Event 34 on Windows 2008 R2 write cache and sysvol on system drive

Question

I have Windows Server 2008 R2 running as Active Directory Primary Domain Controller.

Since our domain is not large, I put the SYSVOL and NTDS folders in the default location on the system drive (SSD in a software RAID 1).

I now get the 34 event warning on boot saying "The driver disabled the write cache on device \Device\Harddisk2\DR2" which is my system drive.

Does having the write cache disabled on the system drive put my server at risk?

Should I move the domain folders to a seperate drive, so I can reenable write cache on my system drive?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 18 '13 at 15:48

3

Yes, drive write caching on any disk that has a database is a bad idea. That is why AD disables it. You should move the NTDS database to a separate disk spindle that does not have write caching enabled.

answered Apr 18 '13 at 15:48

Greg Askew

34,339
3
52
81

2

Beaten by 8 seconds, you sonuva.... – Ryan Ries Apr 18 '13 at 15:49

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 18 '13 at 15:48

2

Disabling write caching improves the resiliency of the drive in the case of a power failure, at the cost of performance.

It is by design that installing AD DS disables write caching by default. (Safety first.)

answered Apr 18 '13 at 15:48

Ryan Ries

55,011
9
138
197

Event 34 on Windows 2008 R2 write cache and sysvol on system drive

2 Answers2