If you have a large amount of data to back up the cloud, you may notice that the CrashPlan app is uploading files slower than you expect, even if you have plenty of bandwidth.
As a general estimate, CrashPlan for Small Business users can expect to back up about 10-30 GB of information per day on average if their computer is powered on and not in standby mode. We are a shared service, which means that upload and download speeds depend on the number of users connected at any given point.
The CrashPlan app estimates the total time that it will take to upload your data based on your current network speeds. This estimation will fluctuate over the time of your initial backup.
There are several things you can adjust to complete your initial backup sooner:
- Refine your file selection
- Increase CPU percentage available for the CrashPlan app to use.
- Prevent your computer from going to sleep so that the CrashPlan app can work at all times.
- Extend the default backup frequency time.
Refine your file selection
If you select your entire hard drive, including system and application files, the CrashPlan app may not back up your personal files efficiently. Your computer creates new system and application files frequently, which are small. Because the CrashPlan app prioritizes its to-do list based on file size and creation date, this data is backed up before other files in your backup selection.
For our suggestions on what to back up, see What should you back up.
Increase CPU available to the CrashPlan app
The CrashPlan app requires system resources to encrypt, compress, and deduplicate your files before sending. You can increase the amount of CPU the CrashPlan app can dedicate to these activities, which will usually improve upload speeds.
To change the CPU usage setting
- Open the CrashPlan app.
- Select
Settings. - Select Usage.
- Increase the amount of CPU time to 90 - 100% when the user is both away and present. You can always scale back if the CrashPlan app interferes with your work.
Prevent your computer from going to sleep
The CrashPlan app doesn’t run and can't upload data if your computer is asleep or turned off - it only runs when the computer is online. Check your system settings to ensure your device is not regularly going to sleep and interrupting backups.
For more information, see Optimizing computer energy settings for faster backup.
Extend the default backup frequency time
The CrashPlan app assumes that what you're working on now is most important, so it prioritizes your most recently changed files and backs them up first.
The default setting is to back up new data every 30 minutes. This offers great protection for backing up your files right away and allows you to easily revert to a previous version of a file. However, it also means that the CrashPlan app uses some resources to back up frequent versions of your files as you work.
Extending the default backup frequency time allows the CrashPlan app to work through your files without the additional workload of backing up multiple versions of your files. The trade off to extending the backup frequency time is that your new files and changes won't be backed up as quickly.
To change the backup frequency setting
- Sign in to the CrashPlan app.
- Select Settings.
- Next to Frequency & Versions, click Change.
- Change the Back up changes every interval to a longer period, such as 8 hours or more.
Ensure your device meets the minimum system requirements
Due to the resource-intensive nature of the application, make sure that your device meets the minimum system requirements for CrashPlan for Small Business as outlined below:
What are CrashPlan's system requirements?