Good customer support from Carbonite.

The bad news first, problem unresolved. The good news they are still working on it for me.
They actually telephoned me from the states and then we linked my computer to customer support, staying on the phone the entire time.

Many things were tried without success, the support guy Johnathan was very polite and helpful, they admitted they'd never seen my error message before.

They are now going to do a manual backup for me by accessing my data and making DVD copies to post out to me.

It's a bugger the problem still exists but no complaints about the service I am getting to try to resolve the issue.

Why did you start a new thread?

Simple really, to give credit where it's due. I was impressed with their efforts to resolve my problem.
The other link is pertaining to the problem itself. If/when it gets solved I'll advise of the solution.