Large Zeroing Operations Cause Systems To Appear Hung

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.5
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.5

SYMPTOMS

Large zeroing operations on Windows NT file system (NTFS) formatted drives may cause Windows NT to appear to hung. The hang only affects the physical drive on which the zeroing operation occurs. The length of the hang depend on how much space has to be cleared and the speed of the system.

For example, if you have a 100 MB file, and an application writes one byte at offset 200 MB. Windows NT initializes the disk space between 100 MB to 200 MB. This ensures that the space is actually available on the disk. In addition, the space is erased so that old erased data is secure. The zeroing operation occurs synchronously so that any attempt to access this disk will be queued up until this action is complete.

NOTE: This information applies only to NTFS drives.

CAUSE

The zeroing operations are being submitted synchronously.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.5. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. Service Pack for Windows NT version 3.5. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K 

Additional query words: prodnt wfw wfwg

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