Problem with my external hard drive

[c_l]

i have a USB2 external hard drive case and a 100GB WD hard drive. and i am try to install it to my computer. it detect the external hard drive is there and it display as the name "mass storage device". but i can't format it so then i try to restart my computer. then the computer is trying to boot from the external hard drive rather then the internal. then i turn the external off and it work.
can anyone tell me what can i do so that i can format the external hard drive and use it? also how could i change the setting so the my computer won't try to boot from the external?
thx
c_l

 

[Schauf]

To stop the motherboard from trying to boot to the USB drive, you will need to go into the BIOS and disable a setting which says something like "Boot to USB device" or "Boot to other device". Or you can simply change the boot order in the BIOS so it tries your internal hard drive first. The BIOS varies from computer to computer.

To get to the BIOS, follow the "Press xxx key to enter set up" that you normally see when seconds after the computer is first turned on. Usually it is F1, F2, F12, or Delete. But it depends on the motherboard manufacturer.

To format the drive, (assuming you are using Windows XP) you can use Disk Management. You can access this by right clicking on My Computer and selecting Manage. This will bring up Computer Management and one option in the tree on the left will be Disk Management under Storage. This will show you most storage devices attached to your system. You can right click on any device and do what you wish with it. Just don't format anything with data on it...

 

[c_l]

thx schauf for the reply... now my comp doesn't boot from the external... but others happen.. my computer is now from at the window starting page and just stays there.. but once i turn the external hard drive off it work probably.. i am just wondering does all the external hard drive may slow down the computer?

 

[BoulderHead]

It has been my experience that USB driven external hard drives can cause your system to hang (most disconcerting when XP freezes like it were Win98), especially when attempting to do multiple things with them such as copying and writing to them simultaneously.

 

[REAL Chicken]

Had the same problem (with XP, but just maybe this will work on Vista too), searched the Internet and found a million people with the same problem and a million helpful people and their "solutions" to the problem, of which some did just not work, and some were downright dangerous to the health of my PC. But at last I found a solution that works, and it's simple (thank you saykomatrixx):

First (of course) you check your BIOS to see that USB-devices are below (after) internal HD:s in the boot sequence, and that might be all you need to do.

If that does not work, or your BIOS (like mine) does not have this option (I only had Disk drives, Hard Drives, Network drives, and Floppy drives), then here's the beauty:
Find (in BIOS) the "USB Legacy Support", make sure it is set to "Enabled", and voilà, it should work like a charm to start-up with the external HD:s connected and on.

I did get a small surprise during next start-up when Windows started to install drivers for my sound card, and later I had to change some settings in my sound card to get my microphone to work again, as the driver install had changed some settings there, but otherwise everything is just hunky dory.

I run XP Home SP3

Good luck.

PS
I don't really know what the "USB Legacy Support" is/does (perhaps a more educated member could tell us?) but as my already was in "Auto" which is a sort of semi-on (software controlled is my guess), the difference can't be that huge from before I switched it fully on.
DS

 

[jtbell]

Good luck.

I would hope that after nearly five years (look at the dates on the posts), the original poster has already found a solution to his problem.

 

[REAL Chicken]

True, and I did see the dates. But as I found my solution only after looking through a lot of threads/forums without "proper" answers, or answers that had any relevance for me, I figured to fill a few of these threads with my solution if anyone else is searching same as me. I have had the problem for almost 8 months now, and just solved it.