Thanks, post updated.

This gives you an upper bound on backup speed/lower bound on completion.

I hate any rules on passwords. I can understand some length limit, but let's get that > 100.

Also, don't break on $[~, etc.

Glad you solved it.

I've often moved the pagefile for Windows if I need space. Other than that, the suggestions above work.

You can also use this with AGs. Create the db, do a nul backup, start direct seeding.

It is useful to eliminate disk/network as a backup bottleneck if...