I’ve already mentioned that Windows Server Backup is fast when performing a full volume backup. In my experience, you can expect at least a gigabyte per minute even on older hardware, when backing up disk-to-disk. Network backups are slower, but still respectably snappy.
But there’s another aspect to this tool’s speed. When backing up a full volume to a target that contains previous backups, Windows Server Backup creates what is essentially an incremental backup, although it looks like a full backup in the GUI.
As long as you’re aware of this behavior and have no problem with it – that is, you realize that if there was a problem with the previous backup, there will also be a problem with subsequent backups that are stored as “deltas” (that is, differences) – then this feature adds to the speed. So, Windows Server Backup gets high marks for performance. (You can tweak performance even further with external USB drives by flagging their properties as “optimize for performance” instead of “optimize for quick removal” as long as you remember to safely remove the device via the Windows GUI before actually disconnecting it.)
Recent blog posts:
More backup features in Windows Server 2008
