Also had massive problems with the time machine backup on an external HD. (Maxtor basics)
But I tried using it with my linkstation disk with was complaining of "broken pipes" (if anyone know UNIX jargon I would be greatful)
Code:
-------- BEGIN BACKUP 2009/09/04 16:48:22 disk1/PUBLIC -> NETDISK1@usbdisk1 --------
building file list ...
4012 files to consider
created directory /mnt/usbdisk1/200909041648
./
PUBLIC/
PUBLIC/Iphone 3g.mov
rsync: writefd_unbuffered failed to write 4 bytes [sender]: Broken pipe (32)
rsync: write failed on "/mnt/usbdisk1/200909041648/PUBLIC/Iphone 3g.mov": Input/output error (5)
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (106135 bytes received so far) [generator]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(463) [generator=2.6.8]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (42 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(463) [sender=2.6.8]
-------- END BACKUP 2009/09/04 16:49:47 disk1/PUBLIC -> NETDISK1@usbdisk1 --------
Testing it on a windows machine now, I'm inclined to say its the drive rather than the mac.