Editing Ghost (disk utility) (section)

== Early versions ==
Binary Research developed GHOST in [[Auckland]], New Zealand. After the Symantec acquisition, a few functions (such as translation into other languages) were moved elsewhere, but the main development remained in Auckland until October 2009 at which time much was moved to India.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

Technologies developed by 20/20 Software were integrated into GHOST after their acquisition by Symantec in April 2000.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2008-04-14|url=http://www.symantec.com/about/profile/development/acquisitions/index.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051207025453/http://www.symantec.com/about/profile/development/acquisitions/index.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2005|title=Acquisitions |publisher=[[NortonLifeLock|Symantec]] }}</ref>

=== GHOST 1.0 and 2.0 ===
GHOST 1.0 and 1.1 were released in 1996, followed by 2.0 (2.07) in the same year. These versions supported only the cloning of entire disks. They could run on an IBM XT and without extended memory. They also worked with [[OS/2]].<ref name=Dassow>{{cite web |last1=Dassow |first1=Peter |title=Ghost HDD imaging history ... Wikipedia ignores versions below 3 |work=Peter's z80.eu site blog |url=http://www.z80.eu/blog/index.php?entry=entry201228-155943 |language=en}}</ref>

=== GHOST 3.1 ===
Version 3.1, released in 1997 supports cloning individual [[partition (IBM PC)|partitions]]. GHOST could clone a disk or partition to another disk or partition or to an image file. GHOST allows for writing a clone or image to a second disk in the same machine, another machine linked by a parallel or network cable, a network drive, or to a tape drive. 3.1 uses 286 with XMS and could still run on OS/2.<ref name=Dassow/>

=== GHOST 4.0 and 4.1 ===
Version 4.0 of GHOST added [[multicast]] technology, following the lead of a competitor, [[ImageCast]]<!-- New article needed -->. Multicasting supports sending a single [[backup]] image simultaneously to other machines without putting greater stress on the network than by sending an image to a single machine. This version also introduced GHOST Explorer, a [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] program which supports browsing the contents of a disk image file<!-- can't find article --> and extracting individual files from it. Explorer was subsequently enhanced to support adding and deleting files in a [[File Allocation Table|FAT]]-formatted image, and later with [[ext2|EXT2]], [[ext3|EXT3]] and [[NTFS]] [[file system]]s. Until 2007, GHOST Explorer could not edit NTFS images<!-- directly contradicts previous sentence -->. GHOST Explorer could work with images from older versions but only slowly; version 4 images contain indexes to find files rapidly.

Version 4.0 also moved from [[real mode|real-mode]] [[DOS]] to [[80286|286]] [[protected mode]] via [[Phar Lap Software|Pharlap Extender]].<ref name=Dassow/> The additional memory available allows GHOST to provide several levels of [[data compression|compression]] for images, and to provide the file browser. In 1998, GHOST 4.1 supports password-protected images. This version dropped OS/2 support.<ref name=Dassow/>

=== GHOST 5.0 (GHOST 2000) ===
Version 5.0 moved to [[80386|386]] [[protected mode]]. Unlike the [[text-based user interface]] of earlier versions, 5.0 uses a [[graphical user interface]] (GUI). The Binary Research logo, two stars revolving around each other, plays on the main screen when the program is idle.<ref name=Dassow/> In 1998, Gdisk, a script-based [[partition manager]], was integrated in Ghost. Gdisk serves a role similar to [[Fdisk]], but has greater capabilities.

=== GHOST for NetWare ===
A Norton GHOST version for [[Novell NetWare]] (called 2.0), released around 1999, supports [[Novell Storage Services|NSS]] partitions (although it runs in [[DOS]], like the others).

=== GHOST 6.0 (GHOST 2001) ===
GHOST 6.0, released in 2000, includes a management console for managing large numbers of machines. The console communicates with client software on managed computers and allows a [[system administrator]] to refresh the disk of a machine remotely. As a DOS-based program, GHOST requires machines running Windows to reboot to DOS to run it. GHOST 6.0 requires a separate DOS partition when used with the console.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Spindler|first=Douglas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRcEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Norton+Ghost%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA63|title=No cloning around|date=2000-01-17|publisher=Network world|language=en}}</ref>

=== GHOST 7.0 / GHOST 2002 ===
Released March 31, 2001, Norton GHOST version 7.0 (retail) was marketed as Norton GHOST 2002 Personal Edition.<!-- consider adding more information? -->

=== GHOST 7.5 ===
Released December 14, 2001, GHOST 7.5 creates a virtual partition, a DOS partition which actually exists as a file within a normal Windows file system. This significantly eased systems management because the user no longer had to set up their own partition tables. GHOST 7.5 can  write images to [[CD-R]] discs. Later versions can write [[DVD]]s.

=== Symantec GHOST 8.0 ===
GHOST 8.0 can run directly from Windows. It is well-suited for placement on bootable media, such as [[BartPE]]′s bootable CD. The corporate edition supports [[unicast]], [[multicast]] and [[Peer-to-peer file sharing|peer-to-peer]] transfers via [[TCP/IP]]. GHOST 8.0 supports NTFS file system, although NTFS is not accessible from a DOS program.

=== Transition from DOS ===
The off-line version of Ghost, which runs from bootable media in place of the installed operating system, originally faced a number of driver support difficulties due to limitations of the increasingly obsolete 16-bit [[DOS]] environment. Driver selection and configuration within DOS was non-trivial from the beginning, and the limited space available on floppy disks made disk cloning of several different disk controllers a difficult task, where different [[SCSI]], [[USB]], and CD-ROM drives were involved. Mouse support was possible but often left out due to the limited space for drivers on a floppy disk. Some devices such as USB often did not work using newer features such as USB 2.0, instead only operating at 1.0 speeds and taking hours to do what should have taken only a few minutes. As widespread support for DOS went into decline, it became increasingly difficult to get hardware drivers for DOS for the newer hardware.

Disk imaging competitors to GHOST have dealt with the decline of DOS by moving to other recovery environments such as [[FreeBSD]], [[Linux]] or [[Windows PE]], where they can draw on current driver development to be able to image newer models of disk controllers. Nevertheless, the DOS version of GHOST on compatible hardware configurations works much faster than most of the *nix based image and backup tools{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=May 2016}}.

GHOST 8 and later are Windows programs; as such, they can run on Windows PE, [[BartPE]] or Hiren's BootCD and use the same plug and play hardware drivers as a standard desktop computer, making hardware support for GHOST much simpler.

=== Norton GHOST 2003 ===
Norton GHOST 2003, a consumer edition of Ghost, was released on September 6, 2002. Available as an independent product, Norton GHOST 2003 was also included as a component of Norton SystemWorks 2003 Professional. A simpler, non-corporate version of Ghost, Norton GHOST 2003 does not include the console but has a Windows front-end to script GHOST operations and create a bootable GHOST [[diskette]]. The machine still needs to reboot to the virtual partition, but the user does not need to interact with DOS. Symantec deprecated [[LiveUpdate]] support for Norton GHOST 2003 in early 2006.