Fedroa 10 Wedges File System under heavy I/O Load

[Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX N2469R]

 From time to time I back up data from /u, /y, and /var onto
an external IDE HD attached with a USB interface as /dev/sde1.
The command used is:  cd /; find u y var -print | cpio -pmd /b
This has worked well until recently.

Now Fedora "wedges" the /u file system at some time during this
backup process, which takes about three hours.  If /u doesn't
wedge before the backup finished with /u, the backup runs
to completion.

Strangely enough, even when /u is wedged, other file systems
on the same drive typically work normally.  Commands such
as sync and ps -ef wedge, but df does not.

Any ideas what to look for??

Signed - "Wedged in Portland"

/dev/sdb3 on / type ext4 (rw)
/proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sda1 on /oldroot type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb7 on /x type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb2 on /y type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sda3 on /v type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb5 on /u type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sdc3 on /w type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdd2 on /z type ext4 (rw)

-- 
Chuck Forsberg    caf at omen.com   www.omen.com   503-614-0430
Developer of Industrial ZMODEM(Tm) for Embedded Applications
  Omen Technology Inc      "The High Reliability Software"
10255 NW Old Cornelius Pass Portland OR 97231   FAX 629-0665