Windows 7 backup taking too much space and too long

figosound · 28 Jan 2014

Hi,
I have a very mysterious problem when trying to backup my system.
C: drive is a 500 GB disk filled to almost 70%, so there are more or less 350 GB of data, OS included.
H: drive is a 1TB disk used only for backup purposes.

I have setup Windows Backup to do a backup of OS and user data with all the recommended options enabled once a week, which shouldn't be a problem, given the sizes of source and destination; as a matter of fact, on a almost identical machine those options resulted in one system image plus 3 backup periods, and the 1TB drive was not even filled up.

Strangely, this machine I'm trying to fix was not back upping properly, saying that the destination drive was full. I have checked the amounts of space used by SysImages (approx. 300 GB [!]) and Backup Periods (approx 670GB [!!!]), and there was only ONE big backup period, so I could not delete older periods to make room for new ones, which by the way is what Windows backup should do by itself.

I have tried to reset all the options, then proceeded to format the backup drive, then start the backup from scratch: this resulted AGAIN in a full drive, a 300GB SysImage and 670GB of "incremental" backup period...

Leaving things this way leads to Win Backup error, stating that the destination drive is full, so I can only do manual, non incremental backups.

Also, back upping 350GB of data takes about 8-9 hours: this is really too much time, given that both drives are sataII, CPU is a PhenomII X4 955 BE with 4GB RAM.

Does anyone have an idea on what's going on here? I really need a solution :)

Thanks!

SIW2 · 28 Jan 2014

Use this for your images. Much better than the windows built in program The best free imaging program you can get. Includes scheduling and incremental/differential, which you don't get in other free.

FREE Backup software for Windows 7, 8 and Server 2008 R2, 2012

You can also get the Aomei partition assistant Pro version free today from here:

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro 5.5 - AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro is a complete and professional partition solution for PCs.

Lady Fitzgerald · 28 Jan 2014

Or you could try Macrium Reflect Free (do not download from the homepage; this page is safer to download from). It's been more popular here on Seven Forums. Here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect.

SIW2 · 28 Jan 2014

The op wants backup periods. Therefore he wants scheduling and incremental/differential. Only Aomei does that free. It is also quick.

Lady Fitzgerald · 28 Jan 2014

While incremental and differential images are faster than taking full images every time, it's also risky since one has to keep track of all images plus, if one gets lost or corrupted, then a restoration will fail. Making an image is the most efficient way to backup just an OS and program only partition but, for a separate data partition, a folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync, is far more efficient and safer.

SIW2 · 28 Jan 2014

Risky? I suppose that is why most keep it for their paid programs- like macrium does.

I started the whole macrium thing going on these forums. Vista forums 2008/9. Shawn and many others picked up on my recommendation.

Vista didn't have any imaging built ( except ultimate iirc. ) There wasn't anything else around. Macrium saw the opportunity and used the free version to get themselves known. It was the best at the time. That carried over to seven forums as many who started sf up came over from vf.

It was the best then and it is still good now. If you like it, and have lots on images in their format, by all means stay with it.

It is different now. Others are offering more and better. That is their way of getting themselves known.

I recommend the best solution. I am not partisan. It is an area of special interest to me. I have tested these kind of products for different companies.

Right now Aomei is the best.

figosound · 28 Jan 2014

Thank you all for the advices, but my question remains the same: how come, on two almost identical machines, windows backup gives two completely different results? Why it takes so long, and why it uses so much space?

I surely can consider other backup solutions, but first I really want to understand this thing :)

figosound · 30 Jan 2014

I can't believe nobody else got this issue... Anyway, I'll add some other details:
C: used space: 324 GB (OS + applications + data)

On drive H:
Data files backup: 611 GB in one backup period from 28/01/2014 to THE SAME DATE
System Image: 308 GB
Other files: 689 MB
Free space: 10.6 GB
Total size: 931.5 GB

Now we wait :)

figosound · 30 Jan 2014

Ok guys, I'm feeling a little idiot...
I can't explain why, but some very big folders in another drive (G: ) ended up in the Video library, so Win Backup was obviously back upping them. Now I removed them from the library, and I'm expecting much smaller backup periods to be done in much less time.
I will post result, and hopefully declare "solved" this thread :)

figosound · 06 Feb 2014

Update as promised:

On drive H:
Data files backup: 130 GB in one backup period
System Image: 326 GB
Other files: 3.02 GB
Free space: 472 GB
Total size: 931.5 GB

Solved