Windows 7 Backup Utility Performance

Several days ago I posted this question in another thread, but the thread has now moved in the direction of Microsoft's place in the overall operating system world, so thought it's time to start a new thread.

In making the initial backup of about 800 GBs I'm 24 percent through the process after 12 hours! This is the second attempt with the first one being even slower. That attempt was with the external HD connected to the computer through a USB hub. The ongoing attempt is using a USB 2.0 port at the rear of the computer.

The computer is a Dell xps 9000 with an i7 processor and 12 GB of RAM. The external HD is a Seagate GoFlex 2 TB one. And yes, I know that using the HD's USB 3.0 capability will be faster but I haven't installed a 3.0 card in the computer yet. In any event I don't think the backup using USB 2.0 should be this slow.

Any information will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.