Thanks for the advice. So with Time Machine when it is running, I check the status bar at the top? My question is how do i know when TM is doing its thing and has completed?

I know the WD USB drives dont have a tremendous reputation for longevity, and this one is several years old. But I dont need a ton of space, at least I dont think I do. And the Time Capsule seemed like overkill since I dont need another wifi device. I could use Time Capsule for storage but have only one mac so really USB is likely to be the fastest and cheapest storage option. But i would do it differently if I knew that Time Machine didnt behave well with external USB drives. I'll have to research that

thanks