>Hi Craig,
>
>
>>Finally, make sure that ALL write buffering on the server's hard drives is >turned off.
>
>I'm new to Windows NT. I was just wondering what are the steps to
>take to make sure that ALL write buffering on the server's hard
>disk is turned off?
>

Tuning NT Server is a complex issue, and disabling write caching requires examination of multiple things under NT. I'd recommend hiring an experienced MCSE to handle the task, or if you want to investigate further on your own, I'd try several web sites (first on the list would be John Saville's NTFAQ, at www.ntfaq.com, and Microsoft's NT Server-related support web pages) and consider buying the Microsoft core curriculum materials for the two MCSE NT Server related certification exams, NT Server and NT Server in the Enterprise.

The only simple thing I can think of to try is to apply the latest Service Pack for NT, SP5, to the server - it addresses some issues with delayed writes that might help your situation. You can download the Service Pack from Microsoft (it's rather large, and it may well be worth ordering the SP5 CD from Microsoft for the nominal fee that they charge for shipping and handling, especially if you need to apply it to multiple systems; the SP5 distribution is the same for both NT Server and NT Workstation.) If you have access to either the MS TechNet CDs or a current MSDN Professional or Universal subscription, SP5 should either be in the May or June updates you would have already received, or will be included with the July distribution. There are further hotfixes beyond SP5 available for download as well.

If you're using Small Business Server rather than a full-blown copy of NT Server or BackOffice, do not apply the SP5 from Microsoft's web site without checking the installation notes - there are separate service packs for SBS in many cases, and I've seen situations (specifically, applying NT SP4 to an SBS install) where the Service Pack screwed things up under SBS badly enough to require a partial reinstall of SBS.

It's not a topic that can be addressed here in a message or two, or without some detailed knowledge of the NT Server environment you're dealing with; you also might consider trying the microsoft public newsgroups related to NT Server; the focus of the NT Server newsgroups is more in line with what you need to address.