Question : Problem: How can I backup to a external hard drive

I am having trouble performing a backup to a remote drive.
I Have the following hardware software:
Windows Server 2000 Terminal server w/sp4
Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server w/sp1
The SBS of course is my domain controller and we only have one domain.
I have 2 external harddrives (Maxtor Onetouch III) (I am not using the Maxtor backup software at all)

Steps I took:
1. I plug hard drive into the SBS server via usb cable
2. Configure it for sharing over our network.
3. set permissions for a folder on the drive.
4. Run windows backup from the Terminal server point the path to save the backup to the shared drive.
This is when I get 2 error messages:

Message 1.
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file
\Device\LanmanRedirector\ntserver\E Backup\TERMSRVR\TSysTate.bkf. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection.  Please try to save this file elsewhere

Message 2.
The device reported an error on a request to write data to media. error reported: Unknown error.

I checked the Terminal server event logs and found these error messages:
Note:  I do not get these errrors when I do the same thing with an internal harddrive on the SBS
Why won't it copy the backups to the external drives?

Log Message 1
Event Type:      Warning
Event Source:      MRxSmb
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      50
Date:            5/11/2007
Time:            12:47:46 PM
User:            N/A
Computer:      TERMSRVR
Description:
{Lost Delayed-Write Data} The system was attempting to transfer file data from buffers to \Device\LanmanRedirector. The write operation failed, and only some of the data may have been written to the file.
Data:
0000: 00 00 04 00 02 00 56 00   ......V.
0008: 00 00 00 00 32 00 04 80   ....2..€
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0028: 0c 02 00 c0               ...À    


Log Message 2
Event Type:      Information
Event Source:      Application Popup
Event Category:      None
Event ID:      26
Date:            5/11/2007
Time:            12:48:18 PM
User:            N/A
Computer:      TERMSRVR
Description:
Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \;E:0\ntserver\E Backup\TERMSRVR\TSysTate.bkf. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.  

Answer : Problem: How can I backup to a external hard drive

Usually, I see these errors when the connection to the USB drive fails, even for a moment.  The drive goes off line.  It's like pulling the power cord on the drive while it's writing.  I would suggest, if the power is ok, try using a different USB cable and/or port.