From adfb44458163bf749a2ec04db52ae88051cca498 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bruce Momjian Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:39:46 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Document ATAPI drive flush command, and mention SSD drives. --- doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml | 9 ++++++--- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml index 5f6a6eb2e1..9e9489da15 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ - + Reliability and the Write-Ahead Log @@ -59,8 +59,11 @@ same concerns about data loss exist for write-back drive caches as exist for disk controller caches. Consumer-grade IDE and SATA drives are particularly likely to have write-back caches that will not survive a - power failure. Many solid-state drives also have volatile write-back - caches. To check write caching on Linux use + power failure, though ATAPI-6 introduced a drive cache + flush command that some file systems use, e.g. ZFS. + Many solid-state drives also have volatile write-back + caches, and many do not honor cache flush commands by default. + To check write caching on Linux use hdparm -I; it is enabled if there is a * next to Write cache; hdparm -W to turn off write caching. On FreeBSD use