Thanks for all suggestions & help here.

I did as DonG suggested & moved files back to a HD, then reformatted from the little portable HD to NTFS. This was only a little 250 gb portable, but it freed it room from my multiple internal hd's. As Omar points out, .avi files (movies) take lots of space. I used to convert them to mp4 & store them that way, but now w/HD space becoming cheaper (various forms), I just go ahead & save the original .avi. A 40 minute football game (total run time) will take 12-14gb.

Anyway, now little portable drive is full & will be retired to safe keeping place.

Thanks again all. And Omar, you are very observant, as always. I am very lucky for the people around me...very lucky!