The good news is, your site has grown to the point backups are timing out your server.... the bad news is, your site has grown to the point backups are timing out your server :)

I think you have 3 options:
1) Change server settings so you have more time to run the back-up
2) Manually back-up by downloading files via FTP from your server and doing an export of your database using Myphpadmin or something similar.
3) Or use the marketplace add-on http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/-/view/?submit_search=1...
I've done all three but really prefer using John's Backup Voodoo

Hope this helps

Adrian
Arvixe Web Hosting / Concrete5 Community Liaison |
http://www.arvixe.com/concrete5_hosting......................

Thanks for the suggestions, none of these solve the problem. I also have
Backup Voodoo installed and get error messages and it times out as well.
There has to be another solution.

-----Original Message-----
From: concrete5 Community [mailto:discussions@concretecms.com]
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 3:48 PM
To: dudley@dwsassociates.com
Subject: Concrete 5 Backup failure : Chit-Chat

Backup Voodoo has many settings that can be used to spread a backup across multiple web requests and hence fit a backup into the server resources available. Many of these settings are hidden during the initial 'Easy Start' tab and are available through the custom settings button on that tab.

Please open a support request, post your environment details and a screenshot of the backup execution, so I have the error message about which pass the timeout occurs on. It would also help me to know how many pages are on the site. I can then advise you on what advanced settings to use to achieve a successful backup.

The problem is solved. It turns out that there were too many files in the
pagestatistics table and by deleting these, the backups, both the standard
Concrete 5 and the Voodoo work.

-----Original Message-----
From: concrete5 Community [mailto:discussions@concretecms.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 8:41 AM
To: dudley@dwsassociates.com
Subject: Concrete 5 Backup failure : Chit-Chat

The third (black) easy start option in Voodoo will enable you to keep page stats (if you want to), but also strip them out of the backup.

Now you have a backup, you may also find Extreme Clean helps to slim down the excess baggage on your site.
http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/extreme-clean/...