Thinkpads Forum

My computer won't let me enable disk write caching. The dialog box is greyed out. Is there a reason for this and should I try and fix it?
Thanx.

Are you using FAT/FAT32 or NTFS ?

if u are using a SATA hdd + Intel Matrix Storage driver then it handles it for you.

hodad wrote:My computer won't let me enable disk write caching. The dialog box is greyed out. Is there a reason for this and should I try and fix it?

For an internal or external drive?

I'm using an internal SATA hard drive with NTFS. I'm not sure how to tell if I'm using the Intel driver or not. The driver for the hard disk is a Microsoft driver. Appreciate the input.

go to device manager and check the IDE/SATA controller driver version, if it's intel then you won't have that option available.

Mine says: Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 27DF

driver version shows 7.0.0.1020

Yep. Mine shows the same driver.
When I ran BootVis it said "Warning, write caching disabled". Why does the Intel driver disable write caching?

it's not disabled, it just shows that way for the microsoft hdd driver. the intel driver handles it all. no need to worry.

Thanks.

The Intel Driver reports it as off because Windows has to think it is controling it. It is part of the security enhancements in Windows XP SP 1 (No Longer SUpported) and SP 2. If the kernel seees something else controlling the caching, it thinks of it as spyware and disables it.