[dnanian]

You have to understand that the problem is a fundamental problem with some files on your own disk: so, it's not so much a "workaround": the file issues need to be fixed, and then the backup will work.

So: try booting from your OSX DVD and using Disk Utility (in the Installer menu) to repair the drive (not the permissions -- the actual drive structure). Perhaps some issue that it can fix is causing problems: it's definitely worth a try.

We could, of course, write a copy script to ignore the failing files, but it wouldn't be much of a backup, then...