Backup takes hours and hours

We have only 126 Requests in the system but the backup takes 5+ hours - this cannot be right! It used to take a few minutes in an earlier period/build.

As it performs the backup, it seems to grow to above 2Gb and then finally compact down to 60-70Mb.

The server also max's out every now and then with a servicedesk java process which again is something pretty suspicious, anyone had this problem?

We have entered a Support Request directly into the website about the backup but have heard nothing back, not even an acknowledgement that it has been received.

If anyone has had similar issues but not posted them please let me know how you corrected the backup and/or the other process...

Many thanks in advance.