Hi,
thanks to everyone who replied.

I have fixed the problem with GNU tar not starting any backups.

I solved the problem by uncommenting the "reserve" keyword in amanda.conf.
I just set it to "reserve 30" (percent) and started a new dump and the
system now appears to be working with both ufsdump and GNU tar.

I don't know why this makes a difference unless it has something to do with the
way the holding disk works.

Now it is working, I have also recompiled amanda 2.4.2 with SunPro 6.2
just for fun, to see if it is better than gcc - amreport doesn't dump core
now, anyway.


Thanks again!
rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove AT zeta.org DOT au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
        "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
        deserve neither liberty or security" - Benjamin Franklin, 1759