Time Machine really toooo low for the first back up!

I'm backing up my HD for the first time but after 8 hours it has backed up only 29GB out of 97GB of my Mac Book Pro: is it normal???

What is system.log reporting for the TM backup process named "backupd" ?
Some people don't recommend USB2 devices for backup but IMO they are AOK. The first backup of tens of GBs might be a bit slower than FW400 but this really is only an issue for the first backup. Subsequent backups/snapshots will go along just fine. USB2 is also a more common external device that is FW and normally cost less.
Post back the system.log backupd messages and maybe we can get some clues from that.
I agree that 8 hrs is too long and suspect there's a holdup somewhere.

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    Hello, some possible clues...
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    According to This Time Machine resource   “This appears only on Snow Leopard, and started with the Time Capsule Backup Update 1.0 in mid-May of 2010.  It also seems to have been included in the 10.6.3 v1.1 update and 10.6.4.”
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    http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/the-dreaded-time-machine-has-completed-a-verifi cation-of-your-backups-to-improve-reliability-time-machine-must-create-a-new-ba c kup-for-you-message-and-why-you-are-seeing-it/
    Time Machine: About "Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4076
    Or a different/better solution in my experiences...
    Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
    http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
    Or SuperDuper...
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
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  • Using time machine for the first time in a while

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    Benjamin McDaniel wrote:
    Disk Utility verifies there are no problems
    Did you run Repair Disk on your backups, and Verify Disk on your internal HD, and both said " . . . appears to be OK"?
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