how to disable write caching on xp?

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:32 am

the option is greyed out under policies in properties of each disk in device manager.
i can disable write caching only on removable disks.
"how can i disable write caching on my internal disks?"
i have abit ic7g
2 sata drives on ich5r and 2 sata drives on silicon 3112.
creamware recommends it as i see in the manual.

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 1:59 pm

no answer yet?

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:38 am

cannot be disabled?

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:17 am

Can be disabled here...

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:24 am

? you mean that the options are not greyed out?
or do you disable it through other proccess?

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:28 am

not greyed out

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:04 am

do you know why is it greyed out in my xps?
i use sata ichr5 and sillicon 3112, and 4 sata drives, no drive has the option of disabling write caching.
should i have installed xp without pressing F6 for ich5r and sillicon 3112 controllers?

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[ This Message was edited by: ARCADIOS on 2006-08-05 07:05 ]

Post by **garyb** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:16 am

yes.
why does everyone want to get fancy? your sata drives should be in ide mode.....KISS...

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:36 am

Don't know why you can't do it... I've always used ACPI (works fine and modern motherboards are designed to be used in ACPI mode). Maybe you're on Standard PC?

XP usually installs any necessary disk controller drivers, except in some cases. Did your motherboard come with any drivers for the controllers?

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:08 am

I remember the "Intel System Accelerator" program a while back prevented you from disabling write caching. Other than that, I don't know why it would be grayed out...are you sure it's enabled at all?

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:34 am

yes i am on standard pc. i don't want acpi.
i have made it as stable as possible with irq 11 for the two cards.
i have installed after xp sp1a, no updates, all the necessary drivers.
intel chipset, vga and so on....
i guess garyb has the answer, about ide??
but ide has less bandwith, or i am wrong?

Post by **garyb** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:16 pm

all i know is that my machines are stable and i don't do any but the most basic tweeks. i don't spend time figuring out why things don't work right and i don't have crashes. i also have stopped reading overclockers forums....

an ide drive will allow 30+++ tracks! isn't that enough bandwidth? playing back 20 tracks and recording in another app works perfectly fine with those stupid meters in cubase or sonar showing at most 1/3 of hd read/write rescources used. i don't think there's an issue with hd speed anymore. 6 years or so ago, scsi was the only choice, it hasn't been so for about 4 years....sata drives(in ide mode) should be at least as good as pata drives...

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:35 am

yes. it was just a change in bios settings.
as time passes i realize that there is no need for many drives in the pc.
i put out 2 hdisks and i work now eith just two.
1 for os and 1 for recording.
i made the others externals.
less resources spending and less heat in pc.

Post by **garyb** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:43 am

my best wishes that your computer is productive!

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:07 am

thanks a lot

did it in ichr5 and set it as ide. ok.

any idea how to set ide the drives on sillicon image 3112 controller? it is installed as scsi and i intend to use it as well set for quick removal without write cache not for internal drives necessarilly but for external with sata connection from back of pc instead of usb.

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[ This Message was edited by: ARCADIOS on 2006-08-08 11:29 ]

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:58 am

_________________
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[ This Message was edited by: ARCADIOS on 2006-08-08 11:59 ]

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:34 am

SATA Controllers are usually listed as SCSI in device manager. Make sure your controller contains SATA in the name string then it's usually ok. If you cannot disable a drives write cache you can try to get the tools from the manufacturer of the drive. Most of them contain a function disble/enable write cache. Some of these tools start from within XP, other are DOS only or can be burned to CD, like Seatools for the Seagat drives.

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:07 pm

actually i cannot find any such tool.

sillicon 3112 onboard controller does not give the option of disabling write caching.

i guess in that case it is a bad idea to use its sata connectors for external sata disk use(i bought a nice external box that gives both usb and sata i/os), because of the possibility of data loss in pluging and unpluging or turning on and off the disks. you know there is not even the option of "safelly remove hardware".

it would be very nice not to leave unused the controller that gives two sata connections.

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[ This Message was edited by: ARCADIOS on 2006-08-09 18:12 ]

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:40 am

correct, controllers don't have this option. The drives have it. (that's why it says 10000 rpm and 8MB in the drive specs)
You have to turn it off for each individual drive. Once mounted, you should check (as administrator!) if the drive has a this option. But some drives accept it only for the current session. So that's why it's a good idea to download the drive tools of the manufacturer. Some have this option: disable permanently. Good luck!

ARCADIOS · Post by **ARCADIOS** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:54 am

so far i haven't done anything.
my drives depend on controllers ability to enable or disable write cach.
so if the external sata drive i have is connected via usb i can disable write cache. if it is connected via sata cable, then NO option of setting for fast removal.
not found anything yet about tools.