Rob: thanks for giving me enough keywords to fuel my web searching; I see that Jens Axboe has corrected the problem as of 2.5.45. 2.6 is still a bit of a basket case, but that won't be for too much longer. I can just wait a bit and have the problem solved for me. Very acceptible :-) I don't suppose if anyone knows of a backport to late 2.4 for us impatient folk? Monty