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Disk I/O Performance Logging
Windows defaults to continual logging of Input and Output data to your hard drive.
Disabling this will free up some resources. To disable performance logging, go to the
Start menu and select Run. Type in “diskperf –n” (minus the quotes) and hit Okay.
Write Behind Caching
Windows defaults to write-behind caching, holding data in a memory buffer before
writing it to disk. Disabling this function will increase your system performance by writing
data immediately to disk. To disable this function, right click on My Computer and
choose Properties, or open Control Panel and select System. Select the Hardware tab
and click the Device Manager button. Click the “plus” sign next to Disk Drives and select
a drive. Choose Properties and uncheck “Write Cache Enabled”. Repeat for all drives in
your system.
UDMA/ATA Mode for Hard Drives
As with earlier versions of Windows, running Ultra DMA mode will considerably increase
the speed at which your system writes to and reads from the hard disk. With the current
UDMA66 and UDMA100 protocols it’s possible to reach throughput levels equal to that of
wide SCSI drives, resulting in greatly increased track count and system efficiency.
Figure 13 – Disabling Write-Ahead Caching