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extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

how to take virtual machine backups on external USB 376 Gb backup takes 4 hours to copy to USB

I have Workstation 15.0

I want to take its backup on an external USB

I try copying virtual machine folder to external USB suddenly some thing happens due to some connection error or wire being loose I loose all the connectivity to

the USB hard disk.

Now I have following screenshot

Annotation 2019-12-23 061628.jpg

I restart copy operation

Annotation 2019-12-23 061627.jpg

Again I get to copy and it tells it may take another 4 hours to copy like this I keep getting this kind of situation.

I frequently keep taking backups. Is there an easy way that can reduce my time to take backup from 4 hours to less time

each time when I take backup on external USB.

376 Gb backup takes 4 hours to copy to USB

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

That 50MB/s speed is quite low and makes it seem like the disk is using USB2 where from what I can glance in a few minutes the limit is about 60MB/s.

For a mechanical disk I would nowadays expect a writing speed of at least around 100MB/s and an external SSD connected via USB3 should reach about 480MB/s.

A connection problem will indeed make things much worse and harder to get a decent copy.

You could use my Vimalin backup product to at least be able to make a backup while simultaneously using your VM.

Even the free version of Vimalin will work for that, assuming that you are running VMware Workstation Professional and not VMware Workstation Player.

That could help with reducing down time of the VM and having to baby sit copying a VM.

In your case I would also look into why the copying is so slow.

If you are plugging in your external hard disk directly make sure the cable is OK, if you are using a USB hub, check that the hub is USB3.

Perhaps you might even need to look for a new -faster- external disk.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

The copy speed depends on the source, and target device, as well as the USB version your hardware supports. You may also want to consider disabling A/V on access scanning for "*.vm*" files to reduce overhead. Also, rather than using the Windows Explorer to copy the VM's folder/files, you could use e.g. the robocopy command line utility - which is included in Windows - and offers a bunch of command line options that may help to optimize the copy job.

Regarding the connection disruption, you need to check whether e.g. the Windows event logs contain useful hints.

André

extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This is the USB hard disk I use

https://www.amazon.in/Toshiba-Canvio-Basic-External-Drive/dp/B07DNDLHH8/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?...

and here is a screenshot of TreeSize tool from within the virtual machine

Annotation 2019-12-23 082532.jpg - Google Drive

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

It's a mechanical, 2.5", laptop-grade mechanical disk drive spinning at a paltry 5,400 RPMs. What you're displaying in your transfer screenshot is about what you can expect to get. Don't expect miracles.

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extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok then when I make a purchase decision what should I look for a faster backup I just searched for a USB 3.0 and bought this hard disk.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

You're only looking at the interface specifications, not the drive specifications. If you put a floppy disk behind a USB 9.0 interface you're still bound by the read/write characteristics of the device actually performing that I/O. If you're looking for faster, you probably need an SSD of some sort.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

Hi,

I have one of  these:

Amazon.in: Buy WD My Passport 4TB Portable External Hard Drive (Red) Online at Low Prices in India |...

and I do get at least a solid 100MB/s on it, sometimes a bit faster.

Also have a variety of SSD's here for faster external disks.

My most common way of running backups OTOH is to backup to a network disk.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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extrashot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

What is OTOH

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

OTOH is an abbreviation of "On The Other Hand".

In the above sentence it doesn't really add much, just skip it and it means the same thing.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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