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I have a old computer which is way past its prime time. It is still running however, so I installed Server 2003 to setup a file server at home.

Problem is, because it's so old, I can't extend the internal hard drives (it simply won't recognize any of my disks). Instead, I have an external USB disk I keep the family photos on.

Now, the disk registers properly when I plug it in after boot, as expected, but when the computer boots, with the disk plugged in, it hangs before POST. I have tried to find any settings to fix this in bios, but I can't find any. How can I fix this, and what should I do in case this cannot be fixed? Should I just buy a new computer as a file server?

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If your BIOS has an option for disabling legacy USB support then it might solve the issue.

See here: http://www.rlrouse.com/infoblog/?p=458

The only down side is that I think you'll need a PS/2 keyboard and mouse if you need to go in the BIOS in future. Alternatively you might be able to use USB to PS/2 adapters.

If that doesn't solve it: I'm assuming that this is a 2.5" bus-powered drive your using. You could buy a drive with external power and an on/off switch if you intend to leave it plugged in all the time. This is slightly less tedious than having to unplug it all the time.

I'm not sure why you can't upgrade the internal disk drives though. What size are the drives you have been trying to use and what interface are they?

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Legacy USB support is disabled in BIOS. I thought it would solve it as well, but neither turning it on (it was off by default) or off does anything. The USB disk has a external power supply. The internal disk is a regular SATA disk, I suppose, about 250 GB. The disks I'm trying is also a regular SATA disk, but 500 GB. – AkselK Sep 22 '11 at 10:03
Are you sure your computer is not trying to boot from the USB drive? Have you checked the boot order in the BIOS to make sure that USB drives are given lower boot priority than internal drives? – James Sep 22 '11 at 10:18
Have you tried a different USB port? – James Sep 22 '11 at 11:59
It's not trying to boot from the USB drive, as far as I know, because it hangs at POST. Also, boot order does not list USB drives as a boot option. List goes: DVD/CD, RAID, Floppy, Network. Besides, pretty sure it's not a boot problem. And yes, I've tried different USB ports, both those in the chassis, those on the MB and a expansion card. Neither works. – AkselK Sep 26 '11 at 7:54
@AkselK: What motherboard does the computer have? – James Sep 26 '11 at 13:58
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