Delay between backup started and scanning filesystem

I have a backup job set to start automatically, which all seems fine, but in the backup logs I am seeming to get massive delays between when the job “starts” and when it begins looking for changes on the drives:

Level Time Message
Info 06/08/18 00:23 Starting scheduled incremental file backup...
Info 06/08/18 02:48 Scanning for changed hard links on volume of "e:\"...

Previously the scanning step would be pretty much instant after the message saying it’s started.

Does anyone know what may be causing this?

Good morning,

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but I would also like to have an answer to this question. THANK YOU.