Hi Alex,

thanks for your answer. You're absolutely right - my holding disk lost DMA. I 
will change kernel and disks during the next 2-3 weeks anyway, maybe the 
problem is solved "automagically".

Thanks a lot,
Kai

> You said you killed taper because it had become very slow.  Just a shot
> in the dark, is your holding disk fine?  Mine sometimes get a hiccup and
> lose DMA (on Linux, see /var/log/kern.log), and then dumping/flushing
> gets *really* slow.
> 
> Alex
> 
> --
> Alexander Jolk         /         BUF Compagnie
> tel +33-1 42 68 18 28 /  fax +33-1 42 68 18 29