Where is the flag for write caching on any given drive located? Is it in the OS or on the disk itself?

Question

Basically, I want to know if write caching flag is portable (stored on the disk), or if it is dependent on the OS (maybe stored in the registry or something) via which it is activated.

If I enable write caching for a flash drive via the OS my Win7 or WinXP desktop, and then remove the drive and plug it in to my Linux laptop, will write caching be enabled immediately because Linux will read a flag from the disk as to how writes should be treated? Or do I then have to tell that Linux OS, or any subsequent OS, to cache the writes?

Answer 1

The Windows part: The setting is stored in the local OS' registry, not on the drive itself, thus Linux cannot know about it (tested on my machines with Windows XP and 7). Even if some Linux distribution would save the setting on the drive, Windows would not care about it.

I don't know though where Linux would saves the setting.