> Could it be that the CPU's are basically idle because they are

waiting

> on the drives to send them some data?

That's what i think too but kinda hard to explain to the customer that
its expensive system isn't that smooth as he thinks it is. On top of
that customer states his other apps (SYBASE) aren't slow at all.
Is firebird more demanding on HW, especially HD performance, then
other DBs?

> Also, is the partition encrypted or anything like that?

No encryption or anything like that.