What does "ghosting a hard drive" mean?

Answer by  gyles19 (126)

"Ghosting" a hard drive means to use special software to make a bit-by-bit identical copy of the original drive. This usually requires that the two drives be of identical model, or at least drive geometry. A ghosted drive can be swapped in to replace a failed primary hard drive. Ghosting can also be used to mass-install a batch of computers.

Answer by  BigD103 (548)

Ghosting is taking an image of the harddrive. This is like direct copy of everything that is on th harddrive in the exact state the computer is in. This is only recommeded if you are creating multiple installations on machines with the same hardware.