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Windows refuses to boot with external hdd

ramm
By ramm
in Troubleshooting
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Hello,

 

I got a 4tb external hdd and windows refuses to boot when it's plugged in.

 

I looked in the bios but cant find any settings to disable USB boot.

 

its very weird because I have different hdd's and it boots fine when those are plugged in, But with the 4tb one windows refuses to boot. It says error loading files. When I unplug it it boots just fine.

 

 

My system is: i7 6700k, asus z170 pro aura, gtx780

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Make sure that Windows Boot Manager or your internal HDD is the top one in your boot order

Desktop: i7-6700K / Asus Z170 S / H100i V2 / LPX 2400Mhz 16GB / 960 EVO 250GB / 2x 860 EVO 500GB / RM750i  / NZXT H440 / XB271H + Z22n Monitors

Laptop: Thinkpad T450s / i7-5600U / 12GB / 860 EVO 500GB

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try changing boot preference and order in the bios

 

=======================Current Build=======================

Motherboard: ASUS Z170-AR

CPU: i5-6600k @ 4.5Ghz Overclocked

GPU: Gigabyte GTX980 @ 1200 Mhz Oveclocked GPU boost 1400Mhz

Memory: Corsair Dominator 16Gb @ 3200 Mhz

Cooler: NZXT Kraken x61

Storage: Corsair Force GS 128Gb + WD2TB + Seagate 1TB

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Lighting: NZXT HUE+ with extension

Display: LG 34' Ultrawide 3440x1440

Peripherals: Razer Blackwidow x Chroma + Razer Firefly + Razer Mamba Chroma

Headphones: Astro A40 + Miniamp

 

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Try to remove it from the list of boot devices in the BIOS. It may be the 3rd or 4th boot option for your PC, remove it from there altogether and see if that works.

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I already did that guys. First boot is windows boot manager, then the SSD, then the internal hdd's, then the dvd drive

 

the priority is so last it doesnt even show up in the bios

 

thanks for the help

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Is there maybe a hidden boot file on the external hdd? i cant really format it because its full of stuff

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What OS are you using and what interface is the external drive using?

 

                  Did I help you to fix your problem or at least did offer somewhat valuable advice? Consider giving my post a "informative" or "thumbs up".

SYSTEM 2: Modded G3 case with Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2L, Intel E8600 (O.C to 4.2GHz.), 4GB GSkill PC8500, Nvidia 8800GTS (512M), Cooling provided by Scythe Big Shrunkin, HDD 1 = OSX 10.9.5, HDD 2 = Windows 7 Pro X64. (Placed 3rd in MacMod  of the year 2012) (For info see:  http://insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285641-and-the-winner-for-macmod-of-2012-is/

LAPTOP: Inspiron 1720, Modded BIOS, X9000 Core 2 extreme OC'ed and undervolted to 3.4GHz (windows only) , 6GB DDR2 800, 8600M GT, 1920x1200 Glossy display, Sigmatel Audio, 2 Kingston HyperX 120GB drives (1 with Windows 7 x64 pro & 1 with OSX 10.9.5) X9000 Processor World Record Holder since 02/2013 on Geekbench 2 : http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/search?dir=desc&q=x9000&sort=score

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Many new MB's come with nice safety features, one specifically called secure boot, or something to that affect depending on the manufacturer. With Secure Boot on, the PC will only boot to something via SATA interface. To boot to external HDD or anything through USB, you need to disable Secure Boot.

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I've had issues with larger WD MyBooks doing things like that; First thing I'd do is try disabling USB Legacy Mode in the BIOS, and make sure you've got the CSM disabled. If you're on Windows 10, you'll want to enable Secure Boot and also turn off the EHCI (if present) and XHCI handoff options. If none of that works, it might be worth seeing if there's a firmware update available for the drive, try plugging it into a different USB port, and in the extreme, copy everything off the drive and clean it via diskpart, then re-initialize and format it. I'm fairly certain that last part is what got mine up and running, but it's been a while now since that's happened to me.

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Have you tried to boot without the drive connected anb plugging in the device afterwords? Is it recognized by the system? Does the system lock up when you plug in the drive? Can you explore the drive after you plug it in?

                  Did I help you to fix your problem or at least did offer somewhat valuable advice? Consider giving my post a "informative" or "thumbs up".

SYSTEM 2: Modded G3 case with Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2L, Intel E8600 (O.C to 4.2GHz.), 4GB GSkill PC8500, Nvidia 8800GTS (512M), Cooling provided by Scythe Big Shrunkin, HDD 1 = OSX 10.9.5, HDD 2 = Windows 7 Pro X64. (Placed 3rd in MacMod  of the year 2012) (For info see:  http://insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285641-and-the-winner-for-macmod-of-2012-is/

LAPTOP: Inspiron 1720, Modded BIOS, X9000 Core 2 extreme OC'ed and undervolted to 3.4GHz (windows only) , 6GB DDR2 800, 8600M GT, 1920x1200 Glossy display, Sigmatel Audio, 2 Kingston HyperX 120GB drives (1 with Windows 7 x64 pro & 1 with OSX 10.9.5) X9000 Processor World Record Holder since 02/2013 on Geekbench 2 : http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/search?dir=desc&q=x9000&sort=score

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18 hours ago, zanthros said:

What OS are you using and what interface is the external drive using?

 

Windows 7 and what do you mean with interface?

 

18 hours ago, ramm said:

Is there maybe a hidden boot file on the external hdd? i cant really format it because its full of stuff

After a day of backupping all the files I completely formatted the 4tb harddrive. Still the same issue. It wont boot when its connected. When its not connected it boots fine.

 

15 hours ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Many new MB's come with nice safety features, one specifically called secure boot, or something to that affect depending on the manufacturer. With Secure Boot on, the PC will only boot to something via SATA interface. To boot to external HDD or anything through USB, you need to disable Secure Boot.

But I dont want to boot through external hdd. I just want being able to boot my PC with the external hdd being connected.

10 hours ago, zanthros said:

Have you tried to boot without the drive connected anb plugging in the device afterwords? Is it recognized by the system? Does the system lock up when you plug in the drive? Can you explore the drive after you plug it in?

yes this works fine. Its just that it wont boot when the external hdd is connected.

 

 

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So once again:

 

I have an i7 6700k with an Asus Z170 pro gaming aura motherboard. This has SSD's installed with Windows on it. I also have internal hdd's with various files but it boots fine.

 

However when I have my 4tb external hdd connected, wether it's formatted or not, it wont boot. It gives windows loading files error. But my other external hdd's (which are 2tb in size) can be connected without any problems. Its just that the 4tb one cant be connected while its booting or it refuses to boot.

 

Surely there must be a setting somewhere in the bios right? I tried everything but it's so confusing. It worked fine on my old system thats why its driving me so mad. I spend almost a day doing backups and moving files back and forth but I really need the 4tb in size. So i'm getting very upset that it doesnt work.

 

I also tried looking in the bios if its set to any boot priority but it doesnt even show up in the bios.

 

It's just so confusing to me. I spend hundreds of dollars upgrading my hardware and now I cant even boot my PC up with my 4tb external hdd being connected. And it's a pain in the ass to unplug it everytime I boot up my PC so I kinda want this fixed.

 

Thanks again for all the help

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I would like to let you all know I have resolved the issue.

 

Formatting the harddrive wasn't enough, I had to "delete the volume" entirely and change the type of harddrive or something

 

Now I can spend the next couple days putting my backups back

 

thanks all

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