Moving Virtual Memory/Paging file.

[ErnieK]

512 MB memory
32 MB ATI Graphics card
AMD Athlone 800Mhz Processor
512Kb L2 Cache

I want to put the paging file / virtual memory onto its own separate partition (F:\).

Whilst working in XP it shows as follows:
(At present the paging file (virtual memory) is (from within XP) set at
minimum 768MB & maximum 800MB)
on all drives (C-D- E/G) except for F:\ Giving a total of 2304 MB set aside for it.

40 GB HDD partitioned as follows (All Fat32):

PRIMARY
C:\Win98se (Primary partition) 3.99 GB

EXTENDED: Primary
D:\ Download & Storage (My documents etc) (Logical) 15.99 GB

E:\ (When in Win98) and changes to G:\ when in XP (Logical) 9.98 GB

F:\TO BE USED FOR PAGING FILE (virtual memory) (Logical) 1.00 GB

Plus. an unused Primary partition at the end of the drive for mucking about.

1. What should the correct setting be when working in XP?

2. What should the correct setting be from within Win98?

3. Is 1Gb set aside large enough? (I know opinions differ on the size of virtual memory but this is the figure I have arrived at with 512MB ram – one & a half times the installed memory)

4. Do I have to set the other drive (C:\) from within XP or is this set from within 98 its self (and vice-versa)?

5. Do I need a paging file set for D:\?

6. Do I need a paging file on F:\ (Partition set aside for actual storage of virtual memory)

6. How do I go about setting the F:\ partition the paging (virtual memory) file for all drives from within XP & 98?

Sorry if I have repeated my self in the above but you should know me by now. I stutter when I type :p

[david eaton]

ErnieK


Th change the virtual memory/pageing file in win98, go to Control Panel<>system<>performance. Click on virtual memory button, select "let me specify my own virtual memory settings, and enter the appropriate drive and file size.

The warning messages can (usually ) be ignored, and the computer rebooted after closing the window.

Don't know about XP offhand, but I think it is similar.


David

[Sylvander]

It is my belief that there is only one paging file PER OPERATING SYSTEM.
You don't need separate paging files for each partition.

You go into the operating system [Win98 or WinXP] and set the paging file location and size.
Best if it's a fixed size [min = max].
This free's up the processor from calculating the size needed.
I found if I set it too small, that the operating system reported lack of memory, so I could gradually reduce it till it complains then add another 50%.

[Paul Komski]

Hi Ernie, don't know if you read This thread (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18334); he he, it did get a bit long-winded but it might help resolve a few issues.

The VM file in Win9x (win386.swp) and NT-OSes (pagefile.sys) are not the same files - so you will need to have them both as separate entities such that they won't want to overlap, whether using fixed (min=max) or dynamic sizes. Set swapfile up from Win98 and pagefile from WinXP.

There is not much to be gained from splitting the pagefile across different partitions, though there are real benefits from splitting it across different physical drives. Win9x swapfile can't be split, but can be moved.

Separate partition leads to less fragmentation. Separate drive leads to faster access and less wear and tear.

Static size leads to less fragmentation and faster access.

Placement and size of pagefile of importance if you are concerned with the creation of RAM dumps for debugging.

With a significant amount of RAM like that, you would probably get away with no VM at all - depends what applications you will be running. Most recommend a minimum of RAM + "a bit more" to enable RAM dump file creation.

Only my suggestion, but you could start off by making your F: drive 2MB and place 1MB fixed-size pagefile and another 1MB fixed-size swapfile on it. Defragment F: before placing the two VM files onto it. Set the pagefile sizes (from within XP) on the other partitions to min=max=0MB. If you want to be able to create a RAMdump file then set the pagefile on the XP partition to 550MB.

Would also have XP on the last drive to avoid any later mapping conflicts by moving F: in front of E: and then setup the pagefile and swapfile.

Run things like this for a while and monitor the access to VM. Then reduce the sizes of the files appropriately for your setup and usage, in order to reclaim disk-space.

He He - not as neat a precis as Sylvander's

PS If you might or do covert to NTFS then it might be good to split the VM partition into two partitions so that you can make tho one with the pagefile also NTFS. When creating a separate NTFS partition soley for a pagefile make the block size 64KB and not the common default value 4KB for increased performance.

[sleddog]

I agreed with almost everything above, except:

Static size (min = max) is no benefit (IMO). The minimum should be large enough to manage you regular, day-to-day work. Under normal circumstances -- 99% of the time -- the min size is not exceeded. But, very rarely, you may do something that requires *more* virtual memory. In that case Windows should be free to increase the pagefile size. If it *can't* it means you risk losing work or cancelling what you are doing.

Virtual Memory Size = 1.5 X RAM is only a guess at what is right for any system. It is much better to monitor your memory usage and determine how much virtual memory you need under normal working conditions. To do this there is a System Monitor app in Win98. WinNT/2000/XP has the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del, T, select Performance tab. Under "Commit Charge" watch "Peak", which is your peak usage of RAM + virtual memory).

512mb X 1.5 != 1GB :)