The console enables administrators to customize and schedule cloning or refresh tasks by group and permits configuration changes to be made either en masse during cloning or individually later. Tests of a Windows NT cloning task showed good remote activation but bad configuration results. The Ghost Explorer module provided a handy means to edit images already captured, but we don't recommend that managers use it for Linux systems until a couple of bugs are fixed. However, when we added an innocuous file to a Linux image, we corrupted the image. Changes also automatically save into the original image file rather than a new copy, forcing administrators to keep on their toes and manage images outside of Ghost.
Performance depends on many network factors, as well as the type of image cloned.
For these tests, we used the highest compression factor, which reduced storage by more than half. Read PC Week Labs' June 14 review of another cloning rival, Power Quest Corp.'s Drive Image Pro. This enhancement helps Ghost match the capabilities of StorageSoft's ImageCast IC3, but Symantec still needs to work out some serious bugs in the release. Norton Ghost 6.0 Enterprise has a slightly more complex setup procedure than earlier versions to accommodate creation of a 15MB disk partition where Ghost places its agent software. But the added ability to reconfigure or reclone machines after initial cloning makes the extra work worthwhile.