Write Caching

[moosey]

I have a Raptor 150GB and a secondary WD HDD (no RAID - both SATA). Setup as AHCI in BIOS.
Motherboard is an Intel D975XBX2
OS is WinXP Home

I check the "write caching" box in device manager to enable it and hit ok. Now, all the boxes in the "policies" tab dealing with write caching are greyed out and can't be checked. Also, the write caching box is now unchecked and I can't change this.

Does this matter? Does write caching really help? And why did it grey out the boxes?

Thanks

 

[Jiggz]

Try restoring the system to an earlier date where the check boxes are still available. The boxes shouldn't be greyed out . Performance wise, write caching helps especially for large file writing.

 

[Seekermeister]

I have a similar problem that I posted about recently, but I never got a clear answer. I don't know if the boxes were ever not greyed out, because I only checked them after a diagnostic pointed out that the caching wasn't enabled. The PATA HDs are okay, but all 3 of my SATAs are greyed in the same fashion.

 

[corkyg]

Write caching boxes are always grayed out for internal drives. That is normal in my systems. They cannot be "quick removed", ergo optimizing for performance is the only logical choice, and it is ON by default.

 

[moosey]

my laptop (1yr old), however, has the box enabled and not grayed out. any diff. w/ that and a desktop SATA drive?

 

[corkyg]

Apparently there is a difference. Just checked my laptop - also 1 year old, and this is what it shows for the system drive:

LT

And, here is what shows for an external drive on the laptop.

DT

That separate checkbox only appears on my laptop - not either of my desktops. On the desktop internals, the bottom circle is dotted, but grayed out.

 

[moosey]

Thanks for the help