How to force a delayed write to an eSATA drive?
in [Hardware]
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From: GettingByOk on 8 Apr 2010 09:38 Hi, I just installed an eSATA as a backup drive. I use Windows Standby a lot, works really well for a long time before needing to do a restart. I'd like to shut off the eSATA so it's not running all the time and wasting electricity. But if I put my machine on Standby and turn off the eSATA then I get an error when I power on the eSATA. It's a cryptic error but has the string MFT$ in it so it appears to be a Master File Table corruption, and the drive becomes inaccessible. The actual message says a delayed write to the drive failed and says something about an MFT error. To correct that, I need to do a cold shutdown of my computer and restart it. I power down and restart the eSATA drive as well. Seems to fix itself (almost). I'll get an error that the Recycle Bin is corrupted on the drive and Windows deletes and rebuilds it. Is there a way I can force Windows to do the delayed write before putting the system on Standby so I don't have to keep the drive on all the time? Ideally automatically, of course. Is there a safe way to power off the drive before I put Windows on Standby? It's inconvenient to do a cold shutdown all the time but I don't want to keep the eSATA powered on all the time either if I can avoid it. Thanks, Robert
From: GettingByOk on 8 Apr 2010 09:40 Also, I'm on 32-bit Windows XP SP2. "GettingByOk" wrote: > Hi, > > I just installed an eSATA as a backup drive. I use Windows Standby a lot, > works really well for a long time before needing to do a restart. > > I'd like to shut off the eSATA so it's not running all the time and wasting > electricity. But if I put my machine on Standby and turn off the eSATA then I > get an error when I power on the eSATA. It's a cryptic error but has the > string MFT$ in it so it appears to be a Master File Table corruption, and the > drive becomes inaccessible. > > The actual message says a delayed write to the drive failed and says > something about an MFT error. > > To correct that, I need to do a cold shutdown of my computer and restart it. > I power down and restart the eSATA drive as well. Seems to fix itself > (almost). I'll get an error that the Recycle Bin is corrupted on the drive > and Windows deletes and rebuilds it. > > Is there a way I can force Windows to do the delayed write before putting > the system on Standby so I don't have to keep the drive on all the time? > Ideally automatically, of course. > > Is there a safe way to power off the drive before I put Windows on Standby? > > It's inconvenient to do a cold shutdown all the time but I don't want to > keep the eSATA powered on all the time either if I can avoid it. > > Thanks, > Robert
From: LVTravel on 8 Apr 2010 14:47 "GettingByOk" <GettingByOk(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:BA6D35D7-398B-4FB6-924C-83AEDB609F3B(a)microsoft.com... > Also, I'm on 32-bit Windows XP SP2. > > "GettingByOk" wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I just installed an eSATA as a backup drive. I use Windows Standby a lot, >> works really well for a long time before needing to do a restart. >> >> I'd like to shut off the eSATA so it's not running all the time and >> wasting >> electricity. But if I put my machine on Standby and turn off the eSATA >> then I >> get an error when I power on the eSATA. It's a cryptic error but has the >> string MFT$ in it so it appears to be a Master File Table corruption, and >> the >> drive becomes inaccessible. >> >> The actual message says a delayed write to the drive failed and says >> something about an MFT error. >> >> To correct that, I need to do a cold shutdown of my computer and restart >> it. >> I power down and restart the eSATA drive as well. Seems to fix itself >> (almost). I'll get an error that the Recycle Bin is corrupted on the >> drive >> and Windows deletes and rebuilds it. >> >> Is there a way I can force Windows to do the delayed write before putting >> the system on Standby so I don't have to keep the drive on all the time? >> Ideally automatically, of course. >> >> Is there a safe way to power off the drive before I put Windows on >> Standby? >> >> It's inconvenient to do a cold shutdown all the time but I don't want to >> keep the eSATA powered on all the time either if I can avoid it. >> >> Thanks, >> Robert By turning off the feature you will probably slow the computer. It may be noticeable and maybe not. Try this: Right click My Computer. Left click Device Manager. Click the + by Disk drives to open that listing. Find your drive and right click on it's name. Left click on Properties. Click Policies tab. Turn off the Optimize for performance and click on Optimize for quick removal (if available.) OK out and you should not have the issue again. What this does is turn off the write cache (buffer) for the drive and forces the computer to write immediately to a drive. The write cache writes to the drive normally (when the Optimize for Performance is turned on) only when the processor and data path to the drive is idle or the cache becomes full. With it turned off it will cause the processor to immediately write to the drive even though it is busy. Let us know if this helps or if issues remain.
