Computer won't boot with WD passport essential WDBACY5000ABK-01

So I had bought this external hard drive because I was running out of space and needed something i can travel with. I noticed that I couldn’t boot my computer with it plugged in and I couldn’t figure out why.

The bios order is CD/DVD, then hard drive.

So I read somehere that the computer might be looking at the hard drive as CD/DVD. The thing is, the ability to boot from a cd once something ever goes rong is too valuable to let go so I did not want to change the order. Nor do i have the USB legacy option in Bios

Then I found that it could be due to something inside the harddrive called the VCD and that using the WD virtual cd manager to turn it off. Unfortunatelly, it does not recognize my harddrive. It says ‘Please connect a WD smartware drive to continue’. I saw a thread that explained why

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Portable-Drives/VCD-behavior-changed-on-new-versions-of-MyPassport-Es…

and i tried the second post and it didnt work out either

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Software/Can-t-hide-Virtual-CD-on-a-My-Passport-Essentials-Drive-trie…

So I come here to ask for your help. How can I make it so my computer can boot with my external hard drive plugged in.

The computer is trying to boot from the external drive

try disabling boot from USB on the bios

check this article

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1201/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1MjEzMTIwMC9zaWQvV2Y4eHp3YWw%3D

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The usb legacy option isnt present in my bios, nor is the boot from usb option.

Does it have anything to do with the fact I have cd/dvd first as the boot order?

is USB before or after main HD? It should be after.

Joe

It is after. First is cd/dvd drive, then its ST900325, which is my hard drive.

Ayanli wrote:

It is after. First is cd/dvd drive, then its ST900325, which is my hard drive.

does not  matter which drive is first since this is an external drive

try the steps provided on the link from my previous post

update the bios

as a last resort you’ll have to disconnect the drive once the computer is off

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