Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Booting XP with WD500EO35 external hard drive

Jan 27, 2012 5:51PM PST

Having just purchased a replacement WD external hard drive I find that I cannot first boot my Windows XP (SP3) without unplugging the hard drive. Having to boot the computer and then remember to connect the external drive is a pain.

Can anybody help?

Many thanks.

Colin

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Me too.
Jan 28, 2012 9:33AM PST

In my case some HP laptop. HP took the unit to their service and cured it by destroying the laptop. No more problem.

What was it? A bum bios. HP can't fix that one (except by the method they used?)
Bob

- Collapse -
Answer
Bad idea unless you remove the drive from the external
Jan 28, 2012 11:03PM PST

case and mount it internally inside the PC. External USB drives are just to slow for use as primary drives.

VAPCMD