# Secondary HDD causing slow boot time



## skr2411 (May 2, 2019)

Hello, certainly I'm running a 1 TB WD HDD. I have another 512GB WD HDD. My problem is when I connect the second HDD when I start the PC I see the BIOS taking decades to identify the second HDD (takes up to 4 mins). 

Any thoughts? Thanks!


----------



## Ebo (May 2, 2019)

Can you see it in bios before boot ?
Look in your bios properties, identify it, press F10 to save, boot and see if that makes boot quicker.


----------



## Voluman (May 2, 2019)

Can you try the 2nd drive with different cable, different port on your motherboard? Can you try it as an external drive via usb?
Can you check the health of the drive with HDSentinel?


----------



## Jetster (May 2, 2019)

There's probably a boot sector on the drive from an old windows install. It's confusing the current boot config. Move everything off the drive, format it using a command like diskpart to remove it. You can check disk management it will show up as a partition there


----------



## john_ (May 2, 2019)

Usually problem with the SATA cable, or problematic hard disk drive.


----------



## xtreemchaos (May 2, 2019)

i have a ex 3tb that do the same, 15sec boot when its turned off and about a minute when its powered on. i did wonder if i took it out of its case and fitted it to the sata if it would be faster.


----------



## Splinterdog (May 2, 2019)

In my experience, when that happens there's a problem with the drive.
Try running WD Data Lifeguard on that disk.


----------



## 27MaD (May 2, 2019)

It's weird how i had the same issue and posted a thread with almost the same title like 8 month ago : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/secondary-hdd-causing-very-slow-boot-time.248741/


----------



## Ruyki (May 2, 2019)

This is probably drive failure. It could also be a bad cable or bad disk controller.

Run crystal disk info from windows to check if it reports any problems. And benchmark the drive with crystal disk mark and hd tune. Unusually low performance could indicate drive failure. Scanning the entire drive for bad sectors would also be a good idea.


----------



## Splinterdog (May 2, 2019)

Boot to a Hirens pendrive or Ultimate boot CD outside Windows and run diagnostics. This way tends to be more reliable. 
Even better if you have a second pc.


----------



## eidairaman1 (May 2, 2019)

john_ said:


> Usually problem with the SATA cable, or problematic hard disk drive.



Controller on the HDD is failing.

Had that happen with a Sony CDRW (that brand of drive is crap)



Splinterdog said:


> Boot to a Hirens pendrive or Ultimate boot CD outside Windows and run diagnostics. This way tends to be more reliable.
> Even better if you have a second pc.



Perhaps hitachi DFT can show more indepth results.


----------



## kastriot (May 2, 2019)

1. Change sata port, if same  goto 2
2. Change sata cable, if same goto  3
3. Check smart, check surface, check sequential speed.
4. If smart bad(use HDTune Pro!), backup data and RMA it or throw it  in trash
5. if  surface(use HDTune Pro!) has bad sectors use hddregen change mode to IDE in bios  and try to "heal" them, if not RMA or trash.
6. if sequential speed low(use HDTune pro!)  and smart ok then hdd controller is f*cked up.
7. That's it


----------



## kapone32 (May 2, 2019)

skr2411 said:


> Hello, certainly I'm running a 1 TB WD HDD. I have another 512GB WD HDD. My problem is when I connect the second HDD when I start the PC I see the BIOS taking decades to identify the second HDD (takes up to 4 mins).
> 
> Any thoughts? Thanks!




Is it an external or internal drive?


----------

