If it's the 2tb data drive which is causing startup delay on Win7 HD then move the data off of it and wipe it with Clean - Diskpart Command to clean the boot sector, which is all that could interfere with Win7 startup unless the HD is going bad - for which you should test it anyway with maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan and Disk Check with both boxes check for repairs.
A few things: It is a brand new Seagate drive (not that that means it can't be faulty). I have done a dskchk of the first 60G partition of the 2T HDD with no errors found and the most recent scenarios follow a complete wipe of the 60G partition with Easeus. None of which proves that it can't be the 2T drive, but it makes it seem less likely.
And it's odd that, if it is the drive that is faulty, why Win7 hangs every time under Scenario 3, and never under Scenario 4 (which has the 2T drive present).
But you are right, I do need to do a complete diskpart and check to be sure it is not the drive. I'll only get a chance to do that next week as I've got a deadline for Friday.
In the meantime I'll try tinkering with this Win7 installation to see if it is the source of the problem.
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