Windows, Bah!

For some odd reason, starting just a few weeks ago, almost every time I start my computer Windows tells me they want to check the external hard drive for consistencies. Say, what? The external drive is not required to start up nor run the Windows Xp I run so what is the problem?? Yesterday Windows was really ticking me off. First it wanted to check the external drive as I started up and I cancelled that. Then I tried to use some file that is on the external hard drive but XP couldn't find it. WTH?? The Xp tried to tell me the drive was NOT formatted and would I like to format it now? Oh, hell no! I have way too much music and photos and stuff to scrap and start over. I go to My Computer and right click the drive and check properties. Sure enough it shows the drive has nothing, absolutely nothing! Looked like 30 gigs of space shot to hell there and I was not a happy camper. While trying to figure out what to do next I see a little green light showing me that my electronic cigarette is fully charged so i removed it. At least something was going right for the day. Guess what? The moronic Windows XP gave me back my 180 gig external drive as soon as the e-cig was removed. Obviously Windows XP cannot tell the difference between a cigarette and a hard drive. All's well that ends well but still, I gotta wonder about the people that write this software for Microsoft. Maybe they need more Starbucks coffee in their system...