Herb> I've had this discussion dozens of times with other talented and
Herb> knowledgeable people over the years and over various versions of
Herb> rsync.

;-)

If you search the rsync forums you'll find many heated discussions
about various "hanging" issues, and whether it is rsync, SSH or the
OS/OSes that is to blame...

Just one thing: have you tried "--blocking-io"?

Another suggestion that I remember seeing was to avoid "-v" (maybe you
can use "--stats" instead).

Kind regards,

        -- Urban