STAR hangs on multi volume partial dump

Occasionally, star hangs when running a multi volume partial dump.  Any
idea what may be the reason for the problem?

Note that I didn't yet try out star-1.5a77-pre3.tar.bz2.  Should I try
it?

Let me know what additional info you need.

Details:

* The last lines that I see on screen when star hangs (I've waited for
  several hours and it didn't resume):

  [...]
  a    9228 -rw-------   1 root/root Feb 27 11:05 2006 home/felix/.thumb
  nails/normal/c3601936dc7f568f4ce50ccc169f16bb.png
  a    9074 -rw-------Switching to volume 4.
  _

* According to "top", while hanging, star uses around 95% CPU resources
  and around 2.4% of RAM.  A snapshot of top's output:

  [...]
    PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
  14948 root      25   0 28664  24m 8660 R 99.2  2.4 148:22.37 star               
  [...]

* The command that was executed:

  star -c -z bs=2m errctl='/usr/local/lib/backup/tar-backup.errctl' \
  -vv -M -match-tree \
  -not pattern='{^home/felix/tmp$}!{^home/felix/tmp-backup$}!{^home/felix/dont-backup$}!{^home/felix/.opera/cache4$}!{^home/felix/.cedega$}!{^home/felix/.mozilla/default/jk58siw4.slt/Cache$}!{^home/felix/.mozilla/firefox/default.g13/Cache$}!{^home/felix/.netscape/cache$}' \
  -link-dirs -level=3 -multivol tsize=650M -acl \
  tardumps='/mnt/sda1/tmp-backup/important.2007-Jan-29//important.dumps' -wtardumps \
  new-volume-script='/usr/local/lib/backup/tar-backup.new-volume-script'  \
  file='/mnt/sda1/tmp-backup/important.2007-Jan-29//important.2007-Mar-01_12.45.06_01.tgz' \
  file='/mnt/sda1/tmp-backup/important.2007-Jan-29//important.2007-Mar-01_12.45.06_02.tgz' \
  [...]
  file='/mnt/sda1/tmp-backup/important.2007-Jan-29//important.2007-Mar-01_12.45.06_100.tgz' \
  -C '/' .

* Scripts used by the above command:

  $ cat /usr/local/lib/backup/tar-backup.errctl
  GROW *
  $ cat /usr/local/lib/backup/tar-backup.new-volume-script
  #!/bin/sh

  # Called when a new volume is started.

  echo "Switching to volume $1."

* Workaround: Adjusting the volume size ("tsize") has solved the problem
  in the past.  If I recall correctly, I had the problem with various
  versions of "star".

* The star version that I use:

  $ star -version
  star: star 1.5a76 (i686-pc-linux-gnu)

  Copyright (C) 1985, 88-90, 92-96, 98, 99, 2000-2006 Jörg Schilling
  This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There
  is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
  PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

* The OS (LINUX) and the file system:

  # uname -a
  Linux t41 2.6.14.4 #3 Sat Mar 25 11:14:41 CET 2006 i686 unknown 
  unknown GNU/Linux
  # tune2fs -l /dev/sda1|less
  tune2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005)
  Filesystem volume name:   <none>
  Last mounted on:          <not available>
  Filesystem UUID:          9ee0a091-1703-4db5-8bcc-2236226297aa
  Filesystem magic number:  0xEF53
  Filesystem revision #:    1 (dynamic)
  Filesystem features:      filetype sparse_super large_file
  Default mount options:    (none)
  Filesystem state:         not clean
  Errors behavior:          Continue
  Filesystem OS type:       Linux
  Inode count:              4889248
  Block count:              9767512
  Reserved block count:     488375
  Free blocks:              9114380
  Free inodes:              4889229
  First block:              0
  Block size:               4096
  Fragment size:            4096
  Blocks per group:         32768
  Fragments per group:      32768
  Inodes per group:         16352
  Inode blocks per group:   511
  Filesystem created:       Sat Dec 23 15:36:22 2006
  Last mount time:          Sat Mar  3 13:42:50 2007
  Last write time:          Sat Mar  3 13:42:50 2007
  Mount count:              40
  Maximum mount count:      35
  Last checked:             Sat Dec 23 15:36:22 2006
  Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
  Next check after:         Thu Jun 21 16:36:22 2007
  Reserved blocks uid:      0 (user root)
  Reserved blocks gid:      0 (group root)
  First inode:              11
  Inode size:               128
  Default directory hash:   tea
  Directory Hash Seed:      219f7515-cef4-4209-84e5-29da855d5a48

-- 
Felix E. Klee