Question: how to invalidate read cache

Question: how to invalidate read cache

[Guven Demir]

hi all,

i hope this is the right place to ask question... anyway, it goes like this:

how can i invalidate the read cache for a file system?

the reason i'm asking this question is:

i'm mounting this ntfs partition to my linux box r/o, which i also
used by "another os" running under vmware r/w.

so when this partition gets updated under vmware, linux does not get
the changes until i umount / mount the partition again.

the problem is, i cant do this when the partiton is busy so i'm stuck
with invalid directory entries etc...

so, is there a way to disable or invalidate the read cache for this partition?

thanks in advance.

Re: Question: how to invalidate read cache

[Paulo Marques]

Guven Demir wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> i hope this is the right place to ask question... anyway, it goes like this:
> 
> how can i invalidate the read cache for a file system?
> 
> the reason i'm asking this question is:
> 
> i'm mounting this ntfs partition to my linux box r/o, which i also
> used by "another os" running under vmware r/w.
> 
> so when this partition gets updated under vmware, linux does not get
> the changes until i umount / mount the partition again.
> 
> the problem is, i cant do this when the partiton is busy so i'm stuck
> with invalid directory entries etc...
> 
> so, is there a way to disable or invalidate the read cache for this partition?

As a basic rule, never mount the same block device from two OS's (even 
if they are the same model).

Even if you could "disable" read cache from the Linux side, what makes 
you think that the "other OS" (or even vmware) isn't doing some write 
caching that will ruin it for you?

If you want a "shared space" between the 2 OS'es I would suggest you 
share at a higher level, like a sharing a directory on the "other OS" 
and mount it using samba on Linux through a virtual network card (or the 
other way around).

-- 
Paulo Marques - www.grupopie.com

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)