.
The good thing about "FOG" that it stores the images in a local server that you easily build through the installer with We based Admin Interface to control your backup and restore operations.

There is an Open Source Alternative called "FOG" Free Open Source Ghost,FOG is good for anyone running Windows XP and Vista with a single partition. Right now FOG can only handle a single partition on the hard disk. FOG is currently being used by many schools and small businesses who can't afford the licensing of commercial products like Ghost.

What makes FOG different?

  • FOG is easy for end user. The end user no longer needs to worry about NIC drivers to image a computer, this is all handled by the kernel. FOG management is done via an easy to use web GUI.
  • FOG is centralized. Most of tasks done on FOG don't require the user to visit the client PC. For example if you imaging a computer all you need to do is start the task. After the task is started WOL will turn the computer on if it is off, PXE will load the OS, DHCP will give it an IP address, FOG will tell the server it is in progess, and PartImage will image your computer. Then when imaging is done FOG will tell PXE not to boot the machine to the fog image and your computer boots up. After the computer is booted, if the FOG service is installed, FOG will change the computer's hostname and that computer is ready to use!
  • FOG is easy to access. All you need is a web browser to image a computer, no client software required. We have heard of organizations using FOG who image computers from an iPOD touch or iPhone.
  • FOG is Powerful. With features like memory testing (comming in version 0.05), disk wiping, testdisk, and file recovery, FOG does more than just imaging.
  • FOG can grow with you. The FOG server can be broken down and run across multiple machines. For example, your NFS, apache, PXE, and DHCP services can all run on different servers to maximize performance.
  • FOG is community driven. Is a feature missing in FOG that you would really love to see? If so, let us know and we will do our best to include it in FOG.
  • FOG is Open Sorce Whether you have 2 computers or 20,000 computers in your organization, FOG is Open Source
Project page h3r3
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Comments

Unknown said…
I find that the various utilities included in the PartedMagic Partition Manager are also quite nifty (partimage, gparted, ddrescue, dcfldd, full list at http://partedmagic.com/programs.html ) are also quite good for full disk backups, data recovery, and partition management. Though a liveCD version exists, Windows (2000/XP/Vista) (and Linux as well) users can use the .exe files available at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=198821&package_id=240127 to use it without needing to use a CD; just install the package, reboot, select the "partition manager" option and it'll be ready to go.
5 November 2007 at 07:32
Raivis Dejus (orvils) said…
There is also Clonezilla: http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/

I have used it and it os quite ok :)
5 November 2007 at 11:34
Dave said…
Ghost4Linux is way better, and can handle multiple partitions.
I've used it to spread Ubuntu to 40 stations.
5 November 2007 at 19:52
Samer Azmy said…
Dave,
Thank you very much for your valuable comment
For those who interested to test Ghost4linux they will find it at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l

Dave, I wonder if you read the post of Acronix Open Source Alternate, I wonder if you know something better that you can share with us
My compliments and Thank you Again
Samer Azmy aka Kernel the Canine
5 November 2007 at 23:33
Berita dari gunung said…
interesting and resourceful. well done.
20 November 2007 at 13:27
yolynne said…
hey nice one Samer! doing some researches landed me to your web blog =) keep it up man!
17 May 2008 at 16:47
Samer Azmy said…
Yolyne,
Miss you,and I hope that you have found what you are searching for on my blog.
Take care
18 May 2008 at 08:37
Samer Azmy said…
There are more resources on this post h3r3
http://geek2live.blogspot.com/2007/11/complete-hd-image-backup.html

New version features and screenshots
http://geek2live.blogspot.com/2009/02/ghost-open-source-alternate-new-version.html
7 February 2009 at 12:21
JorgeTorres said…
know of an option as acronis universal restore? thanks
5 June 2012 at 18:45
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