Using Two Hd....!?

[proe1]

Hi everyone,

Can someone explain to me how having two Hard disk my virtual memory increase?

thanks
JAC

[Budfred]

Are you asking how to increase your virtual memory or are you asking how your virtual memory was increased? You can set the amount of virtual memory in your System settings, but you may want to avoid increasing this since it can slow down your system. If you have Windows set up to automatically set your virtual memory allotment, it may be that Windows figures you have more available hard drive space and it is using some of it.

Budfred

[proe1]

Someone just told me that having two hard disk can increse the virtual memory and make the PC go faster. I guess I just don't understand about virtual memory.

[Budfred]

As I understand it.... virtual memory is a substitute for RAM. When you run a program that requires a lot of RAM, Windoze will shuttle some of the program to virtual memory so that you have enough to use in RAM. RAM memory is extremely fast while memory on the hard drive (virtual memory) is quite a bit slower. This means that any of the program that is shuttled to virtual memory takes a little longer to access anytime you need it. This makes it run slower. If you don't have much RAM, this can speed things up a lot. If you have plenty of RAM, it eats up resources that can be better spent running programs. Usually the best investment is in making sure you have enough RAM before you start worrying about using virtual memory.

Since my understanding may be shaky, you may want to wait for other opinions before acting on this info.

Budfred

[proe1]

We are using Win2k pro. There are two guys that are doing autoCAD. They want to get a second HD so they can get more virtual memory. they have 256 ram. Do they really need to get a new HD..?

[Steve]

If they are looking for more memory, I would put in as much RAM as your motherboard can use before buying another harddrive.

Another thought. If you now have filled your HDD, there might not be enough room for an effective page file (virtual memory). Check to be sure you have plenty of free space on that HDD first.

:)

[Budfred]

If they have SDRAM, you can buy 256Meg for as little as $25 after rebate these days, so it would make much more sense to do that than to try to get speed by adding a hard drive. Now if they need more storage space, which may well be true with CAD, they may want another hard drive.

Budfred

[proe1]

What is hapenning is that when they are working on a big file. the MEM use get full and after while the computer is so slow until a mesg popup saying that he need to close other application since virtual memory is low. When he only have one big drawing open.

[Budfred]

CAD files (and graphic files) tend to be huge and use up lots of memory. I would max out the RAM on the machine if possible. If you have room on the hard drive, you can choose to increase the amount of virtual memory available. You right click on My Computer, choose Properties and your System window opens. Click on the Performance tab and select the Virtual Memory button. You will probably find the option to let Windows manage virtual memory selected, but you can choose to manage it yourself and then specify using a gig or two of hard drive memory for virtual memory. If you don't have the hard drive space, that is a good reason to get another drive.

Budfred

[mjc]

For large graphics 1 GB or more RAM is not unreasonable. So if your board can handle it go for it.

[proe1]

Thanks for all the info and help. I really appreciated.

JAC