Parallels 3.0 USB HD issue

Hello,

I have a macbook pro (last-gen) and parallels 3.0 running XP.

If I put in a USB memory stick, I can switch it from mac to windows, back and forth, it works just fine.

However I have a 500GB WD USB HD that I need to run some stuff off of in Windows.

If I boot up in XP, the HD shows up without issue.

If I am running Mac, the HD shows up without issue.

If I am running XP from within mac through parallels, the HD will eventually show up, do its autoplay thing, etc., but it will take about five minutes for it to show up. Meanwhile, nothing else will be able to operate in XP (mac still works fine). I cannot tell that anything is coming up in taskmanager, and Ive tried disabling the AV software, which doesnt help.

It's not that the USB HD does not show, it is that it stalls XP for minutes and then all of a sudden shows up and works fine.

I do not see this running XP natively on the computer, or on other computers.

Any ideas? My parallels, though 3.0, is fully up to date.

Thanks!