Delayed Write Failed error message

Asked By matthewwalker2348 0 points N/A Posted on - 09/04/2011

Hi All!

I have an External Hard Drive of 500 GB, but my computer is giving me an error saying "Delayed write failed". I tried reinstalling the drivers again, but I get the same error again. This error is also showing whenever I try to save or move large documents. Please help.

 

Windows – Delayed Write Failed

Windows was unable to save all the data for the file F:. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

 

• Status: Open
• Question Views: 5109
• Answer Count: 3
• Vote Up 0 Vote Down

• Answer Accepted: Yes
• Question Category: Windows XP

Best Answer by OliverQueen

Go To Solution

Answered By ianjames 0 points N/A #120586

Delayed Write Failed error message

Hello, 

• When "Enable write caching on the disk" feature is enabled, this error occurs when you try to save or transfer large files.
• To turn off this feature, click on Start then go to My Computer. Right click the specific hard drive and click Properties. Go to the Hardware tab and click to select the hard disk and click Properties. On the Policies tab, uncheck the check box for "Enable write caching on the disk" then click OK. To close the Local Disk Properties dialog box, click OK again. Do the same with the other hard disk installed.
• One important thing though, if this feature is disabled, your hard drive may become slow in performance and it may affect the entire system. Thus, you should have a real time monitoring of the system performance of your computer before trying the steps mentioned.

About ianjames

Questions
2

Answers
6

Best Answers
3

• Vote Up 0 Vote Down

• Posted on - 09/04/2011
• Question Category: Windows XP

Answered By mykilua2000 0 points N/A #120587

Delayed Write Failed error message

If ever write caching does not solve the problem it might be similar to my previous encounter. Delayed Write Failed error was flashed from the monitor when copying files from the computer to the external drive. You may try to scan for the consistency of your external drive.

There are some tools available on the internet to scan for bad sectors and some tool can repair such bad sectors. If you have spare data cable of your external drive, swap them it might just be the cause. But there was one time when I also have the same problem, after the caching and data cable swapping did not work. I ended up returning the external drive to the supplier and they replaced it with a new one. Good thing it is still under warranty.

About mykilua2000

Questions
1

Answers
48

Best Answers
15

• Vote Up 0 Vote Down

• Posted on - 09/04/2011
• Question Category: Windows XP

Best Answer

Best Answer

Answered By OliverQueen 0 points N/A #120588

Delayed Write Failed error message

Below are some of the causes of "Delayed Write Failed" error that may apply to your case:

1. Cable problem. Check your USB cable for any signs of wear and tear. Try a different cable and see if that works out.
2. Media error. Try your external drive on a different computer to make sure that it's not the hard drive itself that is the problem.
3. Memory parity problem. Verify your memory modules. Use memtest86+.
4. Problem with the memory cache on the USB controller. In some cases, the memory cache gets corrupted when trying to copy or move large files to and from USB drives. To fix this, the packets sent to the USB adapter bus should be limited to 128 kilobytes only. This fix is pretty complicated and requires some hard to find applications. To make the solution simple, my suggestion is to use Teracopy http://codesector.com/teracopy

When installed, Teracopy will replace the copy handler of Windows. It is more efficient and automatically adjusts the transfer cache depending on where the data is being transferred. So, in your case, if the file transfer is to your external drive, Teracopy will automatically fix the cache size for you thereby preventing the "delayed write failed" error.

About OliverQueen

Questions
0

Answers
14

Best Answers
6

• Vote Up 0 Vote Down

• Posted on - 09/04/2011
• Question Category: Windows XP