How to create an image file larger than 2 GB
Article ID: 151710
Updated On:
Products
Ghost Solution Suite
Issue/Introduction
When using Ghost to create an image of a disk or partition that is larger than 2 gigabytes (GB), you need to save the image as a single file that is larger than 2 GB.
Resolution
Versions prior to 8.3 do not support creating an image file that is larger than 2 GB. The 2 gig image file size was used for backward compatibility to older operating systems such as DOS and Windows 95.
When creating an image file of a disk or partition that is larger than 2 GB with 8.2 or earlier, Ghost automatically splits the image file into two or more segments so that each segment has a maximum size of 2 GB.
Note: In Ghost 8.2 or earlier, a "segment" is a file that is part of a group of files, or file set. Each image is one file set. For instance, the file set for a disk that is 10 GB consists of up to five segments.
Ghost versions 8.3 and later will by default create a single large image file when writing that image to a local hard drive attached to the machine being cloned. When using GhostCast Server and boot media, the switch -SPLIT=0 needs to be added to the Ghost command line in order to create a single large image file. Also during a GhostCast Server session, a large image file can be written to a drive that is mapped via the OS on which GhostCast Server is running.
FAT32 has a file size limitation of 4 GB and therefore when writing an image to a FAT32 formatted hard drive, Ghost will only be allowed to create an image segment according to that limit. NTFS does not have a file size limitation.
Currently and by design, Ghost will not create a single large image file directly to a mapped drive, via DOS or Windows PE.
More information
When creating an image file of a disk or partition that is larger than 2 GB with 8.2 or earlier, Ghost automatically splits the image file into two or more segments so that each segment has a maximum size of 2 GB.
Note: In Ghost 8.2 or earlier, a "segment" is a file that is part of a group of files, or file set. Each image is one file set. For instance, the file set for a disk that is 10 GB consists of up to five segments.
Ghost versions 8.3 and later will by default create a single large image file when writing that image to a local hard drive attached to the machine being cloned. When using GhostCast Server and boot media, the switch -SPLIT=0 needs to be added to the Ghost command line in order to create a single large image file. Also during a GhostCast Server session, a large image file can be written to a drive that is mapped via the OS on which GhostCast Server is running.
FAT32 has a file size limitation of 4 GB and therefore when writing an image to a FAT32 formatted hard drive, Ghost will only be allowed to create an image segment according to that limit. NTFS does not have a file size limitation.
Currently and by design, Ghost will not create a single large image file directly to a mapped drive, via DOS or Windows PE.
More information
- The originally released Windows 95 and Windows 95a are compatible with FAT16 partitions, which have a size limit of 2 GB. Later Windows 95 versions and Windows 98/Me/2000 are also compatible with FAT32 partitions, which do not have this size limit.
- How to split an image file
- How to determine your version of Ghost
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