Making a Disk Image: I'm new to this, and I'm not sure I'll continue doing it. I haven't needed an image since I began using computers back in the days of the Apple lle. I used EaseUS...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm new to this, and I'm not sure I'll continue doing it. I haven't needed an image since I began using computers back in the days of the Apple lle.

I used EaseUS ToDo to make an image backup of C. That took almost two hours for about 230GB from an M.2 to an external HDD. Three days later, I did an Incremental backup, and that took almost an hour and a half. Does that sound right? I thought the incremental would go a lot quicker.

BebuLamar

I made disk image but do not make the incremental backup. The image is used to bring the computer back to the condition when the image was made.

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm new to this, and I'm not sure I'll continue doing it. I haven't needed an image since I began using computers back in the days of the Apple lle.

I used EaseUS ToDo to make an image backup of C. That took almost two hours for about 230GB from an M.2 to an external HDD. Three days later, I did an Incremental backup, and that took almost an hour and a half. Does that sound right? I thought the incremental would go a lot quicker.

Jerry
I have a son who is an IT for a very large Hospital here.
He set me up with a Dell PC with two 20 TB Hard drives. He used a system called "Raid". The way it works is when I wright to one drive it also wright's to the other. So, if one drive goes bad I simply remove the bad drive and replace it with a new one which automatically backs up from the other one. I also have another external drive in which he has all of my picture files backed up on it also. I haven't been able to feel un-safe as yet with his setup.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

charles tabb wrote:

Jerry br I have a son who is an IT for a very larg... (show quote)

Yes, RAID is very good. Most NAS systems use that. There will be an even number if disks, with half being backups, and the other half being backups of the backups.

JoeBiker Loc: homebase: Houston, TX

I haven't used EaseUS ToDo, but that is much much slower than Macrium Reflect would be. (still sticking with the free version but I need to find an alternative since free version of MR is no longer being updated)

There are a lot of things to check... To start, use CrystalDiskMark, or similar, to test the speed writing to your USB HDD.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

JoeBiker wrote:

I haven't used EaseUS ToDo, but that is much much slower than Macrium Reflect would be. (still sticking with the free version but I need to find an alternative since free version of MR is no longer being updated)

There are a lot of things to check... To start, use CrystalDiskMark, or similar, to test the speed writing to your USB HDD.

The first image maker I tried was going to take over a dozen hours.

Schoee Loc: Europe

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, RAID is very good. Most NAS systems use that. There will be an even number if disks, with half being backups, and the other half being backups of the backups.

No. Not necessarily even number also different RAID configurations. Look it up on Wikipedia. Stands for redundant array of inexpensive (or independent) discs.

BebuLamar

Schoee wrote:

No. Not necessarily even number also different RAID configurations. Look it up on Wikipedia. Stands for redundant array of inexpensive (or independent) discs.

And none is a backup. All are backup and being used at the same time. If you lose one, just replace it with a blank drive and the system will restore the data using data from other drives.

Schoee Loc: Europe

BebuLamar wrote:

And none is a backup. All are backup and being used at the same time. If you lose one, just replace it with a blank drive and the system will restore the data using data from other drives.

Yes quite right. The RAID protects against random drive failure but proper backups are still needed for all the other reasons you use backups.

BebuLamar

Schoee wrote:

Yes quite right. The RAID protects against random drive failure but proper backups are still needed for all the other reasons you use backups.

Yes but this is quite different than making a disk image. I make disk image not to backup what's on the computer now but to restore it to the condition before it gains all the junk data after being used for a while.

Schoee Loc: Europe

BebuLamar wrote:

Yes but this is quite different than making a disk image. I make disk image not to backup what's on the computer now but to restore it to the condition before it gains all the junk data after being used for a while.

Yes. Sorry we got off your topic. I was just responding to the RAID comment

srg

charles tabb wrote:

Jerry br I have a son who is an IT for a very larg... (show quote)

The very brave, (or foolhardy) Wright's were the first aviators in this country. Way before computers. A fact not to well remembered by today's kids glued too they phones.

JoeBiker Loc: homebase: Houston, TX

jerryc41 wrote:

The first image maker I tried was going to take over a dozen hours.

If they were both slow, my first guess is that, for some reason, the writing to the USB HDD is slow.

To verify (or disprove) that, use CrystalDiskMark, or similar, to test the speed writing to your USB HDD.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

JoeBiker wrote:

To verify (or disprove) that, use CrystalDiskMark, or similar, to test the speed writing to your USB HDD.

That's on my list, but everything else writes very quickly.