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Write Caching And Command Queueing


Vic Mackey

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I have a WD 74GB Raptor and there are two options that I dont know if I should turn on or not. First is Write Caching, I read that if its on there is a chance that you can have data loss or corruption. In the past I have had errors about missing files that prevented me from booting to windows so im thinking this might be to blame. I turned it off. Do you think it should be on or off?

 

Second is command queueing. I thought this was a new thing hard drives had. I have had mine for a couple years now and I didnt think it was supported. What does command queueing do and should I turn it on?

 

Thanks! Happy New Year!

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My guess is that it enlarges the cache used for command and data storage. If you're writing a file and something goes wrong, you'll lose the data cached in the write buffer, and most likely the file will be viewed as incomplete and corrupt.

 

Command queing... most likely it takes more commands and caches them.

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did a quick search on write caching, it appears that when enabled, it allows your hard drive to use the buffer (i beleive) that came with it. all information on this buffer is lost when the power is shut down. so if the power kicks off while writing something to your hard drive, you will lose whats in the buffer. i think xp automatically enables this, so id leave it there. as for comand queing, i dont know anything really about it.

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heres a good pic to explain command queuing

ncq.jpg

basicly: if you have apps A,B,C all wanting data the hard drive without command queing will go in that order

with command queing if app c's data is close to app a's data then it will be retrived befor app b's

make sense?

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