Hard drive (non-bootable) causing slow startup

[jimbo1999]

I have a 120gb IDE hard drive that has a lot of random files stored on it, but no OS and is not bootable. It is installed as a secondary drive, but it causes the computer to take ages to boot up.
I'm running Windows XP, and with the hard drive disconnected the computer boots fine. However, when I connect the drive, the BIOS detects it fine, and it is perfectly usable once in Windows, but causes the Windows XP loading screen to stay on for 2 minutes or more.
I have also tested the hard drive as a secondary and a master in other computers, and the same thing happens. I have no idea why it's doing this, as it never used to.

Anyone have any ideas?

James Francis.

 

[ski]

Test it with the diagnostic utilities at the manuf's website.
If it fails, then the drive may be failing.

If it passes, then does it perform as fast as it always did in Windows?

 

[garebo]

If you run the diagnostics as suggested and it says the drive is ok but you still have the same problem, then you might consider copying your files to your c drive and simply reformatting the hard drive. Personally i would use the diagnostics program to write zeros to the hard drive and then format it, but all this would be after you run the diagnostics to check and make sure the drive is good and not failing.

Another thing, do you have S.M.A.R.T enabled in your bios?
smart is a program that very quickly checks your hard drive on bootup and warns you if the drive is failing. Sometimes it is turned off or disabled in the bios and if that is the case with yours then turn it on so that smart can check the drive on bootup. This is just one more diagnostic tool you may have. Not all bios have this, I believe most do these days. You didnt mention the age of your machine so its hard to tell.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[jimbo1999]

Thanks both of you for your suggestions.
I ran the diagnostic test from Hitachi and it came up clean.
As suggested by garebo I have now moved all files to another location and done a clean formatof the entire drive. It seems to be working OK now.
I will turn on S.M.A.R.T if I can find it in the bios, but this is a brand new computer and I'm still getting used to it.

Once again thanks for the replies,
James.