Hi Last night, I started a Windows Backup with the following parameters: - Destination: RAID 0 array called RAID_Backup (1.8TB available) (an external RAID array connected to my PC via eSATA) - What to backup: Let Windows choose The System Image was included. My system has a 60GB SSD (27.5GB used) called C: and a 1.8TB RAID 0 array called RAID_1 (480GB used). C: is the boot drive and has Windows 7 Ultimate and other applications installed. RAID_1 also has applications installed and contains my User profiles i.e. Users\<username>\My Documents etc. Whe the backup runs, RAID_Backup activity is almost constant, which I would expect given that it is the backup target. What I didn't expect is that C: has also been constantly active since the backup started 21h30m ago!. Windows Backup is saying that it is creating a system image of RAID_1. Monitoring Disk Activity in Resource Monitor, I noted that in the early hours of the backup, there was masses of write activity to C:\System Volume Information\Windows Backup\Staging\<stuff> and now there is masses of read activity by wbengine.exe from \Device\Harddisk\VolumeShadowCopy6, which I assume is on C: because my SSD activity light is still almost constantly lit (with no foreground applications running). So I'm guessing that backup has been creating portions of the image of RAID_1 on C: until it got tight on space and then wrote those portions to RAID_Backup, burning the life out of my SSD all the while! Trying to minimise unnecessary activity on my SSD to prolong its life, is there any way that Windows Backup can be configured (e.g in the registry) to not use the SSD for staging? Regards Mark Edit 12:45 AEST: The backup finally completed after 28 hours - 28 hours of almost constant activity on the SSD!

Thanks for your reply, Rick. My settings are: - Where you want to save your backup: Drive B: (my external, eSATA-connected 4R0 called RAID_Backup) - What do you want to backup: was "Let windows choose", and when I change it to "Let me choose", I get the following: - Data Files: "Backup data for newly created users" and "MarkQ's Libraries", both ticked, and both are on R: - Include a System Image of drives RAID_1 (R:), (C:). C: is the SSD and R: is my internal 4R0 called RAID_1 I think the System Image is including C: and R: because I have program files on both drives, and the backup is probably doubling-up by also backing-up everything in R:\Users, but if I am not mistaken, that would let me selectively restore files, whereas a System Image alone would not. I don't necessarily mind how long the backup takes either (even though it took 28 hours!), just as long as it only reads from the SSD to create its image, instead of what it seems to be doing now, which is using the SSD as a staging area for the backup process. I'm not sure which array you are referring to when you write "It sounds like you have the RAID selected to be backed up and obviously it is not backing up to itself". RAID_1 (R:) needs to be backed-up, RAID_Backup (B:) is where the backup is being backed-up to, and as you can see from the above, B: is excluded from being backed-up. Regards Mark