Windows 10: Why is 275GB macrium image backup taking over 3 hrs to create & verify

I'm not totally certain of this, but I believe when you are running WinPe, you are not getting the Windows write cache advantage and other stuff. I can't really explain it, it's like you're running under a somewhat dumbed-down mini OS without all the performance bells and whistles. Maybe someone else, can fill in the blanks. Just my understanding.

 

My image backup image took 1 hr and 10 min to create and 2 additional hours to verify. The bulk of these files are pictures and videos

Is this normal?

:)

 

Cannot perform system image back up using Windows Backup

I gave up using Windows image backup due to failure with creating the image & began using Macrium reflect to image & clone my hard drive.

 

Windows 10 1709 System Image Restore

I've been using Macrium Reflect in Windows 10 and it worked well prior to the 1709 update. Since then I've tried that and EaseUS Todo backup utility. Both appear to create the backup normally to another drive but when I try to verify the images, the programs
say they're corrupt.

I believe it's something in the 1709 build causing it because I can create a backup image with an old Acronis rescue disk that verifies the image and works fine. I've successfully tested it by restoring the OS drive.

 

My 1.4TB backup took almost 6 hours to backup and verify. How fast are the disk drives?

EDIT: this is a secondary drive with nothing but media on it.

 

275GB is a rather large image backup. My full backup is around 33GB, compresses to about 20GB, and takes 5 minutes to backup and verify. An awful lot depends on what you are backing it up to. If it's an external drive, even on Sata III, it can take quite a while. Your specs say you have an i7, but not what gen. Mine is an i7-7700k OC's to 4.8Ghz. That plays a large role, also. pics and vids will do a lot of compressing slowing down the overall throughput rate. The transfer rate you see is not the pure read it/write it rate. There are computational and compression factors to consider. Your verify rate is slow compared to your backup rate. That would seem to indicate the drive you are backing up to has a low read transfer rate. Lots of factors to consider.

As a side-note, if the bulk is vids and pics, they are not changing from one backup to the next. You may want to consider getting them off your main drive so as not to continually backup unchanged data. Put them on another drive or in the cloud.

 

Hi,
You can try to create/ verify an image next time using the winpe recovery media and see if it's faster
I believe it is it's the only way I do it.

 

That is what I do.*Thumbs

 

Thanks for your response
i7 6700HQ 2.6GHz @ 2.6Hz with 16GB RAM
External disc is USB 3 WD My Passport ultra

Can some running background programs affect the time?

 

Not significantly with those specs. Unless you've got something heavy churning, like a batch video conversions process or such. But normal background processes, no. Macrium defaults to High Priority anyway, so doubtful.

Check to make sure the WD external has it's write cache enabled. That can make a big difference. Does it say it's using "direct i/o" or "system cache"?

 

If you just copied 275GB at say 100MB/s, it would take 2750 seconds = approx 45 mins. Ok, MR is reading a lot, processing it and writing less but doing a lot of work, so an 1 or so to write is not that far off imo. The 2hrs verification seems a bit long but not excessive. Maybe Defender is working overtime?

 

Check to make sure the WD external has it's write cache enabled. That can make a big difference. Does it say it's using "direct i/o" or "system cache"?[/QUOTE]
How would you check to see if its write cache is enabled? Should it be enabled?

 

How would you check to see if its write cache is enabled? Should it be enabled?[/QUOTE]This is just an example. In Disk Management, with the drive plugged in, right click the area in the red circle, then Properties. Check the Policies tab.





Yes, it can help 99% of the time. If the drive's controller will support it.

 

Cannot find policies option in properties

 

Open Device Manager by right click the start button then clicking on Device Manager. Find the drive there then check the properties. You will see the Policies tab.