How to Disable Nonvolatile Caching

Windows Vista is the first Windows operating system to support caching hard disk data to a nonvolatile cache on hard disks with the required cache. Windows Vista and Windows 7 can use the cache to improve startup performance, improve the performance of frequently modified system data, and reduce utilization. In rare circumstances, the failing nonvolatile cache might cause problems. To eliminate the possibility that the nonvolatile cache is causing problems, you can disable different cache functionality using the following Group Policy settings (located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Disk NV Cache):

• Turn Off Boot And Resume Optimizations Enable this policy to prevent Windows from using the nonvolatile cache to speed startup times.
• Turn Off Cache Power Mode Enable this policy to prevent Windows from putting disks into a nonvolatile cache power-saving mode, which enables the hard disk to spin down while continuing to use the nonvolatile cache.
• Turn Off Non Volatile Cache Feature Enable this policy to completely disable all use of the nonvolatile cache.
• Turn Off Solid State Mode Enable this policy to prevent frequently written files such as the system metadata and registry from being stored in the nonvolatile cache.