Creating a system image in safe mode with Windows 7

I am attemptin to make a backup image of my hard drive. The new Image will be complied on an external hard. The drive has a 1TB Capacity with 450 Gigs free. I am receiving an error code during the image compilation stating that there is a problem with the I/O device. I ran chkdsk and found no problems. I also switched USB ports just to rule that out. I have used this same external hard drive to image a different laptop with no issues last week. My next approach would be to try this in safe mode. When I am in safe mode, I cannot find the location of the software which windows uses to create the image. I typed the location into the address bar and it pulled up a link in the address bar which took me back to the control panel. Can anyone tell me if this is possible to do in safe mode and if not, what my next step would be.

Windows error:
The Operation failed due to a device error encountered with either the source or destination. If the source or destination volume is on a disk, run CHKDSK/R on the source or destination volume and then retry the operation. (0x8078012D)

Additional Information:
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error (0x8007045D)

Any help is greatly appreciated. I would rather use the windows software. Last time I used a third party I was messing around with 3. When it came time to use it, I could not figure out how to get it done. With Windows, I won't run into that problem of finding the software when I need to restore a drive.

:cool:Thanks Everyone for all useful suggestion and directions!!!!!!!!:cool: