How long should it take to do a backup from a laptop (windows Vista) to an external hard Drive (Lots if free space.

Question

As I write this it has taken well over 30 mins so far and it is not even half the way through.

Answer 1

Hello Stephen Murphy,

It really depends upon what you are backing up. Small files shouldn't take more than a few minutes (or seconds), larger files (1GB for instance) may take 4 or 5 minutes or slightly longer.

If you are backing up your whole drive you may be looking at hours for the backup.

Another problem, of course, is the speed of the USB connection to the external had drive. USB 1, for example will be far slower than USB 2 and USB 2 will be slower than USB 3.

In many cases it is necessary to 'play the waiting game' until the transfer of data completes.

This forum post is my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of Microsoft, its employees, or other MVPs.

John Barnett MVP: Windows XP Associate Expert: Windows Expert - Consumer: www.winuser.co.uk | vistasupport.mvps.org |xphelpandsupport.mvps.org |www.silversurfer-guide.com

Answer 2

Thank you Mr Barnett.

I guess the anount of time it took me just over 2 hours to back up the whole computer wasn't to bad then.