Non-reliable I/O (-r)

Use Non-reliable I/O (-r) to enable buffered I/O to the before-image file. In most cases, avoid using this parameter because it might put database integrity at risk.

Operating system and syntax UNIX / Windows -r
Use with Maximum value Minimum value Single-user default Multi-user default
Client Connection — — Unbuffered I/O Unbuffered I/O
CAUTION: If you run OpenEdge with the -r parameter and your system fails because of a system crash or power failure, you cannot recover the database. You must restore the database from a backup and restart processing from the beginning. If you are updating a database using buffered I/O and there is an OpenEdge system failure, but no hardware failure, OpenEdge can recover the database.

In general, you always want complete database integrity or you want fast performance for large tasks, such as loading large amounts of data or doing fiscal year-end processing. The -r parameter does not guarantee complete database integrity, and No Crash Protection (-i) is faster in terms of performance.