Write operations to an external storage device take a long time to complete

When you write data to an external storage device such as a USB flash card reader or a Magneto-Optical (MO) drive, it may take a very long time for all the data to be written to the device. If you examine a bus trace of that device, you notice that there are many duplicate write operations (where the same data is written to the same destination).

This problem occurs because pages of data that are marked to be written to the storage device may be written by the modified page writer or the mapped page writer (these components are part of the Memory Manager) and to the lazy writer component (this component is part of the Cache Manager). These two write operations do not correctly synchronize their lists of pages that are to be written to the device. Therefore, a duplicate write operation may occur. This duplicate write operation causes performance degradation because the same information is written two times to the same storage device.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

You must have Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed before you install this hotfix.

For additional information about how to obtain Service Pack 1 for Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer to apply the changes after you install this hotfix. However, you do not have to restart your computer immediately after you install this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft Windows XP SP1 32-Bit

Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2002 SP1

Warning To download the correct hotfix, select the package that has a CreateDate value of 4/27/2004, not the package that has a CreateDate value of 10/20/2003. The correct download files will have the file attributes that this article lists earlier.

Use the Ntorkrnl.exe file version to determine the hotfix version that is installed on your computer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Search, and then click All Files and Folders.
2. In the All or part of the file name box, type ntoskrnl.exe, and then click Search.
3. After the search results are displayed, right-click the Ntoskrnl.exe file in your Windows\System32 folder, and then click Properties to view the Modified date.

To work around this problem, turn off write caching for the storage device. For a USB or removable storage device, configure the caching policy to use the Optimize for quick removal option in Device Manager. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
3. Expand Disk Drives, right-click your storage device, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Policies tab, click Optimize for quick removal, and then click OK.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.

This problem only affects Windows XP with SP1 installed or integrated. It does not affect Windows XP without SP1 installed, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows Server 2003.