Normal + 3 chimes at startup with intel mac mini

I posted this in the mac mini forum, but didn't get a helpful response. So maybe someone can help me here.
I have a 300GB USB drive (formatted as Mac OS extended (journaled)) connected to my intel mac mini with the drive's power on all the time. When I start up the mini after the USB drive has spun down I get the regular startup chime plus 3 lower volume startup chimes. The activity light on the USB drive flashes during the 3 chimes. Then the system starts normally with the USB drive icon on the desktop. I can read and write to the USB hard drive with no problems.
If I shutdown the mini and start it up again but now the USB hard drive has not spun down, I get just the normal single chime. Also, if the USB drive is disconnected, I get the normal single chime. I've tried a different USB port, but still got the same behavior.
I've connected a USB flash drive, but it exhibits normal behavior, that is, just the single startup chime.
Are the subsequent 3 chimes at startup OK and just telling me that there is an external hard drive? Or is there a looming problem? Has anyone else experienced this?
Intel Mac Mini Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.7) Apple BT Mouse & Keyboard

Thanks. But the article says you won't hear the normal startup chime but some number of beeps if there is a problem with 3 beeps meaning no good banks.
I hear the normal startup chime, then 3 of the same chimes but at lower volume. Must be something about the USB hard drive.
When I bought the drive, it was formatted for windows with NTFS. I used disk utility to format is as Mac OS Extended (journaled). I've copied about 100 GB of data to it.

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