Ghost will not make backup or clone

[George]

Using Ghost 2003, Windows XP SP2.

When I try to use Backup, I get as far as the DOS screen, which
stays up 3 or 4 seconds, then returns into Windows without running
Ghost.

When I try to use Clone, all activity stopped at 39% completion,
it just sat there, and I had to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to boot back into
Windows. But worse than that, the target drive, an external drive
connected to USB, now is not accessible. Error message reads
"File or directory is corrupted and unreadable".

How can I get Ghost to make a backup or clone?

Thanks for any help.

George