After I copy a large file (~30 megs) my processor activity shoots up to
100% for 10 to 15 seconds, and I can't use my system during that time. 
As the files get bigger, the amount of time the processor has to noodle
also grows.  If I copy a gigabyte file, my computer can be out of
commission for 20 minutes.  Is this normal behavior, or do I likely have
something configured wrong?

I'm using Debian Sarge, kernel 2.4.20, ext2 filesystem, and two IDE
harddrives on my primary controller.  The behavior seems to happen no
matter where I'm copying from and to:  one partition to another, one
drive to another, or within the same partition.  I didn't have these
slowdowns back in Windows days, so I don't *think* it is purely a
hardware issue.  However, most of the things I do with linux that cause
the problem (like writing decent metadata to ogg/mp3 files) are not
things that I ever did in Windows, so it might be that back then I never
asked my harddisks to do these things that they don't like doing...

Thanks,
Ian

-- 
Ian Stoner
Philosophy Department
University of Minnesota

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