Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

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ckparm
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:57 pm

Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

Post by ckparm »

I have been using Backup4all for a very long time. And for most of that time I have been keeping my backups on a ReadyNAS connected via ethernet. I have seen a problem growing steadily where my PC becomes practically unusable while Backup4All is doing backups. I suppose the main problem is that my PC is about 8 years old. But other than this Backup4all problem, the PC runs OK. And the speed of backups is also OK.

I have the backups scheduled for overnight, but some of them are quite large and a complete backup may take 6 or 8 hours, spilling into my daytime use of the PC. When this happens, I can barely move the mouse. If I pause the backup job in Backup4All, then the system returns to normal after a few seconds.

While the problem is underway, CPU is running about 40% total. I have two cores with hyperthreading, so the monitor shows 4 CPUs. CPU 0 is maxed out and the other 3 are about 20%

I wonder if anybody has had a problem like this. I was hoping that Backup4All would have an option to limit its peak data rate, but I don't see such an option.

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

In version 8 of Backup4all you can suspend the backups during working hours.
Go to "File->Options->Suspend" and set the time interval when the backups will be suspended, so the computer activity will not be affected.

ckparm
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:57 pm

Re: Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

Post by ckparm »

[quote=Support post_id=5115 time=1581336189 user_id=54]
In version 8 of Backup4all you can suspend the backups during working hours.
[/quote]
Yes, I noticed that feature as I was looking for options to throttle the resources Back4All uses. I have not tried it. Some of my complete backups are large. I have a home recording studio, so each project might be 20-50 GB. I do archive projects that are more than 2 years old so that Backup4All doesn't have to deal with them, but that can still be a lot of data. I did a bunch of reorganization of some of the projects yesterday, resulting in a new folder tree as far as Backup4All is concerned. So that triggered a complete backup overnight. It is still running as of 10 am. If I had set the suspension time at 9AM, would the running job suspend itself and resume tonight after working hours?

I should point out that I run Backup4All on a separate computer, not my music studio computer, It would be impossible to run the studio with Backup4All doing anything on that computer. I should also mention that my primary storage is on one ReadyNAS unit and i send backups to a separate ReadyNAS unit. I don't keep any of my data files permanently on the local PCs, although I do sync the primary ReadyNAS with a SSD on the studio computer using a different program.

Actually the backup phase isn't really unbearable. The PC running Packup4All is noticeably sluggish while the backup phase is underway, but it is still usable. It is the testing phase that really locks up the PC. Is there some way to consider a data rate limit during the testing phase?

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1914
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

After the suspend period, the backup will resume.

You can use the Quick test option in Backup Properties->Advanced page.
That will only check if the file exists in destination and has the correct size.

ckparm
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:57 pm

Re: Backups up to NAS causes very slow PC performance

Post by ckparm »

OK, thanks. I will try those options.

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