VSafe Err Msg: Program Is Trying to Write to Hard Disk (96180)



The information in this article applies to:
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q96180

SYMPTOMS

The following pop-up dialog box may be displayed when you perform a disk operation that writes to the disk:

VSAFE Warning

Program is trying to write to hard disk
Do you wish to continue?
You can then choose one of three options: Stop, Continue, or Boot. If you choose Stop, the following error message is displayed:

ATTENTION: A serious disk error has occurred while writing to drive C.
NOTE: If you are running MS-DOS Prompt from Windows, this error message is displayed in a blue screen with the heading "Serious Disk Error."

You can now choose to retry the operation. This causes the first VSAFE error to be displayed again. Until you choose Continue or Boot, you are not able to escape these recurring warning messages. If you choose Continue, the write operation is performed. If you choose Boot, the write operation aborts, your system restarts, and any information you were trying to save is lost.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when VSafe is installed with the write-protect option enabled and SMARTDrive is installed with write caching enabled.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in MS-DOS versions 6.0, 6.2, and 6.21. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do not simultaneously use SMARTDrive configured for write caching and VSafe configured for write protection.

Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 11/26/1999
Keywords: KB96180