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Backup stuck at 97%

Anonymous
2022-10-16T14:54:33+00:00

I updated to Windows 11 when it came out, and prior to that I used to backup to an eternal hard drive every few weeks or so.

However now I'm finding that when I try to backup I get stuck at 97%. No error message or other warnings, and then eventually the green bar turned red and I get the "backup did not complete successfully" message.

I am using a terabyte external hard drive, and I have used command prompt in admin to scan for issues (nothing), and have also checked that the external hard drive is connected and functioning. Nothing.

I've tried a few tutorials on how to check for errors, and re-run the backup, and again get stuck at 97%, so I'm asking here in the hope that somebody knows how to deal with this issue.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Recovery and backup

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-10-16T16:19:59+00:00

    Don't think I've ever seen this. I've seen the image backup getting stuck because of filesystem/drive issues which would also freeze Windows though and may not be fixed by anything but a full (long) format (or new drive). And, I've seen it not wanting to backup an image where a format of the target drive would fix it.

    There's free image backup software available but it can be slower and its far more annoying to restore the image unless you can find one that offers to do it in a faster way.

    With, File History, however, they messed that up a bit from what I understand with Windows 11 (although if you have xml programming understanding then you can simply directly do it from the FH backup xml file where the UI stopped being able to). I stopped using it as I already have two backup software running. But, that could have some extra issues.

    If you have a DIY computer, some motherboard manufacturers like GigaByte provide backup software for free that may be a bit better than FH. Other free backup software can be obtained from usb drive manufacturers like Western Digital. And there's free software that's just free from being open source.

    Certain ones here will say Windows backup tools are deprecated so don't use it but Windows itself is technically deprecated anyway as there will be a Windows 12 so Windows 11 is deprecated. Its a funny thing to say :) No matter what you use, there will be problems deprecated or not, and in fact the Windows backup tools work fine on Windows 11, as I just used the image backup tool just fine some days ago.

    Sometimes its the software, sometimes its not. If you give the Windows backup tools what they want then it works fine.

    Its difficult to know why its getting stuck at 97%. Its not necessarily the backup tools. You will have to narrow that down, or not, and just use something else and see if it goes better.

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  2. Sumit D - IA 167K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-10-16T15:26:31+00:00

    Hi Dan,

    I am Sumit here to assist you with this question.

    You may try a clean boot and see if that helps.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-t...

    On the other hand,

    Backup utilities in Windows 10 are deprecated and are not being actively maintained. Microsoft and I recommend using a 3rd party utility. My choice is Macrium Reflect.

    System Image Backup (SIB) Solution We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/61026-backu...

    Content on the above blog is written by a Microsoft MVP so it is safe. However, do watch out for the ads.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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