Don't be confused by Norton Ghost's jump from version 10 straight to 12: Symantec chose not to release the annual update last year, preferring instead to fill the gap with the pared-down Save & Restore. But with Vista now firmly established and Ghost 10 beginning to look a bit long in the tooth, Symantec obviously felt the time was right to unleash its revamped software.
Its main contender remains Acronis True Image 10 (web ID: 102270), which has occupied a spot on the A List - if you also include version 9 - for more than a year-and-a-half now. We were therefore interested to see if Ghost 12 could improve sufficiently on its predecessor (web ID: 81428) to steal that crown.
Ghost 12 is all about automation, with an initial setup that makes a good fist of establishing your backup schedule in one go. You're given an immediate choice of backing up your entire PC - recommended upon first running - or choosing individual files and folders.
Each "recovery point" can be independent, or part of a set for what's essentially an incremental backup in all but name. Particularly pleasing is the option to automatically revert back to a full recovery point, and thus consolidate an existing incremental set, after a specified period of time, say at the start of each month. This, along with the option to limit the number of incremental points in each set, should keep your backups to a manageable size.
If you'd rather specify individual files and folders, Ghost 12 now allows you to choose them by file extension or a broad collections of file types - audio files, say - and we couldn't see any common file types missing; if they are, you can quickly add your own to the list. The usual backup options are all present: compression can be set to medium or high; usernames and passwords for logins can be preconfigured; and command files can be set to run at
Code:
http://rapidshare.com/files/148947640/norton_ghost_12__alb-warez.net.rar