Extremely slow on certain files

[Jon Drukman]

I'm trying to rsync a large data set (approx 140K files, 4TB) between machines
directly connected on gigabit ethernet.

Normally it runs around 20MB/sec, which is acceptable.

However, it seems like there is one particular file that is giving rsync
heartburn... whenever it encounters this file, the speed drops down to 150KB/sec
speed within a few seconds.  I don't know what's so special about this file.

I've tried scp'ing it directly between boxes - 20MB/sec.

I tried rsync in ssh and daemon modes, same deal - 150KB/sec.

rsync 2.6.9 on Redhat EL4 (x86_64).

/opt/bin/rsync -av --progress --port=8738 gsc free c15-gs-deliv1-data1::d4
building file list ... 
52478 files to consider
gsc/2007/04/
gsc/2007/04/indievelopment005_vf_040407.mpg
    96436224  28%  154.31kB/s    0:25:53



Any ideas?

-jsd-