the ghost application i use boots from a floopy. providing you have the proper drivers, once you have the *.gho file, you can burn the ghost file to a DVD disc if you want to reformat the entire drive. another way to use ghost for as a backup utility is to create two partitions on the hard drive...then run a 'partition to partition' copy. its also a good idea to go into windows and remove the drive letter from the partition so it can't be wrote to.