Using Veeam backup and backing up the entire VM takes forever and is unreliable at times.
Can you elaborate on what do you mean by “unreliable”, we have been using the aforesaid solution since the version 5 and everything tends to have worked properly. Therefore, I’m wondering what particular issues you experience with Veeam.
As to the time it takes Veeam to finish the back job, it might be worth answering few questions:
What are the bottleneck statistics for this job? What does your infrastructure look like? What backup method are you using? What proxy mode is being used? Is CBT enabled and utilized during backup runs or not?
Additionally, have you had a chance to contact Veeam with that issue via Veeam Community Forum, for instance:
http://forums.veeam.com/index.php
If not, I strongly recommend you doing it, since this forum seems to be very supportive. Cheers.