WinXP Tweaks - Warning - Don't Use System Cache!!!

[Sniggle]

I am just writing this tread to reiterate what has already been included in the fabulous tweaks articles, but might be overlooked (as I did).

If you have 512 MB or more RAM and large NFTS drives (mine is 120 GIG), DO NOT use large system cache, either through activation in REGEDIT or through choosing System Cache under the Advanced Performance Tab.

I tried it both ways, and both times it irreparably corrupted my hard drives (WinXP could not recognize the format). You may be able to reboot a few times without problem, but it will get you.

Luckily I didn't lose much, only some favorites and my saved GTA III games, but reconfiguring the hard drive twice was a bit of a pain.

Great site, BTW.

[amd_man2005]

Ive used it on multiple installs, with a 512mb RAM and 120GB drive and am yet to have a corrupted HD, ~4-6months, Hundreds of reboots

[Sniggle]

It may be my system, or maybe the RAM level is over 1 gig, but it is real. The author of the tweaks included the warning in a later version after the problem surfaced for him. Anyway, just for reference, if you have my exact specs, don't enable system caching unless you like re-activating WinXP over and over again.

Athlon Barton 2500+
Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev. 2
512 MB Geil GD x 2
120 gig Maxtor HD (IDE, 133)
30 gig IBM HD (IDE, 100)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
ION 400W PS
Misc. CD-Rs, Floopy
(System is overclocked, 11*210)

Best of Luck

[Soulburner]

If you have a large amount of RAM (512mb), large AGP memory (128mb), and large hard drives (40-80gb) do NOT use the system cache as it may result in hard drive corruption.

I have used both and having it set to "Programs" is faster anyway than "System Cache".

[PersianImmortal]

There are certain circumstances in which you shouldn't use the Large System Cache setting. When discussing adjusting the system cache, I have had a warning in my WinXP: From Reformat to Relax guide for several months now saying:

LargeSystemCache=0 For 512MB RAM or more set to 1 for potential performance improvement.

Note that data corruption may occur if the Large System Cache feature is enabled in Windows XP. If you have more than 512MB of RAM, a large NTFS disk or multiple large volumes (60-100 gigabyte hard drives possibly in RAID arrays), and/or AGP graphics with large AGP resource requirements (AGP aperture greater than default) then you will get hard drive corruption. Don't enable Large System Cache in these circumstances.