Win7 backup on Win11 Pro box not completing as it had in the past

[VicM]

Hi all,
Using Win11 Pro on a Dell box. I had set up weekly backups to a WD 2TB Passport external drive. This system has worked well for the better part of a year. But suddenly a couple of months ago, the backup hung up at 97% complete while creating the system image of the C: drive. I've kept this going for hours on end, almost a complete 24hrs. But when the backup had completed in the past, it never took this long. I checked the available space on the drive and there is almost 1TB free. I have deleted several of the weekly backups and also the previous system image of the C: drive on the backup external drive.
If I don't include the system image of the C: drive, the backup will complete.
I'm at a loss to understand the reason for this issue.
I had also tried using the WD backup program that came with the Passport drive. But even after 24hrs, the backup indicated it was only 2% completed.
Has anyone experienced this before?
Thanks,
Vic

 

[ianbtheog]

I'm not very familiar with the Windows backup software.

I haven't had this issue before, but I would see whether there are any logs/system events recorded via event viewer. If it's changed behaviour recently then something must have changed. Could be a permissions error or a file read error?

When it gets stuck at 97%, does the external hard drive still show signs of activity either through noise or a blinking led?

Have you checked the hard drive (C: drive) for any defects?

The fact that another program fails to backup the volume and it only occurs when you attempt to back it up suggests it's something to do with that drive in particular.

It could be that file it's attempting to back up is read locked and it gets in an infinite loop attempting to read the same file over and over again but I'm not familiar enough and I'd like to think that it would either exit with a failure in this case rather than getting stuck but who knows.

 

[VicM]

ianbtheog,
Thanks for your suggestions.
Yes, the external drive keeps blinking.
I've run chkdsk on the drives and there doesn't appear to be an issue. However, I was unaware of the read lock situation. Will attempt to check for that.
As I mentioned, if I don't include a system image of the C: drive, the backup tends to completion, albeit, very slowly. Much more so than in the past. What used to take maybe a couple of hours, now is running more than 24hrs.
It's a puzzlement.
Vic