Windows 7's Backup and Restore program takes forever to backup!

Question

When I attempt to back up my internal C and D drives (160 GB Western Digital Raptor and 1 TB Hitachi, respectively, using Windows 7's Backup and Restore program) -- backing up to an external Lacie drive (1 TB Big Disk Extreme) -- it takes about 24-36 hours to backup the data.

(Incidentally, the 160 GB Raptor drive is only about half-full; same with the 1 TB Hitachi internal drive.)

However, going to Device Manager > Disk Management, it shows the external drive as being perfectly healthy and functioning normally.

What gives...?

Answer 1

A temporary solution:

Disable Background Intelligent Transfer Service while running backup

Go to control panel and administrative tools

Open Services.msc and find Background Intelligent Transfer Service

Disable it and restart and then backup...it might be faster...

(You probably should turn it back on when backup is done)

Answer 2

Hi Dena,

For what it's worth, I noticed on the thread you've referenced that there was the often repeated mantra that the initial full backup would be very slow, but that subsequent backups would be much faster.  I wanted to say that this is definitely NOT my experience.

The subsequent/incremental backups are just as slow (taking between 24-36 hours in my particular case).

If there are any solutions that have come down the pike since this initial thread was posted, please let me know.

As it stands presently, there is no way that I can keep using Windows 7's Backup and Restore.  Taking 24-36 hours to complete any backup -- whether initial or incremental -- is simply not doable.  So like other users, I have switched to another backup program.

Thanks!

Answer 3

The quality of Windows 7 backup is inexcusable. The best way to fix it is to just use the backup/restore from Windows 2008 Server R2 which is lightning fast, only creates one file instead of three files, and is simpler and more straight forward to use. I have used many backup systems over the many years in computers and Win7 backup is SLOW and not well designed! Ridiculous to not use the Server 2008 version which mostly shares the same code base as Win7 anyway! The same restore for data, system state and bare metal restore of the system C: disk is very fast on 2008 and ungawdly slow on Win7. Don't try to fix it - replace it!!!!!!!!!!! You don't need two different backup systems! Use the good one!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

I'm no techno geek, but I do use PCs a lot.

Yes, windows 7 backup is awful - slow and clunky.

The solution seems to elude Microsoft, so here's what I've done with PCs using Vista and Windows 7...

I downloaded a disk imaging program (there are several good ones out there that a free).  The one I've used, and that has had over 1,000,000 downloads over the years, is "Macrium Reflect, Free".

I use it to backup approximately 250GB of data from two internal drives to an external 1TB H/F automatically every few days.  The data gets compressed by at least 50- 75%, so I can fit at least 4 or 5 backups (images) on the h/f before overwriting or deleting old images.

To learn more, get product reviews from users and professionals, Google "CNET downloads of Macrium Reflect Free" or go to this link:

 http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Reflect-Free-Edition/3000-2242\_4-10845728.html

There are tons of advantages in using an "image" instead of the classical backup - speed, usability if a crash forces you to install a new h/f, etc..

Good luck!

BocaDave

Answer 5

Hi highland99,

Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Windows 7 Community.  This post provides information and tips regarding Windows 7 Backup and Restore.

Please let us know if this helped.

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Dena

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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