A system and method for replaying a log file without performing a total cache flush. The log replay is performed in three phases, a pre-processing phase that determines which portions of the log file are to be replayed, a redo phase where certain transactions are redone and an undo phase where certain transactions are rolled back. After performing the log replay only the data dirtied during the undo phase is flushed from the cache, thereby decreasing the amount of time required for the log replay operation.