I am afraid that there is not much you can do (short of disconnecting the external). The BIOS checks all devices at boot time and checking an external just takes a little time. Everybody seems to have that problem - more or less depending on the smarts of the BIOS program.
Periodically check your Event Viewer>Custom>Admin View to google repeat errors to resolve them. Some will be harmless, others need attention as they can portend deeper problems which need to be monitored. You'll also learn a lot about your computer.
Check also the Performance log located at Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Performance Information and Tools\Advanced Tools. This logs signficant startup and shutdown delays and exactly what causes them. While at Tools page, look for cued issues at top, Generate A System Health Report.
Type Problems into Start Search box to see Solutions to problems you have reported or not. Win7 is interactive in this way.
i think i have something of a solution. at least it seems to work for me (so far). i ran chkdsk /r on the external drive from an elevated command prompt. it took nearly eight hours on my 3/4 full 1TB drive, but it booted much fast.
maybe it's a coincidence, but once windows loaded, i got a program errors and crashes and strange behavior, like the sound was muted and windows explorer would repeatedly crash and recover, outlook 2007 wouldnt open, live messenger wouldnt open, and also one or two blue screens.
i think i got it all straightened out except now my recorded programs schedule no longer works in windows media center. i'm guessing its because i had it set to save recordings to the external drive.
Disk Check
You can also run a File System check and a diag/repair Surface Scan on external using free Partition Wizard bootable CD - Check both boxes to read errors as well as fix.
i did run "system file checker". i had to run it four times. on the first run it said it found corrupt files, but couldnt fix them. second run it said it found corrupt files, but couldnt fix all of them. third time fixed them all. fourth time, no errors found.
The Partition Wizard File System check is the same as Windows Disk Check, not the System File Checker (sfc /scannow).
I was suggesting it as an alternative to running Disk Check on your external from Windows or the DVD, in conjunction with running the Surface Scan which Partition Wizard bootable CD offers to diagnose/repair your external's HD.
This is considerably easier than removing the external HD from the case to plug it into SATA cable to scan it using manufacturer's HD diag/repair CD scan.
The results you got when Disk Checking your external really require a HD diagnostics/repair scan to check the physical condition of the drive and not just its file system. I would Disk Check it again after you run the Surface Scan.
I miss the solution you refer to. All I see are problems.kword88;1098687[B said:
PS: I hope you get your disk problems sorted.
I think the the startup delay is just a BIOS POST delay. The more external HDDs (or USB flash)I have plugged in at startup the longer the delay until you see the Windows splash screen.
More mysteriously to me is that log off can sometimes be longer if an external HDD is connected than initiating a "Safely Remove".
Quote
. great minds as they say