Exceptionally long time taken to complete the backup
I have an Acronis True Image 2016 WD Edition.
I must have tried on several occasions where time taken by Acronis to complete a backup had taken longer than Macrium Reflect Free, in each case, but these differences were more of an academic interest and nothing alarming.
But this time, it has crossed al boundaries it seems. Let me give a set of data to put the whole thing in perspective:
1. C: drive has 289 GB (31%) System and personal Data. The balance 641 GB (69%) is free. The drive has been thoroughly defragmented and fragmentation is zero percent. It has been Boot-time scanned, no infected files. Full System Virus Scan, no infected file. Bad registry entries were fixed. Windows 10 with all updates. All other applications were kept fully updated. In other words, system was in good condition.
2. D: drive of same size (1 TB) as C: drive, had only one 240 GB backup file by Macrium Reflect. Rest of the drive was empty. Disk was thoroughly defragmented, cleaned, scanned.
3. Acronis was run. After 2 hours and 45 minutes, I took the attached screenshot. It revealed that 160 GB (55% of 289 GB) was so far backed up and to complete the remaining 45%, Acronis would require additional 1 hour 54 minutes (say, 2 hours). In other words, 4 hours and 45 minutes (say, 5 hours). This looked excessive, and naturally raises an alarm. Therefore, the case is submitted here for analysis and conclusions.
At the time of writing this, 20:19, validation process is going on, and 202 GB of 289 GB (70%) have been completed. Work is in progress. In other words, this is the state of affairs after 4 and half hours plus 30% yet to complete.
PS:
1. Forgot to mention that Priority was set at High and
2. For 2 hours Acronis had the free hand to work, no load from any other application
3. PC has 8 GB DDR3 Memory
4. 64-bit Operating System
5. x64-based Processor
6. Intel Core CPU @ 3.30 GHz
Is this backup the first time ever run or do you have it setup as a scheduled backup which has run before? The reason I ask is that you mention defragmenting the drive. Defragmentation wil result in a longer backup time for existing task as the application must update internal metadata indicating all changes made during defragmentation.
If this is a first time backup did you select to do a sector by sector backup? If you did then the application is backing up all sectors on the disk including those that contain no data.
Is this backup the first time ever run or do you have it setup as a scheduled backup which has run before?
No, it was not first time as I had clarified in the very first paragraph of my original post.
No, it was not a scheduled backup either.
The reason I ask is that you mention defragmenting the drive.
My system is set for daily defragmentation. I thought defragmentation puts data in an organized manner. It does not allow 289 GB (31%) spread through 1-TB (100%), scattered and disorganized.
Without defragmentation, Acronis would have made backup of 31% data scattered all through 100% area in a disorganized manner.
We don’t like our house to be in that state, everything scattered everywhere, disorganized. Well, same should apply to the storage that houses our data.
Defragmentation wil result in a longer backup time for existing task as the application must update internal metadata indicating all changes made during defragmentation.
How much longer? Macrium Reflect took 1 hour 15 minutes, under identical situation. Acronis needed 4 hours and 45 minutes.
That long, almost 4 times?
If this is a first time backup did you select to do a sector by sector backup?
As I had stated in the very first paragraph of my opening post "it was not first time backup".
Also, it was not a repetition of a scheduled backup.
If you did then the application is backing up all sectors on the disk including those that contain no data.
No, I did not.
Please see the attached knowledge base article about backup size when performing incremental or differential backups after defragmentation. Note that backup size will be larger thus time to backup will be longer.
maanoj, daily defragmentation is overkill - unless you are constantly writing and rewriting new data to the entire drive, monthly is probably good enough in most case - weekly if you really feel the need. Defragmentation can be very good for drive upkeep, but unless your disk is seriously fragmented, doing so more frequently than needed not only reduces the life of the drive, but it will impact your backups. When defragmentation occures, it does reorder sectors on the drive. As such, the files associated with those moves will appear as "new" data that needs to be backed up again. Essentially, your incrementals and/or differentials will be just as big as the original full so you'd almost be better doing fulls all of the time.
2712: Acronis Backup Software Creates Large Incremental or Differential Backup Archives
15479: Acronis Backup to Cloud: Disk Defragmentation Is Not Recommended
Thank you very much. I shall definitely read those articles that both of you have so kindly referred to.
Nevertheless, a fundamental question remains unexplained, and still intrigues me. Why such a vast difference between Acronis and Macrium Reflect, every thing being equal, no alteration made in PC between the two backups, and yet Acronis took almost 4 times longer than Macrium Reflect to complete the backup?
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...unless you are constantly writing and rewriting new data to the entire drive,...
And, yes, my work is such that I am constantly writing and rewriting new data, modifying files.
I cannot say if I am writing new data to entire drive if the drive remains fragmanted, my not knowing where in the drive that file is located which was modified now, and where was the other file located which was modified a while ago.
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"As such, the files associated with those moves will appear as "new" data that needs to be backed up again. Essentially, your incrementals and/or differentials will be just as big as the original full so you'd almost be better doing fulls all of the time."
In this case under review, we weren't talking about differential or incremental backup.
We discussed about original backup, and therefore, backing up again "new" data may not be relevant for this discussion.
However, I do appreciate the input from you both, which can come handy in some other scenario, and learning something new is never a bad idea.
Thanks, indeed.
I've used Acronis for a while, but this last attempt at backing up an image has been horrid. I just had the latest Acronis update too. I updated to the latest Acronis True Image 2016 a few days ago. I have no need to use their cloud as I have plenty of externals and my own server. But I told it to back up 3 drives which had less than 580GB combined...onto a USB 8GB external. After three days it was past 2.08GB and still running.
I stopped it, and tried to delete the backup. It said "deleting" for an entire day. Very annoyed, naturally I stopped the delete as well. Then I went to the place this enormous backup that Acronic created from god-knows-what physically. Guess what. It is still deleting..something that isn't there.
This program has some serious issues, including when you go to get help on chat, they want you to choose from items that do NOT include simply True Image Backup 2016. I don't have to log on, why should I? I'm not using their cloud. And I do not see a phone number there that is not grayed out, and chat is grayed out. I've paid for three seats and now regret it.
Hi Kathryn,
Sorry to hear of your rmisfortune with the product. In reading your response I think there needs to be some clarification of detail before any suggestions are offered. You state that your combined backup is from 3 drives with total combined data of 508GB. That is a sizable chunk of data. You then state that you have that backup targeted at a USB drive of 8GB capacity? This I suspect is wrong and you meant to say 8TB correct? This 8TB drive, assuming that is correct, is it a single drive, 2 - 4TB drives, or something else? Can you share your machine specs with us so that we may better understand the capability of your equipment?
I understand that you may not wish to use the Cloud service and that you may not want too log on to use the application, you are not alone in that. Many Threads have been posted on the same subject. The application is tied to Acronis servers to not only provide the Cloud service but to provide the user with a way to be notified of any updates to the product that may be pushed out. Unless you log on you will not recieve those updates and the application will nag you about that problem. That is unfortunate but is needed to keep customers products up to date.