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Hello to every reader and sorry if this is not in the correct forum section. I have Windows installed in an SSD and another HDD for storage. I noticed my boot times slow to 55 seconds when plugging the 3TB HDD up from 30 seconds with only the SSD plugged. I have boot traced both cases with the Windows SDK performance tools and when I plug the HDD, autochk.exe is responsible for the delay inside the Session Manager subsection of the boot process. It takes too long checking that HDD. I have seen in plenty of forums people with a similar problem but I have seen no solution. My questions are: What does autochk exactly do to take so long? is there any way to avoid autochk from running every startup? When I go to the Session Manager registry entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager and look in the BootExecute entry, it is at the default "autocheck autochk *". I have tried to exclude every drive from being checked by writing "autocheck autochk /k C: /k D: *". I have also tried to use the command line "chkntfs /X" to disable autochk in those drives, to no avail. The only thing that worked is completely leaving blank the BootExecute entry, but I have been told this is not advisable (why?) and Windows even restores it to the default anyway after some time, so it's not a good solution. System specs if they matter (ask for more if needed): OCZ Agility 3 120GB (only 1 partition, MBR). Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 3TB (partition table is GPT, only 1 partition). Asrock X79 Extreme4 with i7-3930k and 16GB DDR3. Corsair TX650W PSU. Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 x64 (Updated to date). Avoid telling me to (because I already did): - Check BIOS is in AHCI - Check all drivers are up to date, with Intel RST, etc. - Update to latest SSD firmware. - Try a fresh Windows install. - Try plugging the drives in different SATA ports, even mix SATA3 and 6. What I did not try is the AsMedia SATA ports, but I honestly doubt that will make a difference in autochk accessing the disk. - Using the "Fsutil dirty query" I have also checked the dirty bit flag is not set in any drive. Big thank you to anyone who helps me.