win7-64 backup to server is too slow and long

Hi System Admin

I backup a number of Windows 7 64bit workstations however I perform image backups and not file backups and have never had any issues...

Is it possible to perform an image backup inplace of a file backup?

Reason for the question is Image backups are generally much faster as it's performed at a lower level and does not need to read each and every individual file but rather works in blocks/chunks in a more sequential manner were as file backups can very often be very high with random HDD access due to the way files have been stored on the HDD.

If you have to perform file based backups you can try and defragment your HDD to see if it helps with the backup times.

I would also suggest during a backup load up the Windows 7 Resource Monitor and check your Disk, CPU, Network (if backing up to a network device) and Memory... What you want to look for is what device in your system is running close to 100%, for example..

- Disk activity time is close to 100%, you then know the bottleneck is due to your HDD inside the workstation. Defragmentation, switching to image based backups or upgrading to an SSD will help address this issue

- CPU is close to 100%, Check into what amount of compression is being applied to the backup file (I suggest not going higher than the standard normal setting as you generally don't gain much space saving after this but will get hit with allot more CPU load)

- Network close to 80%+, check that your network (and all devices between) are running at Gigabit or faster speeds

- Memory close to 95%+, check what processes are consuming allot of memory and uninstall or stop any unneeded applications running espesially ones that sit in the task-bar that are not used. You could find your system swap files is being heavily used as well which will cause a large amount of disk IO and in turn slow down the backup

Hope some of the steps above help find the cause of the issue and are of use..

Best of luck...