Incremental backups suddenly taking a very long time

Jim, I would recommend looking at the logs for your backup task to see if they show why the task is now taking much longer?

Download a copy of the MVP Assistant log viewer tool and use this to look at the logs to see if they show any issues during the operation process?

The latest version of the new log viewer tool is at the link below. 
MVP Assistant update for Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (Version 1.1.6.0)

If you have Disks & Partitions backups created on ATI 2020 or later using .tibx files, then look in the Backup Worker logs.

If you have Files & Folders backups using .tib files (or Disk backups from earlier versions using .tib files) or using Cloning then look in the Demon logs.

Other logs are shown by the MVP Assistant under the 'Active Logs' heading of the Log Viewer page of the Assistant.

The Schedule2 log contains information related to scheduled task but is one of the more difficult logs to read / work through.

The log files should be zipped to preserve their original file names if sharing in the forums and would need to be less than 3MB in size, otherwise you would need to share the zip file via a Cloud share service such as OneDrive, Dropbox etc.

One further comment:  you screen image shows that you are doing an 'Entire PC' type backup which is indicated by the icon being a computer display versus a disk drive icon.  This can cause strange issues if you have attached other drives to the PC which Acronis then decides to check in case should be included in the backup!

Steve,

Many thanks for the quick reply.

I have downloaded and installed MVP Assistant and run it using Demon. I can't make head or tail of the data being displayed. See screenshots below. What do you need me to zip up?

I have not added any devices nor have I changed any Acronis settings. The entire backup is what I have always done since 2019. I do daily incrementals and a weekly full, and backup sets older than [whatever] are deleted. (Parameter is: Store no more than 2 recent version chains)

Jim, if you just zip up the recent demon logs from the store folder (path is shown at the top of the right panel in the Assistant tool) or even the whole C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs\ti_demon folder, then it should easily zip down to below the 3MB file size limit for attachments in the forum.

Steve,

OK, have zipped up the entire folder as suggested.

Jim, thanks for the zipped logs.

The first clue that I am seeing here is shown in the log from 28/05 in the snippet below:

28/05/2022 09:00:13:064 PM Pending operation 173 started: 'Creating partition image'.
28/05/2022 10:07:25:370 PM Pending operation 173 started: 'Creating partition image'.

As can be seen above, there is a time gap of 1 hour 7.5 minutes at the start of the backup operation before it then continues and finishes in the normal time of approx 2.5 minutes!

I am seeing the same delay in the subsequent logs for the days following!

My first thoughts here are that there is a file system issue at work with one of the partitions included in the backup operation.

I would recommend running CHKDSK /F against all partitions on the drive, or else run any disk drive diagnostics available from the drive maker's support site.

Another check here is for how much free space is available on the source disk drive(s) as that can impact upon backup performance - this is because the snapshot services used to capture the OS / locked data uses available free space on the drive for snapshot storage.

Note: you can download the free Acronis VSS Doctor tool (link below) and use this to check that there are no issues around the snapshot process (provided by Microsoft VSS).

Thanks again.

I ran CHKDSK (without /F) on C: D: and H: and it reported no errors on any of them.

I have run the VSS Doctor tool and attached its log file. Space and configuration aspects appear to be fine, however it reports some sort of controller issue, but the Google link it generates does nothing in Google apart from opening a new browser window.

Type: Error
Source: Disk
Message: The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk2\DR2.
InstanceId: -1073479669
SearchLink: (see text file)

Jim, there are lots of hits in Google for this search argument (despite the link itself not working).

Search in Google using: 

Disk+event+id+3221487627

then take a read through the various hits shown.

When looking in Windows disk management, make sure that you have all the same drives connected as you have when your Acronis backup task is going to run.

One option you can use here to check what \Device\Harddisk2\DR2 is - is to open an Administrator level Command prompt window, then type the following commands:

diskpart

list disk

This will show all the disks connected and list their size details.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.964

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: STEVE-9OP3KKF0

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          931 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online         1863 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 2    Online         1863 GB      0 B

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

USB 3.0 SCSI Disk Device
Disk ID: A7FDBF40
Type   : USB
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 6     H   ESD-USB      FAT32  Partition     32 GB  Healthy
  Volume 7     S   Seagate2TB   NTFS   Partition   1831 GB  Healthy

DISKPART> exit

I Googled that reference but am none the wiser having read the stuff. Too technical for this little black duck. :-)

I ran DISKPART as Admin:

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: OWNER-PC

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          931 GB  1024 KB
  Disk 1    Online          223 GB      0 B
  Disk 2    Online         2794 GB      0 B        *

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

WD Elements 25A2 USB Device
Disk ID: {9CCB9C5D-C71F-483E-8AAC-4E5037BB9949}
Type   : USB
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 7     H   Elements     NTFS   Partition   2794 GB  Healthy

DISKPART>

Volume 7 H is the USB-connected drive onto which the backups are saved.

However, before doing all of that, today's incremental backup ran and only took the expected couple of minutes. So, whatever was causing the problem seems to have mysteriously disappeared ... for the time being anyway. Hmmm.

Jim, just based on the earlier error message and reference to HardDisk2, then the issue looks to be pointing at your external USB storage drive.

It is good news that the latest backup has gone back to normal timing but I can only suggest that you keep a closer eye on that drive and if you see further issues then try a different USB port.

Yes, I'll be monitoring the process closely now. If I suspect that the USB-connected drive is becoming dodgy then I'll replace it.