(Win 7) Windows Backup, is this for real?

[lopri]

I decided to give a try to Window's backup utility for my media files yesterday, and it is still backing up today. (well, technically since it's past midnight) Is this normal, and if so why?

Original data resides in D drive (SATA), and the backup goes to an external drive via Firewire. The data is about 600GB, and it's been 7 hours the backup process started. Currently @53% finished.

I was shocked to find out the backup was still running when I came home and not sure whether I should stop the process or let it finished.

 

[lopri]

I mean, I tried Vista's built-in backup and it didn't take this long, iirc.

 

[Blazer]

7 hrs, something is wrong, it shouldnt take that long.

 

[boardsportsrule]

600 gB

at 20 mBps

is 8.3 hours...

just a thought..

20mBps is what my usb hdd usually goes at

 

[lopri]

I ruled out hardware because I used this drive before and did a quick test when I hooked it up to the system. Everest disk bench gave 40MB/s which I believe where FireWire (400) should be.

Since I posted the process has moved another percent to 54%. Unbelievable.

 

[zerogear]

Are you backing up by file or by image? Image is faster usually.. but the Win 7 Backup aren't really clear

 

[lopri]

It's both files and images. Some are huge. (Blu-Ray..)

Woke up this morning to find the backup process running @58%. Should I continue?

 

[RebateMonger]

I saw this extended thread about ultra-slow Win7 Backups a while back on an MS TechNet forum:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...p/thread/3e08fc65-52f5-48ca-ae13-321cdfc44fbd

 

[Doomer]

Don't worry. MS is uploading your HD and traffic has been heavy since they introduced this "feature" in Win 7.

 

[MrChad]

Interesting. I was going to try out the Windows backup feature on my work laptop, but maybe I'll hold off until this issue is addressed.

 

[JackMDS]

Lopri it depends on what type of user you are.

If you do a lot of other thing that involve BackingUp Ghosting etc.

Get Acronis True Image 2010 it will solve this problem and you will have an Application that can make live easier in other tasks as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-012-_-Product
.

 

[lopri]

I left it running and guess where it is now? 67%. I have come this far and I may as well let it finish. But once it's done I'll get rid of it and buy Acronis as Jack suggests.

But the question remains why this is happening. Yesterday I disconnected the system from the internet and stopped anti-virus and it's still moving at snail's pace.

 

[lopri]

I saw this extended thread about ultra-slow Win7 Backups a while back on an MS TechNet forum:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...p/thread/3e08fc65-52f5-48ca-ae13-321cdfc44fbd

Thank you for the link. Apparently it isn't just me - what a relief, lol.

 

[lopri]

I hate to keep posting, but please excuse me for one quick question. The backup process is currently at 67% (yes, where it was 6 hours ago) and I think this is a total nonsense. My question is: Can I stop it without any harm done to my system? I am not backing up the boot drive and what's being backed up is D drive which I use as data drive. I chose full disk backup of D to U (the external volume) from Windows backup utility.

I feel like a total noob. Geez. Thank you for your help!

 

[RebateMonger]

If there's a "Cancel" button, you can safely push it.

 

[lopri]

Thank you. I've stopped the thing @71% this morning, and the system looks fine with no visible harm. (heh) Upon inspection, I saw the Windows Backup has created a gigantic 500 GB image file in the external disk to that point (2 1/2 days). I am not sure if that was going to be the final size or was 71% of the final size. Whichever it was, one thing is for certain - never again.

 

[jaytone1]

I have been using Paragons software. I can tell yo this, if you have questions with their product you call and get a tech right away. Their prodcuts are great.
I had been using their free version of Backup and recovery free edition and liked it so well that I bought the paid version of Paragon Backup 10 Professional. It supports basic disks and dynamic disks, can do a backup of partitions, do scheduled backups of partitions, whole disks, files only, email only, etc. I backup up my hard drive to an external and wanted to see how good it was in restoring. I hooked up a spare hard drive, booted from their rescue disk (which is very user friendly) and restored. Worked great. They sell other products related to hard drive management. HEre is what I bought
And another nice thing is you can download a fully working version of the Backup 10 Professional for 30 day evaluation. The only thing in the trial version is that when you create a rescue disk, it creates it but cant be used to recover.
Here is the link
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-professional/

Hope this helps.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The windows backup util is actually quite slow. Think it actually does a FULL backup each time. I prefer rsync (linux) or syncback (windows).