Thanks for neek2o setup info, I'll try again.
HBC doesn't work? I remember using it on Sneek. 1.0.6 worked, maybe 1.1.0 doesn't anymore.
Booting directly from Priiloader to USBGX is good only if you have latest beta of priiloader which provides AHB access.
If you use latest release (not beta) you need to boot to forwarder instead or you'll miss some features (banner layout, nintendont and devolution).
I don't know why HDD initialization would be slower, I didn't touch the boot sequence in the past few revision, except r1244 adds a single text to the screen. I doubt the added text boot faster, not letting your drive wake up fast enough.
These HDD init issue are crazy, it's random and not logical. Some user can't even boot or init the drive at all.
satire:
If you are on WiiU, is your drive externally powered or using YCable?
if it doesn't have enough power (wiiU USB Ports has less power than Wii) the drive will not work correctly.
if it's not the issue, it's maybe the HDD sleep timer?
It's not a loader issue, as the loader is not in memory anymore when the game is running.
It could be IOS or HDD issue, but not the loader.