diff -ur rsync-3.0.7/flist.c rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/flist.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/flist.c	2009-12-21 23:40:41.000000000 +0100
+++ rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/flist.c	2010-06-30 14:33:09.000000000 +0200
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
 extern int copy_unsafe_links;
 extern int protocol_version;
 extern int sanitize_paths;
+extern unsigned long sleep_asec;
 extern int munge_symlinks;
 extern int use_safe_inc_flist;
 extern int need_unsorted_flist;
@@ -1615,6 +1616,33 @@
  * file list in memory without sending it over the wire.  Also, get_dirlist()
  * might call this with f set to -2, which also indicates that local filter
  * rules should be ignored. */
+
+struct dirent_s {
+        unsigned long long d_ino;
+        long long d_off;
+        unsigned short int d_reclen;
+        unsigned char d_type;
+        char *d_name;
+};
+
+static int ino_cmp(const void *a, const void *b)
+{
+        const struct dirent_s *ds_a = (const struct dirent_s *) a;
+        const struct dirent_s *ds_b = (const struct dirent_s *) b;
+        unsigned int i_a, i_b;
+        i_a = ds_a->d_ino;
+        i_b = ds_b->d_ino;
+        return (i_a - i_b);
+}
+
+static int pot (int n)
+{
+    int p = 1;
+    while (p <= n)
+        p *= 2;
+    return p;
+}
+
 static void send_directory(int f, struct file_list *flist, char *fbuf, int len,
 			   int flags)
 {
@@ -1625,6 +1653,9 @@
 	int divert_dirs = (flags & FLAG_DIVERT_DIRS) != 0;
 	int start = flist->used;
 	int filter_level = f == -2 ? SERVER_FILTERS : ALL_FILTERS;
+        struct dirent_s *ds = NULL;
+        long n_files=0;
+        long i;
 
 	assert(flist != NULL);
 
@@ -1645,16 +1676,38 @@
 	*p = '\0';
 	remainder = MAXPATHLEN - (p - fbuf);
 
-	for (errno = 0, di = readdir(d); di; errno = 0, di = readdir(d)) {
-		char *dname = d_name(di);
+
+        while ((di = readdir (d))) {
+            ds = realloc (ds, sizeof (struct dirent_s) * pot (n_files));
+            if (!ds){
+                rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "realloc for dircache failed (%s)", full_fname(fbuf));
+                return;
+            } 
+            ds[n_files].d_name = strdup (d_name(di));
+            ds[n_files].d_ino = di->d_ino;
+            n_files++;
+        }
+        closedir(d);
+        if (errno) {
+               io_error |= IOERR_GENERAL;
+               rsyserr(FERROR, errno, "readdir(%s)", full_fname(fbuf));
+        }
+        qsort(ds, n_files, sizeof(struct dirent_s), ino_cmp); /* see http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/4/27/141 */
+     
+        for (i = 0; i < n_files; ++i) { 
+               char *dname = ds[i].d_name;
+
 		if (dname[0] == '.' && (dname[1] == '\0'
-		    || (dname[1] == '.' && dname[2] == '\0')))
+		    || (dname[1] == '.' && dname[2] == '\0'))) {
+                        free(dname);
 			continue;
+                }
 		if (strlcpy(p, dname, remainder) >= remainder) {
 			io_error |= IOERR_GENERAL;
 			rprintf(FERROR_XFER,
 				"cannot send long-named file %s\n",
 				full_fname(fbuf));
+                        free(dname);
 			continue;
 		}
 		if (dname[0] == '\0') {
@@ -1669,16 +1722,10 @@
 	}
 
 	fbuf[len] = '\0';
-
-	if (errno) {
-		io_error |= IOERR_GENERAL;
-		rsyserr(FERROR_XFER, errno, "readdir(%s)", full_fname(fbuf));
-	}
-
-	closedir(d);
+        free(ds);
 
 	if (f >= 0 && recurse && !divert_dirs) {
-		int i, end = flist->used - 1;
+		int end = flist->used - 1;
 		/* send_if_directory() bumps flist->used, so use "end". */
 		for (i = start; i <= end; i++)
 			send_if_directory(f, flist, flist->files[i], fbuf, len, flags);
diff -ur rsync-3.0.7/options.c rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/options.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/options.c	2009-12-21 23:40:41.000000000 +0100
+++ rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/options.c	2010-06-30 14:33:48.000000000 +0200
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@
 int daemon_bwlimit = 0;
 int bwlimit = 0;
 int fuzzy_basis = 0;
+unsigned long sleep_asec = 0;
 size_t bwlimit_writemax = 0;
 int ignore_existing = 0;
 int ignore_non_existing = 0;
@@ -424,6 +425,7 @@
   rprintf(F,"     --password-file=FILE    read daemon-access password from FILE\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --list-only             list the files instead of copying them\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --bwlimit=KBPS          limit I/O bandwidth; KBytes per second\n");
+  rprintf(F,"     --slow-down=USECs       sleep N usec while creating the filelist\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --write-batch=FILE      write a batched update to FILE\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating destination\n");
   rprintf(F,"     --read-batch=FILE       read a batched update from FILE\n");
@@ -605,6 +607,7 @@
   {"no-itemize-changes",0, POPT_ARG_VAL,    &itemize_changes, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"no-i",             0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &itemize_changes, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"bwlimit",          0,  POPT_ARG_INT,    &bwlimit, 0, 0, 0 },
+  {"slow-down",        0,  POPT_ARG_LONG,   &sleep_asec, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"no-bwlimit",       0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &bwlimit, 0, 0, 0 },
   {"backup",          'b', POPT_ARG_VAL,    &make_backups, 1, 0, 0 },
   {"no-backup",        0,  POPT_ARG_VAL,    &make_backups, 0, 0, 0 },
@@ -1919,6 +1922,12 @@
 		args[ac++] = arg;
 	}
 
+        if (sleep_asec) {
+                if (asprintf(&arg, "--slow-down=%lu", sleep_asec) < 0)
+                        goto oom;
+                args[ac++] = arg;
+        }
+
 	if (backup_dir) {
 		args[ac++] = "--backup-dir";
 		args[ac++] = backup_dir;
diff -ur rsync-3.0.7/syscall.c rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/syscall.c
--- rsync-3.0.7/syscall.c	2009-01-17 22:41:35.000000000 +0100
+++ rsync-3.0.7-slowdown/syscall.c	2010-06-30 14:29:17.000000000 +0200
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 extern int read_only;
 extern int list_only;
 extern int preserve_perms;
+extern unsigned long sleep_asec;
 extern int preserve_executability;
 
 #define RETURN_ERROR_IF(x,e) \
@@ -64,6 +65,13 @@
 int do_link(const char *fname1, const char *fname2)
 {
 	if (dry_run) return 0;
+
+        /* Meta-Data updates don't seem to get scheduled very well.
+           So lets sleep for a bit, to avoid hammering the disk.
+           and rendering the system unusable */
+        if (sleep_asec)
+            usleep(sleep_asec*5);
+
 	RETURN_ERROR_IF_RO_OR_LO;
 	return link(fname1, fname2);
 }