I have noticed that two large files which are of type GNU tar archive
and named in the format: hostname._net_hostname_home_user.20041221.2
(exactly matches an entry in disklist except that the slashes in the
path are now underscores and the date and another number are appended)

I assume that Amanda is creating these files, and that I just don't
completely understand the process. My backups which begin at 2:00 AM are
still running when I get here at 8:30. They used to finish much earlier
(like 5:00 or so). I looked through the faq on amanda.org and didn't see
anything about this. Maybe there is a step by step explanation of the
process amanda goes through somewhere?

Thanks,
Vicki