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eXtract Wizard shouldn't have a problem with very large archives, as it internally uses 64-bit pointers. Do you see the progress bar filling up, or it just stucks at a specific point and won't go any further?

What you describe is pretty much a normal run. The slow part in the beginning? This is extracting the database dump, which is one big file. The fast roll at the end troubles me. It usually means that there are some files which can't be extracted on Windows, e.g. files having \ or : in their name. I would really like to see the backup log of this archive. I think that the problem is not in the extraction phase after all.

Sounds like a corrupt backup file. Please send in the log.

The message never got through and I can't seem to locate it in the spam inbox. As this Hotmail account is only used for MSN, please email the log again at nicholas at akeebabackup dot com. Thanks!

Dave,

I just received your logs. There are several things regarding what you're trying to do here.

First thing, the way you are trying to use the external directories inclusion is counter-effective and unsupported. You are trying to backup multiple Joomla! web sites by using the external directories and extra databases definitions. However, when you try to restore this backup, you will have to do so manual, as ABI is only able to update a single configuration.php file, namely the one from the main website (the one where the backup was launched from). It's best to setup one backup run for each site you want to backup. After all, there is no domain installation limit for Akeeba Backup.

The second thing I have to warn you about is that you seem to be running the backup on a 32-bit server. Unfortunately, PHP has an inherent limitation. On 32-bit systems it can only be used to reliably create files up to 2Gb in size. Anything over that and all bets are off. On the other hand, on 64-bit systems the maximum file size is in the range of several petabytes, which is practically unlimited by today's standards. If you try to create a backup archive over 2Gb on 32-bit PHP, the internal file pointers get corrupt on files around the 2Gb boundary and any extraction software (including Akeeba eXtract Wizard) will choke on them somewhere near this 2Gb limit.

I suggest that you install Akeeba Backup on each of your sites and create a backup profile for each of them. You can then either use a CRON job to back them all up, or use Akeeba Remote Control for a single-click solution to backing up and downloading the backup archives of all of your sites - or even scheduling this! - from your local PC.

When you say "100Mb chunks" are you referring to split archives or small backup jobs of 100Mb each?

If it's the former, I will have to repeat that the issue is the total size of the backup set, not the size of the individual part. When the total size of the backup set reached 2Gb, all bets are off. This is a PHP limitation we can't overcome. The only workaround is switching to a 64-bit machine running the 64-bit version of PHP.

If it's the latter, it surely is a file corrupt during transfer. Do note that using your browser to download the backup archives - i.e. using the Download button in Administer Backup Files - may not be the best idea in the world. You must download the files through FTP in BINARY transfer mode. Do NOT ignore this last bit!! Most FTP clients work in AUTO mode which will resort to ASCII transfer for unknown file types. This usually means that backup archives get to be transferred in ASCII mode, which screws them up. You MUST use the BINARY transfer mode; in FileZilla it's a matter of clicking the Transfer, Transfer Type menu and make sure Binary is checked. Alternatively, use Remote Control to perform the file transfer (it internally uses FTP in BINARY mode); right-click on a site definition and click on manage backups. This will allow you to pick and download the files of any backup set on your server.

I am pretty sure we can make this work for you in order to provide a complete full site backup solution.