Problem with Archiving .tar

[Richard]

Since using (K)ubuntu 5 - 7.04 never had a problem with doing this.
in my home directory there is .kde dir, then share dir, then apps dir,
I used to do this: right click on the apps dir,  and select compress as .tar

Then I would move that apps.tar to my external usb drive for archive/Backup
However... been trying to do this since monday, for some reason, it looks
like the compression schema is hanging or something is interfering with compression
the folder size is 1.6 GB previouse folder size (7.04) was 1.4 GB

So, what gives ? I did compress a small file 500 mb on my desktop (no-problem)
but doing inside my home directory, there seems to be problem.


Anyone ?

TIA
Richard