From: GettingByOk on 8 Apr 2010 18:09 Thank you. Quick question, is this a session-level or system-level change? meaning, can I do this right before I shut down to flush the write buffer? Then enable it again..... .....or do I have to reboot for the change to take effect? Ideally if I could do this at-will (i.e., flush the write buffer, put computer in Standby, wake up computer up, then Optimize for Performance again) then I could have the write buffer available while I'm working and turn it off when I want to do Standby.... Robert "LVTravel" wrote: > > > "GettingByOk" <GettingByOk(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:BA6D35D7-398B-4FB6-924C-83AEDB609F3B(a)microsoft.com... > > Also, I'm on 32-bit Windows XP SP2. > > > > "GettingByOk" wrote: > > > >> Hi, > >> > >> I just installed an eSATA as a backup drive. I use Windows Standby a lot, > >> works really well for a long time before needing to do a restart. > >> > >> I'd like to shut off the eSATA so it's not running all the time and > >> wasting > >> electricity. But if I put my machine on Standby and turn off the eSATA > >> then I > >> get an error when I power on the eSATA. It's a cryptic error but has the > >> string MFT$ in it so it appears to be a Master File Table corruption, and > >> the > >> drive becomes inaccessible. > >> > >> The actual message says a delayed write to the drive failed and says > >> something about an MFT error. > >> > >> To correct that, I need to do a cold shutdown of my computer and restart > >> it. > >> I power down and restart the eSATA drive as well. Seems to fix itself > >> (almost). I'll get an error that the Recycle Bin is corrupted on the > >> drive > >> and Windows deletes and rebuilds it. > >> > >> Is there a way I can force Windows to do the delayed write before putting > >> the system on Standby so I don't have to keep the drive on all the time? > >> Ideally automatically, of course. > >> > >> Is there a safe way to power off the drive before I put Windows on > >> Standby? > >> > >> It's inconvenient to do a cold shutdown all the time but I don't want to > >> keep the eSATA powered on all the time either if I can avoid it. > >> > >> Thanks, > >> Robert > > By turning off the feature you will probably slow the computer. It may be > noticeable and maybe not. > > Try this: Right click My Computer. Left click Device Manager. Click the + > by Disk drives to open that listing. Find your drive and right click on > it's name. Left click on Properties. Click Policies tab. Turn off the > Optimize for performance and click on Optimize for quick removal (if > available.) OK out and you should not have the issue again. > > What this does is turn off the write cache (buffer) for the drive and forces > the computer to write immediately to a drive. The write cache writes to the > drive normally (when the Optimize for Performance is turned on) only when > the processor and data path to the drive is idle or the cache becomes full. > With it turned off it will cause the processor to immediately write to the > drive even though it is busy. > > Let us know if this helps or if issues remain. > > . >
From: LVTravel on 8 Apr 2010 22:37
"GettingByOk" <GettingByOk(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:CC4E7526-31F8-4E6F-A4D2-08EAD25B1373(a)microsoft.com... > Thank you. > > Quick question, is this a session-level or system-level change? meaning, > can > I do this right before I shut down to flush the write buffer? Then enable > it > again..... > > ....or do I have to reboot for the change to take effect? > > Ideally if I could do this at-will (i.e., flush the write buffer, put > computer in Standby, wake up computer up, then Optimize for Performance > again) then I could have the write buffer available while I'm working and > turn it off when I want to do Standby.... > > Robert > > "LVTravel" wrote: > >> >> >> "GettingByOk" <GettingByOk(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:BA6D35D7-398B-4FB6-924C-83AEDB609F3B(a)microsoft.com... >> > Also, I'm on 32-bit Windows XP SP2. >> > >> > "GettingByOk" wrote: >> > >> >> Hi, >> >> >> >> I just installed an eSATA as a backup drive. I use Windows Standby a >> >> lot, >> >> works really well for a long time before needing to do a restart. >> >> >> >> I'd like to shut off the eSATA so it's not running all the time and >> >> wasting >> >> electricity. But if I put my machine on Standby and turn off the eSATA >> >> then I >> >> get an error when I power on the eSATA. It's a cryptic error but has >> >> the >> >> string MFT$ in it so it appears to be a Master File Table corruption, >> >> and >> >> the >> >> drive becomes inaccessible. >> >> >> >> The actual message says a delayed write to the drive failed and says >> >> something about an MFT error. >> >> >> >> To correct that, I need to do a cold shutdown of my computer and >> >> restart >> >> it. >> >> I power down and restart the eSATA drive as well. Seems to fix itself >> >> (almost). I'll get an error that the Recycle Bin is corrupted on the >> >> drive >> >> and Windows deletes and rebuilds it. >> >> >> >> Is there a way I can force Windows to do the delayed write before >> >> putting >> >> the system on Standby so I don't have to keep the drive on all the >> >> time? >> >> Ideally automatically, of course. >> >> >> >> Is there a safe way to power off the drive before I put Windows on >> >> Standby? >> >> >> >> It's inconvenient to do a cold shutdown all the time but I don't want >> >> to >> >> keep the eSATA powered on all the time either if I can avoid it. >> >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> Robert >> >> By turning off the feature you will probably slow the computer. It may >> be >> noticeable and maybe not. >> >> Try this: Right click My Computer. Left click Device Manager. Click the >> + >> by Disk drives to open that listing. Find your drive and right click on >> it's name. Left click on Properties. Click Policies tab. Turn off the >> Optimize for performance and click on Optimize for quick removal (if >> available.) OK out and you should not have the issue again. >> >> What this does is turn off the write cache (buffer) for the drive and >> forces >> the computer to write immediately to a drive. The write cache writes to >> the >> drive normally (when the Optimize for Performance is turned on) only when >> the processor and data path to the drive is idle or the cache becomes >> full. >> With it turned off it will cause the processor to immediately write to >> the >> drive even though it is busy. >> >> Let us know if this helps or if issues remain. >> >> . >> I'm actually not sure if the change takes effect immediately or on the net boot but I think that it takes place once you OK out of the change area. You can test it to find the definitive answer however, it would be a real pain in the a$$ to do that each time. Have you tested the fix I mentioned to see if it does solve your problem. If it doesn't it would be a moot point anyway. |