Backing-up takes too long.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  1. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium
       #1

    Backing-up takes too long.


    I have pruned my hard disk and archived a lot of my video files, this has left my C:drive storing 252 GB out of a total capacity of 1..15 TB. I have now backed up the C:drive to an external hard drive (I:) and the backup has a total volume of 452 GB. Incidentally, it took nearly 4 hours to carry out the backup even though there was already a previous system backup on that hard drive (I:). Why is the new backup so large and why did the process take so long?

    I have carried out a search in the Forums but I have not found an article that answers my questions.

    thyde9337

    My System: Dell Studio XPS 8100, Intel Core 3.2 GHz processor. 6.0GB memory. 1.15 GB hard drive, 1.5 GB Toshiba external hard drive I, 1.0TB Toshiba external hard drive (J:.K:,L , 500 GB Iomega external hard drive (M. Dell 922 Scanner/Printer.
    Last edited by thyde9337; 02 Nov 2010 at 10:50. Reason: No signature
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,139
    Systems 1 and 2: Windows 7 Enterprise x64, Win 8 Developer
       #2

    You're not backing up the Windows files, are you? Also, you may want to explore incremental backups.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10,994
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit
       #3

    thyde9337 said:
    I have pruned my hard disk and archived a lot of my video files, this has left my C:drive storing 252 GB out of a total capacity of 1..15 TB. I have now backed up the C:drive to an external hard drive (I:) and the backup has a total volume of 452 GB. Incidentally, it took nearly 4 hours to carry out the backup even though there was already a previous system backup on that hard drive (I:). Why is the new backup so large and why did the process take so long?

    I have carried out a search in the Forums but I have not found an article that answers my questions.
    Hello thyde9337 and welcome to the Forum.

    Did you do a sector by sector backup with no file compression? That could account for the time.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2,009
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #4

    Setting backup compression to the highest level also increases the time factor immensely (without saving so much more space than on "normal" level).
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks Lemur & marsimar for your prompt replies. I used the Windows 7 backup routine for my system image no options were indicated apart from choosing the date and frequency of automatic backups. I have now discovered that I need to start the backup process before selecting which parts of the system to backup. This can be difficult because I have little idea of which parts of my system have changed since the last backup. I was hoping that the backup program would recognise and backup only the changed folders/files and ignore the others.

    thyde9337
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 10,994
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit
       #6

    thyde9337 said:
    Thanks Lemur & marsimar for your prompt replies. I used the Windows 7 backup routine for my system image no options were indicated apart from choosing the date and frequency of automatic backups. I have now discovered that I need to start the backup process before selecting which parts of the system to backup. This can be difficult because I have little idea of which parts of my system have changed since the last backup. I was hoping that the backup program would recognise and backup only the changed folders/files and ignore the others.

    thyde9337
    Just for comparison, I've got a 500GB HD with about 280GB on it. Using the 7 imaging tool takes about 45 minutes if I let it update (overwrite) a previously made image. The initial image will always take the longest ... nothing for it to reference as to what's been changed.

    A lot of forum members recommend another free imaging software called Macrium Reflect. They say it offers more user flexibility.

    Imaging with free Macrium
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,251
    Windows 7 x64 Home Premium
       #7

    thyse9337- 4 hours is quite a long time for a backup. My C drive only has about 23 GB to back up, but it only takes 3 1/2 minutes using freeware Macrium Reflect and the 'medium' compression backup is only about 8 GB in size which is 1/3 the size of the Windows System Image 24 GB backups and can be mounted as a drive in Explorer so that files may be removed or added at the user's discretion...



    ~Maxx~

      My Computer


  8. Posts : 966
    Windows 7 Enterprise
       #8

    Our School of Engineering image is the largest one I work with (Solidworks, CS5, 4 versions of Java). It takes about 3-4 hours to image to our network share using Zen10. The final image is about 30GB.
    I also use Ghost to image to a USB, or for legacy images, or for the Mac guys. Image size is about 25GB for the same drive, taking about 60-90minutes.
    It probably doesnt help you at the moment, but its another benchmark to go off.

    Also, as SledgeDG mentions, using a higher compression will result in a smaller image filesize but at the cost of time.
    When I get back to work in the morning, I'l try to post some more accurate numbers.

    But now, a question of interest...
    How many drives/partitions are you using? And your backups, are they just the system and program files, or are you including your user files too?

    A good idea, would be to put your user folders on another drive or partition. So when it comes to your next backup, you can just do the system/program files drive then the users folders later, instead of doing the whole shabang in one long hit.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 185
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
       #9

    Macrium Reflect is the way to go,it also makes image,incremental,differential and normal file backups... Do it,,Do it now!!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Thanks to those users who replied to my message. I have run backup again after finding out how to control which items should be backed up. The new backup is only 13GB but I do not know how long it ran because the computer was unattended during the backup process. It seems that the problem is now resolved.
      My Computer


 
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:31.
Find Us