XP Pro Backup doesn't run?

Weird glitch here...wondering if someone knows what I'm missing.

Basic PC info: ABS Awesome 6350, 64 bit AMD Opteron, XP Pro, Twin HDD's 120 GB each in Raid 0. External FW Maxtor 60 GB drive.

What I'm trying to do is to run the XP Pro Backup tool...placing the backup file on the external firewire drive. [BTW...the ASR tool is installed in PRO as well as the Ntbackup utility.]

I can access the backup tool, but when I attempt to backup using the "simple" wizard, with a clean, formatted floppy in the A: drive as instructed, I get the following pop up message...."The files for the recovery diskette could not be created. The operation was aborted." After checking MS KB articles, the only thing I can find on this that is even remotely close applies to XP Home edition.

So, I try the "advanced" backup wizard...I can access it, it allows me to set all my parameters, i.e., destination, type of backup, schedule and all that.

I start the backup utility after setting all this stuff, and the process just hangs. No progress...nothing.

What am I missing?