How to Disable Write Caching in Windows XP

By default, write caching is enabled in Windows XP to improve disk performance. However, if there’s a power failure or system crash, you may lose your data or it can possibly get corrupted. If your system tends to crash or the power in your area is not very reliable you may consider turning off the write-back caching feature. If your computer is protected with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and is fairly reliable you should leave the write-back caching enabled to improve write performance.

To disable write caching follow the procedure described below.

1. Start Windows Explorer
2. Right-click your Local Disk and select Properties
3. Click on the Hardware tab
4. Select your hard drive and click on Properties
5. Click the Policies tab
6. Uncheck the box “Enable write caching on the disk”