Flush disk write cache from Windows CLI

Brian picture Brian · Sep 17, 2008 · Viewed 15k times · Source

Does anyone know how to flush the disk write cache data from the cache manager for the current directory (or any given file or directory, for that matter), from a Windows command line?

Answer

OldCurmudgeon picture OldCurmudgeon · Apr 24, 2014

I found the SysInternals Sync worked well for me - although it flushes ALL cache, not just for the specific folder.

Example of usage:

IF EXIST Output RD /S /Q Output && Sync && MD Output

By default it flushes all cached data for all drives - you can specify command-line options to restrict which drives but you cannot restrict it to just specific folders.

Without it I would often get Access denied errors because the MD was trying to create a new folder while the system was still in the process of deleting the old one.