pagefile.sys (swap file?)

[zoloto]

Hey everyone, interesting question I can't find in help menu's or other websites so I thought I'd try here.

What is pagefile.sys for? Is it a swap file? And how do I change it's default drive localtion? Here's my system.

C:\ (Fat16) for Dos 6.22 and Windows 3.11) - Don't ask
D:\ (Fat32) PCI IDE Device to store files, mainly backups
E:\ (NTFS5) Where my XP installation is -
F and G are DVD and CDRW drives respectively.

My issue is, I don't want most anything that has to do with XP on my Fat16 Drive. Now I understand NTDLR boot.ini and a few other files have to stay, it's that whole "MS must control my hard drive" matra schiznit and being the first partition, if XP doesn't have control over it it has a fit.

I just want to change the default drive settings AWAY from this drive so it can remain independant in a way.

Any helpers out there on this one?

 

[djmorgan]

Go "My Computer">"Properties">"Advanced" and the 'performance setup here you can specify where and how big your pagefile sys is put, and yes it is your virtual memory.

If you have in excess of 512 of real mem you can try to dispense with virtual altogether, although some programs are reported as needing it precense to work.

Ideal is to put the page file on another drive away from your systems files.

You could start by specifying a size say 256 meg and monitor your systems need to use the pagefile and adjust from there.

If you search this forum you'll see a number of post regarding the issue.

Good Luck

 

[Lonman]

Go to Control Panel> System> 'advanced' tab> Performance 'settings' button> 'advanced' tab> 'change' button. You'll have to leave system restore active on the primary drive if you leave it active on the XP partition. I think you can turn it off on all drives, but if you want it active on your XP partition (good idea) then you'll have to leave it active on your boot partition as well. You should be able to turn it off on your D:\ partition though. Go to Control panel> system> 'system restore' tab and make your adjustments there.

Oops. got beat on this one.

 

[zoloto]

Thanks!

Thanks, I'm glad someone could respond quickly. NExt time I'll search the forums before posting. As well Thanks again!

 

[Perris Calderon]

boy, I'm going to keep having to correct people with that old notion about the page file...look, you cannot disable the page file, even though the option exists, xp will still oage...it's like breathing to this os...plus, you should never set the page file to a static value...this can result in a performance hit...just leave the page file set to the default, which is a dynaamic file...this is proven unequivicably to be the best performance for the very vast majority of user..period...

 

[zoloto]

not true

Actually I did disable it for that drive, rebooted, renamed the file to something else. Went about my work, checked afew times for a new pagefile.sys and rebooted another time just to make sure. I think it may be used for XP's setup initially because the one on my E: drive (xp pro's installation home) there were a number of files including that one on the drive.

Oh yeah and just in case any of you were wondering, i managed to get Dos 6.22 and Windows 3.11 working with microsoft's tcp32b package so i can get my network card workign with DHCP.

Very elite. Ph33r my 16-bit OS!

 

[Perris Calderon]

my post is absolutely true...xp is unequivicably fnding another area to page, as I said, it is like breathing to this os...you are suffering a performance hit, and don't even know it, as xp searches for other areas to page, you just don't know how to see it...that's your performance hit...believe me...if you want to read the actual technical info, email me, I'll give you the link, or better, you'll find the link on the thread."page fle tweak is false"

let me guarantee to you, xp is going to page, and by trying to circumvent the effort, wethter or not you know it, you are suffering a performance hit..period...it's like saying you can hold your breath in your sleep...ha, you won't even realize you're breathing

 

[djmorgan]

A little confussion might be creeping in here, the way I read it is that Zoloto does have a pagefilesys just not on 'that' drive.

And I don't think dealer means that you get a pagefilesys on every drive/partition. Even if you have said NO.

by example I have 2 drives 1 x 40 gig and 1 x 20 gig both 7200 RPM's the 40 gig has 4 partitions as does the 20 gig.

The 40 gig which has my system folder does not have any pagefilesys on any partition, the pagefilesys, which is dynamic, is alocated to a partition on the 20 gig drive and this is the pagefilesys for the entire system and both drives. By the way XP sets it to 767 meg and I have never seen XP use more than 8% of it....

 

[Perris Calderon]

Originally posted by djmorgan
A little confussion might be creeping in here, the way I read it is that Zoloto does have a pagefilesys just not on 'that' drive.

