Windows Delayed Write Failed

Tyson Persall · March 7th, 2008, 03:20 PM

I have been having this problem pretty regularly when rendering in premiere or exporting a movie file.
A balloon pops up in Right bottom corner and says ;

"Windows Delayed Write Failed "
(something about the file I tired to render)

Premiere is then frozen up, usually towards 90% done in the render. I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL to quite premiere and I have to manually push the restart button cause the computer will not shut down.

A google search for the problem told me to turn off "Enable write caching on the disk" feature. On inspection, this box was never checked for any of my disks to begin with so that must not be the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330174

Unless maybe i should have enable disk catching on the disk enabled?
Regardless, i don't understand why this problem is happening.

By the way i am using a 4 disk RAID-0 array that im rendering to, if that is effecting anything?

Computer Specs:
MB: Gigiabyte GA-X38-DQ6
CPU: Intel Q660 quad core
RAM: 4gb DDR800
System drive: WD Raptor 150g
GPU: Nvidia 8800GT
Adobe CS3 production suite
Media Drive: RAID-0 array of 4 500g WD drives.

Colin Pearce · March 7th, 2008, 04:25 PM

"Windows Delayed Write Failed", from my experience is a standard Windows message that it is having trouble writing to the hard disk.

When a PC is writing to a disk it concentrates its efforts on that. If it gets no response it will wait there until the cows come home, hence you had to force a reboot.

Having a "4 disk RAID-0 array" means that if any 1 of the disks fail, the whole lot are broken, so your possibility of failure is 4 times higher than a single disk.

I suggest you do a full Check Disk, including the option for Bad Sectors.

I had a similar problem with reliability which I eventually found was caused by the power supply in the computer (550W) being insufficient for all the disks & hardware inside my computer. Putting it in a separate (eSATA) external drive enclosure (with its own power supply), then doing the aforementioned Check Disk solved all my problems.

Good luck.

Tyson Persall · March 8th, 2008, 06:54 AM

I have a 950w power supply, so im imagining that im OK in that department. Not to say thats not a possibility, but how could i check otherwise? I do have 7 drives total in my case.

I got a RAID error message today, so i just backed everything up.

Tripp Woelfel · March 8th, 2008, 09:23 AM

Having worked for a disk array manufacturer for several years I would strongly recommend against a RAID 0. As Colin said, your chance of a disk failure is four times higher. Reconfiguring as a RAID 5 would give you redundancy and would probably solve your disk problems.

Also, even with your big power supply, it sounds like you have a lot inside your case. Excess heat could be your biggest problem. You might want to consider an external array.

To figure out if your power supply is beefy enough to handle your setup, you need to total the power consumption of every component inside the box. This includes everything from add-in cards, hard and optical drives, and even fans. The total should be less than the rated power of the supply. To be safe, you might want to give it a 10% margin of safety. I'm not an engineer so the last recommendation was not particularly scientific. It's just my mix of knowledge and common sense.

March 7th, 2008, 03:20 PM	#1
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Windows Delayed Write Failed - error when rendering I have been having this problem pretty regularly when rendering in premiere or exporting a movie file. A balloon pops up in Right bottom corner and says ; "Windows Delayed Write Failed " (something about the file I tired to render) Premiere is then frozen up, usually towards 90% done in the render. I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL to quite premiere and I have to manually push the restart button cause the computer will not shut down. A google search for the problem told me to turn off "Enable write caching on the disk" feature. On inspection, this box was never checked for any of my disks to begin with so that must not be the problem. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330174 Unless maybe i should have enable disk catching on the disk enabled? Regardless, i don't understand why this problem is happening. By the way i am using a 4 disk RAID-0 array that im rendering to, if that is effecting anything? Computer Specs: MB: Gigiabyte GA-X38-DQ6 CPU: Intel Q660 quad core RAM: 4gb DDR800 System drive: WD Raptor 150g GPU: Nvidia 8800GT Adobe CS3 production suite Media Drive: RAID-0 array of 4 500g WD drives. __________________ Tyson X Last edited by Tyson Persall; March 7th, 2008 at 03:26 PM. Reason: computer specs.

March 8th, 2008, 06:54 AM	#3
Tyson Persall Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: North Hollywood, Atlanta Posts: 437	Power supply I have a 950w power supply, so im imagining that im OK in that department. Not to say thats not a possibility, but how could i check otherwise? I do have 7 drives total in my case. I got a RAID error message today, so i just backed everything up. __________________ Tyson X

March 7th, 2008, 04:25 PM	#2
Colin Pearce Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 99	"Windows Delayed Write Failed", from my experience is a standard Windows message that it is having trouble writing to the hard disk. When a PC is writing to a disk it concentrates its efforts on that. If it gets no response it will wait there until the cows come home, hence you had to force a reboot. Having a "4 disk RAID-0 array" means that if any 1 of the disks fail, the whole lot are broken, so your possibility of failure is 4 times higher than a single disk. I suggest you do a full Check Disk, including the option for Bad Sectors. I had a similar problem with reliability which I eventually found was caused by the power supply in the computer (550W) being insufficient for all the disks & hardware inside my computer. Putting it in a separate (eSATA) external drive enclosure (with its own power supply), then doing the aforementioned Check Disk solved all my problems. Good luck.

March 8th, 2008, 09:23 AM	#4
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	Having worked for a disk array manufacturer for several years I would strongly recommend against a RAID 0. As Colin said, your chance of a disk failure is four times higher. Reconfiguring as a RAID 5 would give you redundancy and would probably solve your disk problems. Also, even with your big power supply, it sounds like you have a lot inside your case. Excess heat could be your biggest problem. You might want to consider an external array. To figure out if your power supply is beefy enough to handle your setup, you need to total the power consumption of every component inside the box. This includes everything from add-in cards, hard and optical drives, and even fans. The total should be less than the rated power of the supply. To be safe, you might want to give it a 10% margin of safety. I'm not an engineer so the last recommendation was not particularly scientific. It's just my mix of knowledge and common sense.