Had another thought. All the files you back up are read; by tar! Can you check your logfiles for the options tar uses, both when doing the actual dumps and during the estimate phase.
Gnutar has a "--atime-preserve" option. Tar notes the a/mtime stamps and after backing up the file it resets the atime. You can do something similar with the touch command. "atime-preserve" can take one of two "modes", "replace" or "system". Some kernels have a system call that allows setting atime/mtime without changing ctime (only allowed for root). If the mode is "system" tar tries to use that feature. But if the kernel does not have that feature (I don't know its name) then the "replace" mode is used. But this mode definitely resets ctime to the current time. And I think that new ctime would cause the file to be backed up again the next amdump. According to my tar manpage, the "--listed-incremental" option is incompatible with "--atime-preserve=replace". Jon -- Jon H. LaBadie [email protected] 11226 South Shore Rd. (703) 787-0688 (H) Reston, VA 20190 (609) 477-8330 (C)
