External HDDs causing slow boot

mothermachine · 28 Aug 2009 at 11:42

Hi all,

I have a couple of external USB HDDs (WD 1TB) which, in an ideal world, I would like to leave plugged in permenantly - I use them every day (backups and storage). But leaving them plugged in when booting causes massive delays, sometimes minutes, sometimes it won't even boot with them in. They cycle up and down, make noises etc. My guess is the BIOS is looking for an OS install on both of them before trying the main internal OS drive.

Is there any way to config the BIOS to totally ignore external HDDs so it boots right into Windows quickly? I'd rather not have to unplug them every morning before booting.

Cheers,

SfnX · 28 Aug 2009 at 11:56

u know when u config the bios to use a certain device do u not just select the HDD u want then boot from it? i havnt come across this and i often use externals but i boot from my internal HDD

mothermachine · 28 Aug 2009 at 11:59

i've just left it with a boot priority set to CDROM, HDD, HDD. So it first looks for an OS CD/DVD, then it *should* just boot direct from the internal HDD. but in reality these externals are still being "examined" before this kicks in. really not sure why...

these externals also have an annoying habit of ramping up and down for about 15 seconds roughly once an hour within Windows, freezing the entire PC for about 20 seconds (there are two of them). really irritating. doesn't happen in games, only in windows and apps.

confused...

rodo · 28 Aug 2009 at 12:03

mothermachine said:
i've just left it with a boot priority set to CDROM, HDD, HDD. So it first looks for an OS CD/DVD, then it *should* just boot direct from the internal HDD. but in reality these externals are still being "examined" before this kicks in. really not sure why...

these externals also have an annoying habit of ramping up and down for about 15 seconds roughly once an hour within Windows, freezing the entire PC for about 20 seconds (there are two of them). really irritating. doesn't happen in games, only in windows and apps.

confused...

Could that be them waking up from power saving mode? Check HDD in advanced power saving settings.

Also I had a long boot up with my 1tb external. Disabling Legacy USB support in bios fixed it!

mothermachine · 28 Aug 2009 at 12:10

Cheers! I've set sleep time for HDDs to Never instead of 20 mins default. That should fix the slowdowns in Windows. I assume it's safe to do this?

I'll give USB Legacy support disable a go next too.

Thanks