Speed up backups by turning off compression

kelper · 2025-03-03T10:41:19-0500

I turn compression off for Macrium and Hasleo and it roughly halves the time of backups, maybe because I have a modest processor. Can someone with a fast system see if they get the same speed improvement. I'll put my results in a spreadsheet if anyone is interested.

antspants · 2025-03-03T11:12:12-0500

kelper said:
I turn compression off for Macrium and Hasleo and it roughly halves the time of backups, maybe because I have a modest processor. Can someone with a fast system see if they get the same speed improvement. I'll put my results in a spreadsheet if anyone is interested.

I thought that was always the case with backups. No compression algorithm less work?

pseymour · 2025-03-03T11:16:47-0500

Yep, that would be true for making compressed files (zip, 7z, gz, etc.), compressing data before sending it across the network, etc. Compression is more work, and the more you compress, the more work it is.

Edit: I should add, since you mentioned a modest processor, that compression is CPU-bound. It's math, afterall. Sure, for large chunks of data, memory becomes an issue, but it's usually the CPU(s) holding you back, if anything.

garlin · 2025-03-03T11:22:12-0500

It depends on what data types you have the most. Attempting to re-compress a ton of MPEG4, MP3 or JPEG content doesn't really help because they're already in compressed format. These backup programs work at the disk volume level, so they're not peeking at "this file has a .mp4 extension, let's not compress it".

They're streaming raw blocks of disk data to avoid parsing all the folders and files on-disk. It's "smart" disk copy. A drawback of this method, while faster than file-based copying by several factors, is it can't inspect the data blocks to guess what's inside. So compression results will vary because every block is a random block, and not associated with known files (and their extensions).

Ghot · 2025-03-03T11:24:05-0500

In Macrium, I leave the compression on the default setting.
I think it's a good balance between speed and image size.

Winuser · 2025-03-03T12:00:12-0500

Ghot said:
In Macrium, I leave the compression on the default setting.
I think it's a good balance between speed and image size.

I just checked the setting I use in Macrium and it's set to the default (medium).

kelper · 2025-03-03T12:17:32-0500

I reckon with the latest CPU and lots of RAM, compression could speed up backups because there's less to write to disk.

starchase · 2025-03-03T12:22:56-0500

kelper said:
Can someone with a fast system see if they get the same speed improvement. I'll put my results in a spreadsheet if anyone is interested.

Looks like you have no takers as yet to do the testing you requested.

I'd be interested in the data such testing provides.

Froggie · 2025-03-03T13:11:09-0500

For your perusal...

System: 10thGen i7 (8-core, 16-thread @3.5ghz), plenty of RAM, PCiE v3 NvME > NvME
Image (125.68gB): 2-partitions (1=OS, 2=two virtual OSs <VMDX>)

FileSystem scan: 12s

NoCompress (125gB): 2m30s (25% CPU util)
MedCompress (72gB): 3m30s (82% CPU util)
HiCompress (69.5gB): 4m58s (100% CPU util)

YMMV

kelper · 2025-03-03T13:13:20-0500

Froggie said:
For your perusal...

System: 10thGen i7 (8-core, 16-thread @3.5ghz), plenty of RAM, PCiE v3 NvME > NvME
Image (125.68gB): 2-partitions (1=OS, 2=two virtual OSs <VMDX>)

FileSystem scan: 12s

NoCompress: 2m30s (25% CPU util)
MedCompress: 3m30s (82% CPU util)
HiCompress: 4m58s (100% CPU util)

YMMV

Did you change the priority to high for each backup?

Josey Wales · 2025-03-03T13:15:20-0500

Macrium X backs up my system in less then 2 minutes at the default setting.

Josey Wales · 2025-03-03T13:24:50-0500

kelper said:
Not really helpful!

Why not? I was simply stating a fact like what was posted in post #5. I understand that the time would vary depending upon how much data is being backed up. I do not back up to the cloud and I do not have any 8TB SSD drives to back up without using the default. I figure that Paramount knows more than me about the settings on their product than I do. That is why I just use the default.

Froggie · 2025-03-03T13:25:47-0500

kelper said:
Did you change the priority to high for each backup?

CPU priority set to DEFAULT at notch above LOW, System idle otherwise. No image verification.

This was done under v8.1 at latest release.

kelper · 2025-03-03T13:40:19-0500

kelper · 2025-03-03T13:43:55-0500

Froggie said:
CPU priority set to DEFAULT at notch above LOW, System idle otherwise. No image verification.

This was done under v8.1 at latest release.

No, I meant the priority setting in Macrium.

Froggie · 2025-03-03T13:58:42-0500

kelper said:
No, I meant the priority setting in Macrium.

As I said, the DEFAULT was set in REFLECT at position 2 (of 4). This setting will make very little difference if the System isn't doing anything else at the time.

kelper · 2025-03-03T14:02:09-0500

I just updated my results as I saw a mistake in the Hasleo results for PE and no compression.

Speed up backups by turning off compression

Well-known member

My Computers

Like a rolling drone.

My Computers

Windows developer and admіn

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Endeavor to Persevere

My Computers

Endeavor to Persevere

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers