thanks Joe, ok so not bad idea to run a manual disk utility on the bank drive still, as that one only comes into the house once a month.. (just got checkmate, thanks for the tip)

Don't have an ipad or iphone yet, but that is a a good idea for when I plunge in. How much space does Apples icloud give for free? I like dropbox, but it's still a bit clunky the interface and how one deals with it. I still get this nuisance dropbox message sometimes with I reboot into other backup drives.

But really, all my stuff, gigs of it is easier to deal with on the externals still.