USB drives slowing down boot

[yankleber]

Not a big deal but I would like to know if there is a tweak for this...

I have 5 drives attached onto my computer:

One SSD (boot and programs);
One HDD (work files, etc);
Three USB drives with backups, libraries, movies, yada-yada-yada...

OK, my computer boots very fast because the SSD but I noticed that the USB drives slows down the process -- it will take a few seconds more to complete the boot than when the drivers are unplugged. I can see their lights flashing while Windows is recognizing them.

I know that it may sound a bit anal retentive but... it's kind of annoying stay idle staring to that turning ring in the welcome screen along the process (yeah, I am very anxious).

There is a way to force Windows to recognize the drives AFTER the welcome screen instead ALONG it?

 

[Snick]

Hi yankleber,

You most likely will have to check and see if the boot order is set to USB first, instead of your SSD. I'm not sure which F key you'll need to press to enter bios, as you say custom build. Trial and error from F1-F12 and you'll know what each F key function is. If your boot order is USB first, win7 check each connected USB device for boot-loader, one-by-one, thus a delay in boot as it searches for bootable drive.
Also, peruse:
[solved] Slow Boot with External USB Backup Hard Drive Attached
Solved: USB drives cause slow Win7 boot
Slow boot when an external HDD is attached?

 

[yankleber]

Hi yankleber,

You most likely will have to check and see if the boot order is set to USB first, instead of your SSD. I'm not sure which F key you'll need to press to enter bios, as you say custom build. Trial and error from F1-F12 and you'll know what each F key function is. If your boot order is USB first, win7 check each connected USB device for boot-loader, one-by-one, thus a delay in boot as it searches for bootable drive.
Also, peruse:
[solved] Slow Boot with External USB Backup Hard Drive Attached
Solved: USB drives cause slow Win7 boot
Slow boot when an external HDD is attached?

Well, I already checked and the BIOS is not set for USB first. Please notice that Windows is NOT trying to boot from USB. It is correctly booting from SSD.

The slow down is happening at the WELCOME SCREEN. It gets stuck there for a few seconds checking the drives (as if I had just plugged them to the USB ports).

 

[Snick]

although it's not showing up on on viewing this thread, at least not my view, here's what my email notification from townsbg posted:
You might want to disable readyboost and superfetch. Permanently disable ReadyBoost

(https://social.technet.microsoft.co...ently-disable-readyboost?forum=w7itprogeneral)

Little brain fade now that I'm 65, didn't recall the ReadyBoost and SuperFetch. Thanks for the brain stim.

 

[Snick]

Little brain fade now that I'm 65, didn't recall the ReadyBoost and SuperFetch. Thanks for the brain stim.

 

[yankleber]

Hmmm... I think I am not explaining right. The Readyboost stuff is that pop up when you connect a new drive, right? I don't have any pop up. But the drives keep flashing their lights for a few seconds (like 2-3 each). Since I have three USB drives Windows remain stuck in the welcome screen for around 8 seconds like 'saying hello' to the drives while the hourglass remains there telling me to await. There is not any popup though.

 

[Snick]

Still don't see townsbg's post in this thread! Weird!

Gotta' love Windows doing usual things!

Doing more research on your issue.

How long does the welcome screen stay before windows continues to load?

If the USB flash drives are easily accessible, you could pull them, boot, reinsert them. Just sayin'

8 seconds isn't a terribly long time to wait at the welcome screen.

 

[yankleber]

OK, I just benchmarked it. A full cold boot with USB drives plugged will take 27 seconds. The same cold boot with unplugged drives will take 15 seconds. We could say that the drives plugged are almost doubling the Windows loading time.

By the other hand, yeah, I could just unplug and replug again. And yes, I agree with you that these 12 seconds are not the end of the world -- actually it's less painful than unplug-replug. And that's what I have done... just relax and watch until it passes the welcome screen. Since I normally boot my computer once in a week (the rest of the time I just sleep/wake it) it not has been a big deal.

Anyway, as I said in the OP, it is just a thing that would be good if there was an EASY tweak. I asked for help because once in a while I figure that a thing that bugged me had a simple fix so I imagined if it could be one of them. If not just never mind...

 

[townsbg]

I removed that because I read on it further I found conflicting articles on that. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Barman58]

It is completely normal for windows to check all drives at the point you mention, It is not changeable as far as I am aware.

It's a common issue with systems with many mapped network drives where the delay can be longer due to the nature of the connection.

I notice that you say that one of the drives is a backup, Best practice suggests that any backup drive is only connected to the system whilst the backup is actually in use. This is to protect the data on the backup from system wide issues, either Malware or just glitches, you need your backup to be unaffected by an issue before it can help to correct it

All I can suggest is to disconnect any drive that is not an essential on each boot, (especially the backup), if the drive is an essential, Is it possible to install it in the case (assuming this is the desktop in your specs), otherwise is it possible to ensure that it is connected by USB3 not USB2, the speed difference is a major one

You can try various things to mitigate the delay but some delay will be there

I do not notice a delay on my system with 2x 3TB and 1x 2TB drives and SSD for OS and even if I connect my backup drive (8TB via USB3), so the hardware helps, and the fact that I only reboot my system, every week or so, at most

 

[Megahertz07]

The answer might be on the Antivirus as it scans all drives before OS boot finish.

 

[Barman58]

The answer might be on the Antivirus as it scans all drives before OS boot finish.

My Bitdefender pro does this but does it at the end of boot, after login. I often see scans of my NAS drives in progress but the boot delay is not a factor

 

[Snick]

Same with my external HDD when plugged in, a few seconds delay, but still SSD is much faster than HDD. Doesn't bother me in the least.