Can SQL Server's crash resilience be improved? We have PCs running SQL Server (2008 SP4 and 2016 SP1) which regularly lose power. Obviously, this sometimes leads to (index) corruption of the SQL Server database, which we need to restore afterwards.

I am aware that SQL Server is not designed for such scenarios and the correct solution is to fix the cause of the power loss (more on that below, if you are curious). Nevertheless, are there any tuning options in SQL Server that I can set to reduce the risk of database corruption on power loss?



Background: The "PC" is a Windows tablet mounted on a forklift. When the user turns off the forklift, the tablet loses power. We have tried to teach the users to properly shut down Windows before turning off the forklift, but failed (probably because just turning it off "works" most of the time). We are also currently investigating other options, such as adding a UPS which signals the tablet to shut down on power loss.
I am aware that SQL Server is not designed for such scenarios and the correct solution is to fix the cause of the power loss […]


Actually it's designed to deal with power loss, that's why there are things like write ahead logging (WAL) and crash recovery upon startup (or whatever you want to call it). One of the ways this is done is by choosing to not cache writes which it seems is what the tablet is doing, hence the corruption.


  Nevertheless, are there any tuning options in SQL Server that I can set to reduce the risk of database corruption on power loss?


No, SQL Server is doing what it should. You should look either outside SQL Server (windows settings for drive caching [which SQL wants to be off but we can't force you], hardware/firmware updates, etc.) or as Eric has said, buy an external power supply for relatively cheap which could solve the symptoms (the actual issue is probably some type of caching or battery backed write that isn't actually backed).