Turning off write cacheing enabled by default for removable drives in Vista

[otherwise]

By default Vista has write cacheing enabled for removable drives (in this case, as USB thumb drive). I am trying to figure out how to change the default to "disabled."

Or, failing that, how to get vista to "remember" that the particular thumb drive I am using should never have write cacheing enabled. Currently it refuses to remember the setting after I turn cacheing off and remove/reinsert the drive.

 

[Mavtech]

Geez. I didn't realize Vista did this by default. I have 2 USB thumb drives here. It was enabled by default on the Crucial. But, when I inserted the Kingston, it was disabled. So, it either remembered that I disabled it or it's enabled/disabled depending on brand.

 

[spyordie007]

Vista doesn't have this enabled by default. All "hot-pluggable" media should have caching disabled (optimize for quick removal) by default.

http://download.microsoft.com/...8184a/remstorperms.doc

 

[Mavtech]

I just checked this with those 2 thumb drives I mentioned above. Caching most definitely was enabled. I know I would have never enabled that.

 

[otherwise]

I read through the article linked, but the behvaiour specified simply doesn't match what I'm seeing Vista do. Write cacheing is shown as on by default in the GUI.

Is there another way to manually check those flags to verify what the GUI is showing me?

 

[corkyg]

I just popped in a 512 MB Lexar Jumpdrive into my Vista laptop's USB port. I then checked Device Manager and Properties, and Policies for that drive. It was by default optimized for Quick Removal.

I then popped out the DVD module (IBM Ultrabay) and popped in a 160 GB SATA HDD in an Ultrabay adapter and ran the same check.

It was optimized for performance with write caching enabled. But, it was changeable, so I changed it.

I conclude that it depends on the media and the overall size of it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If this doesn't default to "optimize for safe removal" for USB key devices, then something is br0ke.

I haven't used Vista enough to say whether or not this issue has happened to me. I know that sometimes it says that it cannot shut down the device and eject it though.

 

[postmortemIA]

hmmm maybe it has to do something with ReadyBoost?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
hmmm maybe it has to do something with ReadyBoost?

Could be - that's something I never use.