And I don't think dealer means that you get a pagefilesys on every drive/partition. Even if you have said NO.

:

correct, dealer does not think you need a page file on every drive thanx for seeing that

 

[zoloto]

whatever

whatever works, I just wanted the xp files off that drive

 

[jon_breen]

Damn right

Originally posted by dealer
boy, I'm going to keep having to correct people with that old notion about the page file...look, you cannot disable the page file, even though the option exists, xp will still oage...it's like breathing to this os...plus, you should never set the page file to a static value...this can result in a performance hit...just leave the page file set to the default, which is a dynaamic file...this is proven unequivicably to be the best performance for every user..period...

Damn right, except this:
Microsoft reckon for best system performance you can increase the pagefile to the max so that when windows loads up it does not have to think about how much virtual memory it is going to use, and take time in increasing it until it does reach the max.

Make sense or not, but I've increased mine and noticed a small difference in speed (then again I have got four hard drives and thus the space to have the virtual memory set to it's max).

 

[jon_breen]

Re: Damn right

Originally posted by jon_breen


Damn right, except this:
Microsoft reckon for best system performance you can increase the pagefile to the max so that when windows loads up it does not have to think about how much virtual memory it is going to use, and take time in increasing it until it does reach the max.

Make sense or not, but I've increased mine and noticed a small difference in speed (then again I have got four hard drives and thus the space to have the virtual memory set to it's max).

Damnit, I forgot to mention that you do not need a pagefile on each hard drive, just preferably the drive that Windows is installed on.

Virtual memory (pagefile) is used when Windows has so many applications running that the maximum amount of physical memory (RAM) cannot store all the temporary information that Windows may need later on. So instead Windows creates a pagefile that in short is RAM (Random Access Memory) but on the Hard Disk Drive, which makes it a lot slower for access.

When Windows has lost information that it may need from the Physical memory or Virtual Memory, that is when you would normally get an "Invalid page fault" blue screen.

So to sum it up, you may want to put the Virtual Memory up to the max so that Windows will never loose that information that it may need.

 

[djmorgan]

Hmm! to the contrary I believe the pagefile on a drive other than the system drive is quicker in that access for file and memory are not waiting for the platter to spin around again - still were only measuring nanoseconds here so not a biggy.

 

[stuy_b]

I got 2 drives both masters, both NTFS, both have pagefiles and both same size.

No problems 4 me

 

[Perris Calderon]

you know, I've never even concidered the idea of INCREASING the page file, since everybody was so worried about DECREASING the thing...well, it certainly couldn't hurt if you created a static page file that was larger then the recomended 1.5, and so large, xp would not even concider needing more...that might make sence...I'm gonna look into this

 

[jon_breen]

Yeah I'm studying for the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)exam as part of my job, just thought I'd share some info I'm getting from the book.

Generally it may be better to create a pagefile on another hard drive other than the Windows partition, my apologies.

 

[jon_breen]

I keep having to add stuff because by the time ive posted something i've remembered something else.

But as for pagefile sizes, I believe it can only go up to about 3GB?

Either way this is a nuisance, because I have a spare 20GB HDD that I could have used for the pagefile - mmmm 20GB pagefile...
Not that you would need it if you had 1GB DDR SDRAM but I don't, I have 1GB SDRAM, so it would be nice.

 

[Perris Calderon]

ok, I'm going to paraphrase what I've found out;


If your pagefile is alone in its partition, you can set the default and max size to the partition size. Now, if you have it on a partition with other files, try setting the default as large as you ever imagine it needing, multiplying that value by one and a half, or two. You can't be hurt in by setting the max size to whatever the max is you can provide...(in other words, try to allow the max to be the entire volume available) -- "just in case". This should cover any performance slowdowns from deadlocks that "out of virtual memory" conditions will suffer. There you go

 

[djmorgan]

What you say has merit however from prctical experience I have found that XP Pro is extremely good with memory management.

I have 512 of DDR and by logging XP's performance (Ctr Alt Del) I find the pagefile has never exceeded 8% use, this is even using app like FS2K2 on maximum eye candy settings.

Still as you say if you have a partition with nothing on it why not!

 

[Perris Calderon]

I agree, xp has excellant memory management...the default is fine, and the best choice for most users