Thinkpads Forum

It takes almost 7 hours to complete a partial backup which is about 5 GB in size. How is that possible? I make my backup to external USB drive and as I remember, it took less than 1 hour on my X61 TAblet. What could be taking so long? It's awful.

Which software are you using to do the backup? I use SecondCopy, which writes in native file format and also does very quick incremental backups. It is essentially doing a sophisticated file copy, so speed is not a problem. The option is also available to do compressed backups.

But the main reason I backup in native file format is to be able to access the backup files from any computer. I also password protect the backup hard drives for security. I've previously experienced problems restoring with proprietary software and proprietary backup file formats - and that is a sobering experience.

I use built-in Rescue and recovery.

What's the transfer rate to this external drive while just doing a straight file copy from one drive to another? Is the external USB 2.0?

it is usb 2.0 and works like a charm otherwise (file transfer etc.)

What is the normal file transfer rate?

350kbit/sec

350kbit/sec = 350000 bps
1GB = 8,589,934,592 bits
2454 Seconds to transfer 1GB x 5 = 12270 Secs. /60 = 204mins / 60 = 3.4 hours.

I calculate 3.4 hours at that rate to xfer 5GB. 7 Hours is @ twice as slow, not to mention that you didn't backup the entire 5GB, so 7 hours is way off.

I can't think of a reason why this would occur with R &R backups only.

My bad - what i meant was Mbit/sec. Sorry. That means the transfer rate is more than OK so the problem lies somewhere else.