Yes, it won't boot at all unless I do.Do you have your main boot drive set as first in the boot order?
No, this is long after POST. The desktop background image comes up but then it takes a while for the icons on the desktop to fully load. First a partial, "ghost" outline image of them comes up then eventually the full icons load up, all the while the hard drive activity light is blazing away.No idea what you're talking about. I have a total of 5 disks in my desktop and don't experience long bootup.
Unless you mean when the PC is detecting drives during POST.