I'm sitting at my computer just now, and I keep hearing noise coming from it, which is strange and out of place...I start checking system processes, then realize that "Windows is backing up"

I check the device it's backing up to, and it says

TSSTCorp
DVDWBD SH-B123L

I opened my bluray rom, and it continued to "back up". It was at 12% when I pulled the ethernet cord and it stopped.

I have no USB flash drives connected. I had no disc in my Bluray drive (and it's the only optical drive connected)

...I'm posting from a different computer now as i'm afraid to plug the other one back in.

Anyone have any ideas?

Is it a new computer? Did you sign up for some online backup service that might have been packaged with it, even a trial period or something (do they even do that anymore?).

I sometimes wonder if my drive is being scanned or copied sometimes since my computer slows down once in a while. I think you have a legitimate concern, but I'm not a computer tech, so I'm really no help. Glad I posted =o/

Do you have firewall?
Sounds dodgy, but could easily be an intruder if you don't have all the protection you need.
Start the computer off line (No network cable) and launch Microsoft Backup and look at the logs - they will tell you. In order to do a remote backup (Not using Microsoft) there must be some client software on you computer. See what is installed.

Seems very dodgy.

Not much I can add at this point ...but if you catch it again? CTRL-ALT-DEL to your task manager, then Performance Tab, then Resource Monitor button at the bottom of that screen.

What that opens, if you haven't seen it before, is an accordion style view of your system areas and what PRECISELY they are doing. Disk, Network, Memory and CPU. Under Network, it will show you detail down to which IP's are currently being accessed or getting hit from and data transmission traffic between them.

So.... By using that and backtracking the IP's you see which are not local (ignore anything starting with 192.168 as the first 2 numbers as that is your own local network and machine) you should be able to precisely track who or what data is being uploaded to at any given moment. Hope that helps!

Originally posted by AwakeinNM
Is it a new computer? Did you sign up for some online backup service that might have been packaged with it, even a trial period or something (do they even do that anymore?).

I sometimes wonder if my drive is being scanned or copied sometimes since my computer slows down once in a while. I think you have a legitimate concern, but I'm not a computer tech, so I'm really no help. Glad I posted =o/

It's about a year old. I bought all the hardware new form newegg and put it together myself...

Not running a firewall, but do run up to date malwarebytes and scan often with no viruses detected.

Originally posted by PrimePorkchop

Originally posted by AwakeinNM
Is it a new computer? Did you sign up for some online backup service that might have been packaged with it, even a trial period or something (do they even do that anymore?).

I sometimes wonder if my drive is being scanned or copied sometimes since my computer slows down once in a while. I think you have a legitimate concern, but I'm not a computer tech, so I'm really no help. Glad I posted =o/

It's about a year old. I bought all the hardware new form newegg and put it together myself...

Not running a firewall, but do run up to date malwarebytes and scan often with no viruses detected.

GET FIREWALL NOW!!!

There are good free ones from AVG or Zone Alarm. GET ONE!

The malware stuff is good but you need proper protection of full AV and FW

Untill then - yes it is easy to backup your computer remotely.

1 - Install free anti virus and firewall software
2 - FULL scan everything
3 - Use Spybot seek and destroy (It's better than malwarebites and full version is free) Full scan and imunise your computer
4 - Get the Emergency Safety Scanner (msert.exe) from the microsoft website. it is free and it is the only one which will reliably pick up some trojans. Search google for microsoft emergency responce - msert.exe
5 - use your windows install disk to re-write your mbr. You WILL have a root kit infection. This is how they have control of your computer and can run a backup

Get to work dude. Oh, and change all your password for everything once you are done. Do not do it before you finish you may be getting key logged.

Sounds like your system is setup to auto backup to your Bluray drive.

It takes time to create and/or compress the image which may explain the delay.

One 25 GB BluRay disk will hold most peoples' entire system drive backup.

Using compression & 50 GB double-layer disks hold even more.

Originally posted by Murgatroid
Sounds like your system is setup to auto backup to your Bluray drive.

It takes time to create and/or compress the image which may explain the delay.

One 25 GB BluRay disk will hold most peoples' entire system drive backup.

Using compression & 50 GB double-layer disks hold even more.

Would that process even try to start if there was no disc in the drive?

let alone make it to 12%

Originally posted by PrimePorkchop

Originally posted by Murgatroid
Sounds like your system is setup to auto backup to your Bluray drive.

It takes time to create and/or compress the image which may explain the delay.

One 25 GB BluRay disk will hold most peoples' entire system drive backup.

Using compression & 50 GB double-layer disks hold even more.

Would that process even try to start if there was no disc in the drive?

let alone make it to 12%

edit on 30-12-2012 by PrimePorkchop because: (no reason given)

Yes, it could prepare, scan, and analyze before it starts the actual backup. It may not even commence the backup until it reaches of 40%. It will all depend upon the setup of the software.

Originally posted by jhill76

Originally posted by PrimePorkchop

Originally posted by Murgatroid
Sounds like your system is setup to auto backup to your Bluray drive.

It takes time to create and/or compress the image which may explain the delay.

One 25 GB BluRay disk will hold most peoples' entire system drive backup.

Using compression & 50 GB double-layer disks hold even more.

Would that process even try to start if there was no disc in the drive?

let alone make it to 12%

edit on 30-12-2012 by PrimePorkchop because: (no reason given)

Yes, it could prepare, scan, and analyze before it starts the actual backup. It may not even commence the backup until it reaches of 40%. It will all depend upon the setup of the software.

Hmmm...i'm feeling better about this situation already.

Perhaps the government isn't interested in my secret stash of circa 2000 memes and old family pictures

Come to think of it - yes of course it could be legit!

You can't streem a backup to optical disk! You backup to spare space on the C: disk to prepare an image which is then burned to the disk. Sometimes this burning occurs in 2 or 4 Gb chunks. So could be all legit.

Still - get a firewall and av softwre it is free!

Avast Anti-Virus and Comodo firewall is a good free combination.

Malwarebytes is not that good imo, and it will not find viruses. SuperAntiSpyware is better, but won't find viruses either.

Check 'scheduled tasks' (all programs/accessories/system tools/scheduled tasks or task scheduler) to see if a back-up is scheduled and turn it off.

Originally posted by ANOK
Avast Anti-Virus and Comodo firewall is a good free combination.

Agree...

Been using and recommending Avast free to friend as well.

I haven't used Comodo for years, though I did try it once.

ANOK: Do you recommend Comodo over the built-in FW or the Shields built into Avast?

Originally posted by Murgatroid
ANOK: Do you recommend Comodo over the built-in FW or the Shields built into Avast?

Yes Comodo is better than windows fw. It might bug you a little more but that is actually a good thing. You need a firewall, to stop hackers, as well as Avast av.

A router with hardware firewall is also good, you might have that already?

I used to use ESET (nod32) security suite, but didn't have the cash to renew so I did the switch and haven't had any problems so far.

Also grab No Script, Ghostery (blocks trackers) and BrowserProtect add-ons if you use Firefox.

I happened to recently pick up a nasty browser hijack I could NOT get rid of. I used multiple mentioned scanners and none of them found it. Out of desperation, I did more research and found HitmanPro. It found it, removed it, fixed my problem, free.

Just sayin' ... some good software out there.

Im pretty sure you can use windows 7 not back up a hard drive to a location outside your own home network.

Maybe someone like ATS member PheonixOD can confirm this?