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.

Figure 13 – Disabling Write-Ahead Caching

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.