Disk data cache disabled in IRST

[idata]

Hi All,

I have a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard with 2 WD Caviar Black 1TB drives in a RAID1 array. When I first created the array, I discovered that one drive had the Disk Data Cache disabled while the other one had it enabled. I thought perhaps a reboot would fix it and after the reboot I discovered the other drive also had it disabled. I did enable Write-Back on the array but that should not disable the cache on the physical disks right?

Any idea how to re-enable my cache?

[idata]

Hello,

I think that you need to have a UPS in order for the write back to stay enabled all the time.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-020653.htm

Note: The write back options can be enabled from the software Intel (R) Matrix Storage Manager now known as Intel (R) Rapid Storage Technology.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

See picture attached.

All the best,

Kind Regards,

Aryan.

[idata]

Thanks but that's not the cache I'm talking about. The cache I am referring to is the physical disk onboard cache referred to as Disk Data Cache. It says disabled so I am worried that the onboard 32 MB of cache on each of the Caviar Black drives is disabled. One drive used to have it enabled, after the reboot it got disabled. FWIW, I do have a UPS.

[idata]

Well after all these months, I finally went back to trying to fix this cache problem and figured it out.

My solution on a Windows 2003 server was to go into Computer Management -> Device Manager -> Disk Drives

Then doubleclick on the array and go to the Policies tab. Enable write caching on the disk was checked but Enaable advanced performance was unchecked. When I checked it, IRST shows that the disk data cache is enabled.

Did it make a difference in performance? Yes, my disks were being punished by Mozypro to the point where the server was almost unusable. Now it's still pegged but disk utilization is not stuck at 100% anymore.

[idata]

FYI,

I had a similar problem with an Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) RAID array under Windows 7. Control Panel >> Device Manager >> Disk Drives >> [some-drive], Properties >> Policies affect only the write-back cache, as reported in IRST console when clicking on a RAID volume (Manage Volume). However, clicking in IRST console on each individual physical drive (Manage Disk) associated with a RAID array might still be showing Disk data cache: Disabled, disabled by default by IRST for some reason when creating a RAID array, unless you do it with RAID: Intel® Rapid Storage Technology Driver for Intel Desktop Boards version 9.6.0.1014 or later (03/19/2010). To enable disk data cache back in, click on the entire RAID array bounding box (Manage Array) and have a look at Advanced.

Quite counter-intuitive, if you ask me, especially since IRST console GUI design does not include explicit menu commands to manage Disks, Volumes or Arrays .

G.