How Long Does it Take to Make System Restore Image?

[bishop101]

I'm currently making system restore image, it's been running for about 7 hours, yet its only at 20%.

The OS drive is 350 GB, with the other 2 drives I have about 1.3 TB of data. I'm only backing up the OS drive right now. Is taking such a long time 7 + hours normal?

 

[Dzomlija]

I'm currently making system restore image, it's been running for about 7 hours, yet its only at 20%.

The OS drive is 350 GB, with the other 2 drives I have about 1.3 TB of data. I'm only backing up the OS drive right now. Is taking such a long time 7 + hours normal?

How full is the 350GB system drive?

Under normal conditions, it should take only a few minutes...

 

[bishop101]

It has 70 GB left. It also has a 10 GB factory partition on it.

 

[mjf]

You have a problem.
Assuming you are using Windows 7 imaging, the speed of your backup obviously depends on the size of the data being imaged and other factors including the speed of your backup HDD.
Backing up 50 GB of OS, programs, data takes me 20-25min on to an external USB HDD. A similar time to restore.
I use Windows & Macrium Reflect free (very popular).
Suggest you download Macrium Reflect free and give it a go.

Edit: 270GB (by my calculations) is one decent sized "OS drive". You must have a lot of data which I'd be separating.

 

[bishop101]

So in order to make Image Restore go quicker I have to get rid of all the other data on my drive (C)?

Is their anyway I can isolate only the folders I need to run my system and the programs I'm running, without resorting to backing up the registry?

I can't move my data files from the Drive (C) as I don't have any place to put it.

Also something I noticed, when I looked in the progress tab I noticed it was backing up video files that were in drive (G), these files were not on drive (C) but were indexed in my library. So if I was only backing up the system drive why was it copying the files from drive (G). I assumed it was just copying the index of the Libraries and not the actual video files themselves.

Read the backup tutorial and followed all the steps..

 

[allend66]

It's generally an accepted 'good practice' to split your data (music, photos, video, documents) from your operating system and program installs.

Typically most people have C: drive as OS and installed programs, with a separate partition (D on the same drive for data. Then if you have a problem with the OS, you don't place any valuable personal data in jeopardy should the drive fail or a new install be needed.

Obviousley keep a backup (or backups plural) of your personal data, then image your OS when it's running sweet. Problem solved.

 

[MacGyvr]

It's generally an accepted 'good practice' to split your data (music, photos, video, documents) from your operating system and program installs.

Typically most people have C: drive as OS and installed programs, with a separate partition (D on the same drive for data. Then if you have a problem with the OS, you don't place any valuable personal data in jeopardy should the drive fail or a new install be needed.

Obviousley keep a backup (or backups plural) of your personal data, then image your OS when it's running sweet. Problem solved.

Truthfully, very few people do that. In fact, the only ones that know to do it are the more "techie" inclined such as those who frequent this board. The vast majority of people have all their information on the C: drive, just like Windows sets it up. Moving data to a separate partition is a valid point, but is definitely not how most people run their systems.

 

[bishop101]

So none of you guys keep data in your User folder? Seems like I have more work to do than I expected.

So if I were to transfer the files to a different drive, that would solve the problem and make it render the image quicker?

I imagine I have about the same amount of GB of data as I do programs installed in program files.

 

[TVeblen]

So if I were to transfer the files to a different drive, that would solve the problem and make it render the image quicker?

Yes.

But a little clarification: You can have just one hard disk "drive" in your computer and that drive can be "partitioned" to have multiple "drives" on it. Each partition is treated by W7 as a separate "drive" and is assigned a Drive Letter. Any additional Hard Disk Drives in your computer would be assigned subsequent Drive letters.

So if you created a partition of, say, 80GB and another that took up the rest of the space on your hard drive you would have 2 drives that would show up in My Computer - C: (80GB) and D:. You would put the OS and programs on C: and all your User data on D:.

Now when you make a disk image you will only be backing up the 80GB partition and it will go much faster.

 

[allend66]

So none of you guys keep data in your User folder? Seems like I have more work to do than I expected.

Personally speaking, no. I simply have all of my data in a truecrypt file kept on a separate partition. I have a sync setup with C:\Users\allend66 to my truecrypt file (mounted as a drive, X:, called "My Documents", and when anything is automatically saved in my user folder, the sync automatically resaves it to my separate partition. Otherwise, if I am prompted for a save destination, I choose my X: drive. Housekeeping as and when necessary in my C\user folder to delete duplicates.

There is a tutorial on this site to change the default path of your user data, but I'm happy with my own method.

So if I were to transfer the files to a different drive, that would solve the problem and make it render the image quicker?

Most probably. For your information, I have my Win7 Home Premium and installed programs totalling around 32Gb. I have my personal data saved in a 50Gb truecrypt container, that of course has multiple backups. Imaging my C: drive once a month takes 20 minutes.

 

[mborner]

How is your external drive connected? USB1, USB2, Firewire, ESATA? It makes a huge difference in backup speed. If you're still connecting through USB1, that's where your bottleneck is.

 

[fimble]

Just for info.

Backed up my C:\ drive today before the Xmas Hols (who knows what will happen while I'm away). I used Macrium Reflect (Free version). C:\ drive contains the system and all installed softwares. Personal Data(s) split over two other partitions/drives.

To back up my C:\ drive, which has 46gb out of 100gb used, took a grand total of 12 minutes, 32 seconds. The back up file size is 15.5gb in size.

 

[mjf]

I take what I think is a commonsense approach to managing data. You don't have to be "geeky".
(1) You need more than one partition.
(2) Personal correspondence, spreadsheets, some images you may be editing etc. generally small stuff can live on your OS partition if you like.
(3) Large fairly static data like image data bases, music, video data you don't need to backup as frequently or have a different backup strategy.

I think a manageable size (OS, Programs, small data) of around 40-50GB is reasonable. This is about what I have and it includes quite a number of large 3rd party apps. I do rolling images about once a week and it takes ~20 minutes.
You can also be a bit bolder with the things you try out. If it screws your system up you're back in business in 20 minutes.

I don't think that's geeky.