Re: I'm having a problem with my tape backup system.

[awilliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

tar: Removing leading `/' from absolute path names in the archive
tar: Removing leading `/' from absolute links

This is normal and is not an "error" message.

tar: Cannot add file /proc/2/exe: No such file or directory
tar: Cannot add file /proc/3/exe: No such file or directory
tar: Cannot add file /proc/4/exe: No such file or directory
tar: Cannot add file /proc/5/exe: No such file or directory

You shouldn't backup /proc.  It is a virtual filesystem representing 
the kernels internal state,  very handy,  but also infinite, so a 
backup will get very confused.

Try something like --exlude /proc in your tar command.