Windows 7's "Backup and Restore" feature takes FOREVER!

[shyronnie]

So I tried backing up my laptop on a 500 GB external hard drive using Windows 7's "Backup and Restore" feature. Thing is, it's FREAKING SLOW! I only have less than 100 GB of used space on my laptop's hard drive to backup, but I believe it took about 2 HOURS to finish backing up! What's an alternative, possibly free, solution to this one? I might just do the old-fashioned "copy/paste" way of backing up my files; I actually prefer that because I know what I'm putting on my external hard drive, especially since I don't mind reinstalling programs or changing settings if something happens to my laptop.