when claws crashes after having changes any configuration, those are lost apparently the new configuration becomes permanent only after a clean shutdown it makes no difference if the metadata option is set to save or fast
what file system do you use? I've had plenty of power cuts over the years of using Claws, but never had any problems. Better to talk about the crashes and what causes them.
I tried talking about the crash but no answer :) http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2703 FS is UFS2 / FBSD 9-STABLE i386