>Backup, filesystem-level full: Drives write at ~30MB/sec, total time about 2 
>hours.
>Backup, raw volume full: Same as filesystem full, maybe 5% faster
>Restore, filesystem-level full: Drives read at ~30MB/sec, total time is about 
>2.75 hours
>Backup, raw volume full: Drives putter along at 8-9MB/sec.  
>
>Huh?  Anyone have any guesses as to why a raw volume restore would be so
>much slower? 

Just guessing, but when 'dd -ing' to or from a raw disk volume, I've noticed 
that the used 
blocksize has much impact on the transfer rate. Don't know what nbu uses 
though, but you could 
test your max. speed with dd and varying blocksize (stripe size is likely to be 
a good starting 
point).

gr, Joost
-- 
Long may you run.