rsync: hlink.c:271: check_prior: Assertion `node->data != ((void *)0)' failed.

[BuraphaLinux Server]

BLS #rsync --version
rsync  version 3.0.4pre2  protocol version 30
Copyright (C) 1996-2008 by Andrew Tridgell, Wayne Davison, and others.
Web site: http://rsync.samba.org/
Capabilities:
    64-bit files, 64-bit inums, 32-bit timestamps, 64-bit long ints,
    socketpairs, hardlinks, symlinks, IPv6, batchfiles, inplace,
    append, ACLs, xattrs, iconv, symtimes

rsync comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  This is free software, and you
are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.  See the GNU
General Public Licence for details.
BLS #uname -a
Linux gview.myfakedomain.nett 2.6.26.1 #1 SMP Sat Aug 2 15:03:02 ICT
2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
BLS #rsync -rltpcvxH --progress --delete /mnt/sdf1/dvd/source .
sending incremental file list
source/kernel/kernelpack2/
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/patch-2.6.26.1.bz2.sign
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/patch-2.6.26.1.bz2
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/config-2.6.26.1.smp64
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/config-2.6.26.1.smp
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/config-2.6.26.1.numa64
deleting source/kernel/kernelpack2/config-2.6.26.1
rsync: hlink.c:271: check_prior: Assertion `node->data != ((void *)0)' failed.
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (590 bytes received so far) [sender]
BLS #mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
/dev/mapper/blsvg-usr on /usr type ext3 (ro,nodev,noatime)
/dev/mapper/blsvg-var on /var type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/mapper/blsvg-opt on /opt type ext3 (ro,nodev,noatime)
/dev/mapper/blsvg-tmp on /tmp type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/mapper/blsvg-home on /home type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/mapper/datazone on /data type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sdg2 on /mnt/sdg2 type ext2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime)
/dev/sdf1 on /mnt/sdf1 type ext2 (rw)

exceprt from dmesg showing the USB drive information:

[ 3802.225363] usb 2-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[ 3802.342266] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 3802.343340] scsi9 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 3802.343340] usb-storage: device found at 3
[ 3802.343342] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 3802.343340] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1005, idProduct=b113
[ 3802.343340] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3802.343340] usb 2-1: Product: USB FLASH DRIVE
[ 3802.343340] usb 2-1: Manufacturer:
[ 3802.343340] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: 19760500062A
[ 3805.442333] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access              USB FLASH DRIVE  PMAP PQ
: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 3806.479074] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] 8060928 512-byte hardware sectors (4127 MB)
[ 3806.480254] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off
[ 3806.480258] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 3806.480261] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3806.482335] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] 8060928 512-byte hardware sectors (4127 MB)
[ 3806.482931] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off
[ 3806.482935] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 3806.482937] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3806.482941]  sdf: sdf1
[ 3806.484237] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 3806.484496] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0
[ 3806.484511] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 3807.343334] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access              USB FLASH DRIVE  PMAP PQ
: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 3808.276334] FAT: bogus number of reserved sectors
[ 3808.276334] VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sdf1.
[ 3808.279940] ext3: No journal on filesystem on sdf1
[ 3808.930496] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] 8060928 512-byte hardware sectors (4127 MB)
[ 3808.931052] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Write Protect is off
[ 3808.931056] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 3808.931059] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3808.933827] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] 8060928 512-byte hardware sectors (4127 MB)
[ 3808.934486] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Write Protect is off
[ 3808.934486] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 3808.934486] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3808.934486]  sdg: sdg1 sdg2
[ 3808.935266] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdg] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 3808.935305] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg7 type 0
[ 3808.936340] usb-storage: device scan complete

Filesystem on thumbdrive is ok:
BLS #umount /mnt/sdf1
BLS #e2fsck -f /dev/sdf1
e2fsck 1.41.0 (10-Jul-2008)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/sdf1: 10219/503936 files (2.1% non-contiguous), 716083/1007612 blocks

(I tried XFS instead of ext3 on hard disk, but got even more problems, so
 changed back to ext3; the filesystem is on top of linux software RAID5,
 and I tried it with and without LUKS and it is the same either way; tar
 and cpio work fine)

Filesystem on hard disk is ok too (/data):
BLS #umount /data
BLS #e2fsck -f /dev/mapper/datazone
e2fsck 1.41.0 (10-Jul-2008)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/mapper/datazone: 380173/366313472 files (0.1% non-contiguous),
43740144/366286719 blocks

Removing the H option fixes this normally, but then I get copies of
big files isntead of hard links like they are on the thumb drive.

This only happens on a system when I do local rsync - if one end is over
the network it is OK.

What can I do to help solve this issue?