"Disable Last Access Date" in XP

[Andy]

I have got the following registry value set to 1.
However a file's Date Last Accessed still gets changed by the system.
What else can I do to prevent this update ocurring?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
\\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate

 

[Alec S.]

I have got the following registry value set to 1.
However a file's Date Last Accessed still gets changed by the system.
What else can I do to prevent this update ocurring?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate

Just to be certain, you realize that setting only affects NTFS drives right? If you've got a FAT formatted drive, it will have no
effect.

Out of curiosity, why do you want to disable it? Is it in the hopes that turning it off will increase drive performance? (It
won't.) Is it because the field is useless? (It is.)

 

[Andy]

Just to be certain, you realize that setting only affects NTFS
drives right? If you've got a FAT formatted drive, it will have no
effect.

I am on NTFS.

Out of curiosity, why do you want to disable it? Is it in the
hopes that turning it off will increase drive performance? (It
won't.) Is it because the field is useless? (It is.)

Yes - useless field
yes - performance from updating it on every file

 

[Alec S.]

I am on NTFS.

Seems obvious, but did you reboot after making the change?

Yes - useless field
yes - performance from updating it on every file

You won't likely see much of a performance increase unless you're running a server where tens of thousands of files are accessed
frequently.