Hi @ditonix, welcome to the Community! I’m glad you decided to use Qubes OS.
The corresponding issue: Simulate Hibernation / Suspend-To-Disk · Issue #2414 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub
Yes: encrypt on suspend · Issue #2890 · QubesOS/qubes-issues · GitHub
Unresolved discussion: Is moving qubes to an external drive possible?
Another relevant discussion: Storage pool on an encrypted external drive?
You should create separate topics for your separate questions, otherwise it gets very hard for other newcomers to find the solutions.