Re: External Storage Devices and Booting

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TedZ wrote:
I recently purchased an external 1TB hard drive. My system will not start p with it power on. I need to wait until everything is running to turn it on. Is there a way to fix this?


It's likely that the mortherboard's BIOS is trying to find a boot record on the external USB drive and, when it fails, failing to boot. Check your BIOS settings to ensure that it's not set to place USB devices higher in the boot priority than the CD/DVD or internal hard drive.


Also, when this device is installed, my system will not recognize a flash drive (4GB HP.)


What, exactly, are you calling a "flash" drive? The terminolgy here can get confusing. Do you mean a USB "thumb" drive, a.k.a. memory stick, as the term normally means, or is this device something else? (The precise make/model would help clarify the matter.)

Can two storage devices be installed at the same time?


Normally, yes. How does is your external 1TM hard drive electrically powered? Does it have it's own AC power adapter, a second USB connection for power, or does it run entirely off a single USB connection? If either of the latter two conditions pertain, it might be that your USB bus simply lacks the power capacity to support so many devices.


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