Mac not booting up

Hello,

I have a Mac that I am working with. We have the Mac attached via firewire to an external hard drive and connected to a VCR for live recording of our church services. When I boot up the computer, I have to disconnect the firewire from the Mac for the computer to boot up. I reconnect and I am able to see the live video feed. The external hard drive is not recognized when connected back in.

What could the issue be?
Bad Firewire
Bad connection
Bad Mac
Bad Drive

I was able to connect a different removal drive by firewire.

Any thoughts? Your help is much appreciated.

It would seem to be the external drive at fault, as you can see another drive when plugged in.

I think that might be the case. Thanks for your help.

Resolved

Hello All,

Thanks for your help. This is resolved. It was just what was suggested.

Dave