Environment
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.2 Imaging
Situation
Imaging Windows on a machine for the first time is just fine. But when trying to reimage the very same machine, imaging performance is very slow, about 5x slower.
Resolution
From the imaging command line (before the image is laid down) run:
hdparm -W 1 /dev/sda
This could either be run directly from the command line, or from an imaging script (on the same imaging session).
hdparm -W 1 /dev/sda
This could either be run directly from the command line, or from an imaging script (on the same imaging session).
Cause
The problem was caused due to a Microsoft Windows utility (dskcache.exe -w), which was being executed during Windows install, that turns off write caching directly on the hard drive. But somehow the setting is preserved after reboot.