Windows 7 windows 7 will not boot if 3 TB WD myBook external drive is plugged in

[Matt Salamon]

Machine: Dell laptop -Latitude E7240 Ultrabook

External Drive: 3 TB MyBook -- P/N WDBFJK0030HBK-04

when drive is plugged into port replicator-or laptop directly-- the machine will not boot to windows. if the drive is unplugged, the machine will then boot-afterwhich, the drive can be plugged in and is recognized.

How can I get the machine to bbot while the drive is pluggedin--it is not convenient to plug/unplug the drive everytime the machine is booted...

Troubleshooting steps tried already without success:

-looked for legacy USB mode in bios--does not exist

-disabled USB boot in bios

-updated WD SES driver


anyone got any other ideas I can try-----thanks

 

[Saltgrass]

You might try the link below to see if it could be relevant. You could at least test the drive to see what type of configuration it has.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2510009

 

[Matt Salamon]

It looks like the drive sector is 512 and is supported by win7 with SP1-so I dont think that is causing the issue.. One thing that caught my eye in the bios was UEFI mode and secure boot. I'm not really sure what this is all about-but thought it may be worth trying--however-I dont want to get into a situation where I can no longer access the bios or boot the machine to windows! If I'm not mistaken, UEFI mode only applies to windows 8/8.1, server 2012, and 2012 R2......

 

[Joe S]

Did you format the drive before using it? Drives larger than 2 T need to be formatted GPT instead of MRB. The UEIF is also on some of the newer Windows 7 boxes.
Joe

 

[badrobot]

On my windows 7, I have the UEFI Boot Sources disabled in the BIOS.

 

[Saltgrass]

One thing that caught my eye in the bios was UEFI mode and secure boot. I'm not really sure what this is all about-but thought it may be worth trying--however-I dont want to get into a situation where I can no longer access the bios or boot the machine to windows! If I'm not mistaken, UEFI mode only applies to windows 8/8.1, server 2012, and 2012 R2......

The Secure boot configuration is not involved in your situation. And UEFI has been used in Windows 7, as Joe mentions, it is just that Windows 8 uses Secure Boot which requires a UEFI configuration.

I have an External Seagate Backup Plus which will not allow me to restart with it connected. So it might be just the drive itself causing a problem and I have seen one listing that shows which drives might have problems. What is the model of the MyBook?

 

[badrobot]

I think I have almost the same issue. But the problem is not actually it's not booting up but only slows down the boot time a lot. But I had it fixed by attaching my 2 USB hard drives to my NAS device instead of directly to the PC. Not only it resolved the slow down issue but I can also access my USB hard drives anywhere in the world via web browser. Locally, the transfer speed is not bad (between 60Mbps & 80Mbps).

Your issue is a common problem for all USB hard drives. You may want to think of a way to access that drive wireless-ly so that there is no physical interference between your laptop and the USB hard drive.



...

 

[Joe S]

One more thing to try is going to manufacturer's site and see if there are any driver updates there. Windows Update doesn't always have the latest ones. It's often better to do driver updates from a manufacturer's site.
Joe

 

[Matt Salamon]

What is the model of the MyBook?

P/N WDBFJK0030HBK-04

 

[Matt Salamon]

.

 

[Matt Salamon]

Did you format the drive before using it? Drives larger than 2 T need to be formatted GPT instead of MRB. The UEIF is also on some of the newer Windows 7 boxes.
Joe

Drive is NTFS

 

[Matt Salamon]

Did you format the drive before using it? Drives larger than 2 T need to be formatted GPT instead of MRB. The UEIF is also on some of the newer Windows 7 boxes.
Joe

I think you are referring to the partition structure-not the formatting....how can I see what partition structure the drive is?

 

[Saltgrass]

The only thing I found about your specific drive is on page 66 of your user manual.

Q:
Why won't my computer boot when I connect my USB drive to the computer before
booting?
A:
Depending on your system configuration, your computer might try to boot from your
WD portable USB drive. Refer to your system’s motherboard BIOS setting
documentation to disable this feature or visit Link Removed and see
Knowledge Base answer ID 1201. For more information about booting from external
drives, refer to your system documentation or contact your system manufacturer

If it continues, some systems, like mine, have the ability to control specific USB ports during boot. If there was an option to disable the port the drive was on, it would not be recognized until the system was up.