Backup & Restore hangs

I am doing the backup & restore for the first time since installing win7, and it hangs at 59% complete. I am doing the back up on a HHD via USB port, any ideas why this is happening?

Cheers

This very same thing happened to me the first time that I tried to backup. It turned out to be one file out of place, and I had to reinstall my OS over it. Probably by now, you have a few programs on it, too. Have you attempted to backup through your DVD ROM? I don't know if it will make a difference or not, but if you happen to have some extra DVD's, it's worth a shot. One other thing, have you tried disabling your AV while attempting this? The suggestions that I'm giving you are trying to prevent you from doing a reinstall. Although I'm a fan of the Windows backup that comes with 7, you may want to try a third party one. Which one you choose is up to you, I've heard good things about Acronis, but haven't personally used it. I think Marcium Reflect has a free backup solution that will work with 7. You can try a different one and see what happens. What would be good to see is the files going by, and visually see what's hanging. Hope that my ideas are of some help to you, Kalario, and your issue is soon resolved.

Thanks Catilley for your suggestions. I really do no want to reinstall win7, so I am going to try your suggestions.If these don't work then I'll go with Macrium Reflect which was suggested in another thread by Niribu.

Will keep you posted

I did disable Avast and the backup finished running except for this error:

Backup encountered a problem while backing up file C:\Users\Kalario\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\edb00001.log. ErrorData error (cyclic redundancy check). (0x80070017))

I believe it it fine. you think?

That's where your problem probably is, a single file holding up progress. Can you uninstall Mail, then reinstall it after your backup is complete? That would be far better than a total reinstall. You can reinstall the single program, or the entire Windows Live Suite, if you want. Your mail should still be retained on the site, but check and make sure before proceeding. You may even be able to back your mails on a thumb drive, if you have to.

I do not use Windows Mail, I only use Gmail ...!!!

Then just uninstall the Windows Live suite.

Personally I find it to be obtrusive and redundant.

Kalario, just a thought you might look into.....
I've never had Avast so I don't know if this will apply, but Norton has a setting that is designed to protect itself from tampering. If you try and do a restore, Norton will prevent it, maybe even if it was shut down. You do the restore and then you get an error message that the restore failed.
Norton has an option to shut that self protection device off, and then you can do the restore with no problems.

Maybe Avast has a similar device? I'd check all of Avast's settings to be sure, and see if any of them sound like a self protection / anti tampering setting.

Do you use any of the Windows Live programs? If not, you can uninstall them all. I have them on my computer, too, but basically there's other programs that does most, if not all of the same tasks. And even if you used Hotmail (I do), you don't need the suite. Some people like using their Photo Gallery and Messenger. The only reason that I have it, it was offered as a download for being a Genuine Advantage customer, and I took it. It's wasting space on my disc, and I'm getting ready to remove it now. If you don't have any use for it, you may as well, too.

Windows Live is available to anyone running Windows 7. It's a free download. You don't have to be a "Genuine Advantage" customer to get it.

http://download.live.com/

It's still a piece of bloatware in my humble opinion though. I refuse to use ANY software based email, at all. It's too prone to attack.

Accessing email through the browser is the safest, surest way.