Error -36 has many possible interpretations. In your case they are:
1. The file is corrupted in some way.
2. The filename is too long (must be no more than 255 characters.)
3. The filename contains illegal characters (such as forward slash, "/", or colon, ":")
4. File is too large (not a likely occurrence except on FAT32 or FAT16 formatted drives.)
Have you tried copying this file by itself rather than as part of a multi-file transfer? Sometimes the file will copy individually.
Here are some basics on backup:
Basic Backup
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1.
Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2.
Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3.
Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4.
Deja Vu (Shareware)
5.
Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6.
SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7.
Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8.
Data Backup (Commercial)
9.
SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
10.
MimMac (Commercial)
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
1. Backup (requires a
.Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
2.
Toast
3.
Impression
4.
arRSync
Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
Visit
The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read
How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Although you can buy a complete FireWire drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at
Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
Cool Drives
OWC
WiebeTech
Firewire Direct
California Drives
NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.
The simplest way to clone your hard drive is as follows:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the
destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the
destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the
source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external drive.
Source means the drive you are backing up.
You do not "need" Carbon Copy Cloner or any other software to do a simple clone. Disk Utility's Restore option works just fine, and it's part of OS X.
