Time to back up & external hard-drive

i wanted to back up my macbook on my time capsule. the things i really want backed up are my itunes which is on my macbook, and my photos in iphoto, which are not in my hard-drive on the macbook, but on an external hard-drive firelight (?8G). i connected my external hard-drive to my macbook and then asked the time capsule to back up.
i tried to do this wirelessly, which i know would be longer than hooking up my macbook directly to the time capsule.
i started to get discouraged and started wondering whether things were working correctly. after about 30 minutes of (?searching) the time capsule's spinning blue rectangular logo said something like "searching for folder". shortly after that it said something like "initiating time log" (that's not what it said, but something like that). after about another hour, the spinning blue rectangle was still with the same message, and none of the available space on the time capsule seemed to be decreasing.
i thought maybe there was a wireless disconnect, or that nothing was actually happening. how can i tell if info is starting to get backed up? has anyone done this wirelessly? how long does it take to get through that second stage?
is there a website here on apple or any prior discussion that explains how long each step to this process takes?
i had originally planned to leave the computer on overnight, but i'm sure the computer, my external hard-drive, and my power source all would have been burning hot.
thanks

anthonyitaliano wrote:
thanks again. as you can see, i am SO not a tech person.
#1) i removed my personal info (not that it mattered) from the widget that i copied and pasted. in that location it says my name etc. i don't know if this makes a difference but when (my friend) set up the time capsule for me, it had an MD after my name (i'm a doc). when i started the whole back up process with time machine, it found my time capsule with my name, and seemed to start the back up process. not sure what the name on my computer and network are.
Click on the link provided in my earlier post. #P1 shows the "rules" and how to change them if needed.
#2) i purchased the time capsule a few years ago. white rectangular box. my cable wire from the house i think goes into the modem (?) first, and then to my time capsule?
Correct.
in other words, my wifi access is functioning properly, but i think that's the set up.
Yes. You can connect your Mac to the Time Capsule via an Ethernet cable, instead of WIFI. It's much faster. But you don't have to do that, and you may not have the right cable anyway.
i assume that time machine is already installed on my macbook (with snow leopard)
Yes.
#3) yes, the photo you sent me kind of looks like the thing i have. my external hard-drive. SMARTDISK FIRELITE MODEL #FWFL80. whatever the black wire is that connects that to my macbook is what i was talking about. i thought that was an ethernet wire? is it a usb wire?
Yes.
#4 yes, firelite appears in sidebar. ok, usb, if you say so.
PARTITION MAP SCHEME: apple partition map.
FORMAT: mac os extended.
Ok, It is connected via USB, and it is set up properly, so Time Machine can back it up. Check Time Machine Preferences > Options. See if it's listed in the exclusion box there. If so, select it and click the minus sign at the bottom, so Time Machine will back it up.
Do you have the little Time Machine icon in your menubar (looks like a clock)? If not check the box for +Show Time Machine Status in the menu bar+ on the Preferences window.
Click that icon and select +Back Up Now+ (you can also do that by right-clicking the TM icon in your Dock).
Watch the messages on the Preferences Window. It should say *Backing Up* with a progress bar and various messages.
First you'll probably see "Making backup disk available" (briefly).
Then you should see "Calculating Changes" and perhaps "Scanning xxxxx items" for several minutes.
Next you should see "Preparing xxx items" (although that may go past faster than you can read it).
Then "Copying xxx MB/GB of yyy GB," and the xxx should change fairly often.
You may also see "Indexing Backup" briefly now and then.
If you see something else, or it just freezes, note what you see. The widget should show some messages similar to the ones you posted earlier, too.

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