WMP 12 and Music Library (Ext HDD)

So I've got my Music Library set up with the internal HDD's music folder, and my ext HDD as sources. When I start up WMP after rebooting my system it has to go through and re-add all the music from the ext HDD every time. This is very annoying because most of my music is on the external (over 45GB), and WMP must look online for the album info and such.

Do I need to have my HDD on before I turn my PC back on?

I'm running an HP (I know, they suck) laptop which i also take to class often, so it is essential that I be able to unhook the HDD frequently.

1. why don't you move your music folder completely to the external drive. right click on it > properties > location tab > move.
2. I think you can turn your external on at any time before you intend to use it.
3. I have two HP's. They work very well.

WMP appears to be hogging my CPU because it's trying to weed through the songs and use the internet to find the album artwork song by song. So I switched off the option for 'auto update' in the menu, so that saves my CPU (much of the album artwork it 'auto-found' was wrong anyways)

This kind of helped me to figure out the source of the problem. It appears WMP syncs with my external every time I open it, no matter when I turn it on. Which is kind of annoying.. but I'll live with it. (I'd perfer an option to 'sync'.. kind of like iTunes w/ the iPhone/ iPod, even though its a storage device and not a player)

whs said:

1. why don't you move your music folder completely to the external drive. right click on it > properties > location tab > move.
2. I think you can turn your external on at any time before you intend to use it.
3. I have two HP's. They work very well.

Thanks for the input...

1) I don't want to completely move my Library to the external b/c I use some media files on the go.
2) see above
3) The reason I said they suck is because they are highly prone to overheating. It only takes minutes before it burns your lap. This is not only the dv6000 series w/ the bad motherboards, but the new ones as well (the dv series); many of my fellow students also have HP's and it's tough to find one who hasn't had an issue. (I've had to have my CPU fan and heat sink replaced already)

On the heat problem you are right. My dv6000 runs pretty hot too. I use a coolpad and that keeps things pretty much under control.