Knowledge Base Reference: 100000 Dated: 06/07/2001
Loosing Data - Workstation write behind caching
Data loss problems could be caused by disk caching problem.
Disk caching causes data to be written to buffers (memory).
Only when the buffer is full or a certain amount of time has elapsed will the
data be physically written to your hard disk (either network server or your PC).
This causes problems if the computer hangs, is rebooted using the reset
function or when some software errors occur. The data in the buffer is lost.
The most common form of caching for individual PC's is 'Write Behind Caching'.
To alleviate this caching problem change your Windows settings as follows:
For Windows 9x/ME:
From your desktop select: Click Start on the Windows Taskbar -
"Control Panel/System/Performance/File System/Trouble Shooting"
Then check (tick) the "Disable write-behind caching for all drives".
For Windows NT/W2K/XP:
"Open MyComputer/Right click C-Drive and select Properties/Select Hardware/double click the first drive/select the Disk Properties Tab/
Then uncheck (un-tick) the "Write cache enabled".
Check the c:\autoexec.bat file for the SMARTDRV entry.
If smartdrv is used, make sure there is a /X somewhere in the commant line.
eg SMARTDRV /X [[drive[+|-]]...]
/X Disables write-behind caching for all drives.
If you are still experiencing data loss problems then you should ascertain
from your computer system administrator if your computer has any other
3rd party disk caching software running (eg Norton) and have it disabled
as well.
If running on a Novell Network
Links to Novell File Locking/Caching Problems
To disable op-locking/caching on the client, perform the following:
1. On Windows 9x workstations go to the "Advanced Settings" tab on the
"Novell Client Properties..." and turn off the setting for "op-locking", "File Caching" and/or "Cache Writes".
2. On Windows NT/2000/XP workstations go to the "Advanced Settings" tab on
the "Novell Client Properties..." and turn "OFF" the setting for "File Caching" and/or "Cache Writes".
Also a new feature in NetWare 5 SP5 or greater allows network administrators
the ability to turn off op-locking at the server console.
?set client file caching enabled = on/off?
Links to Network File Problems & Downloads
Shut down and restart your computer if any changes were applied.