Seagate BARRACUDA 4FC Installation Manual page 22

20 Barracuda 4FC Installation Guide, Rev. A
Synchronizing spindles
If you have two or more drives, you may synchronize their
spindles for maximum efficiency. This is an optional instal-
lation step in that it is not required for successful drive
operation. Pin 8 in the FC-SCA provides a bi-directional
spindle synchronization reference signal (see Table 1 on
page 22). Use a Mode Select command, Rigid Disc Drive
Geometry page, to set the drive as the master or a slave.
Enabling write cache
Write caching is a feature that allows the drive to transfer
write data to its own cache, tell the controller that the task
is complete, and then actually complete the write at a later
time. This improves write performance by freeing the CPU
to go on to its next command.
Warning. Information can be lost if you enable write
cache and there is a system failure (for exam-
ple, power failure) before the data has actually
been physically written to the disc.
OEM drives are shipped with write cache disabled by
default to enhance data integrity. If you want to enable the
write cache, refer to your system's drive controller and
software utility documentation. Seagate provides an ASPI
utility that you can use in a PC compatible system to
enable the write cache. It is available on Seagate's Com-
puServe forum and on the Seagate BBS (refer to "Techni-
cal support services" on page 9).