Can I remove pagefile.sys and hyberfil.sys..?


  1. Posts : 2
    win7 ultimate
       #1

    Can I remove pagefile.sys and hyberfil.sys..?


    Hi
    I tried SpaceSniffer today and I found out that the two main "program" on my harddrive are pagefile.sys (31.9gb) and hiberfil.sys(23.9gb). I would like to know what are these files? Can I delete them?
    I googled it but I got a lot of different answers.
    I have 32gb of RAM so my guess is I dont really need 31.9gb for pagefile. How much space do I need? oh and how the hell can these two take 56gb of space?
    thanks
      My Computer


  2. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #2

    You can delete the hiberfile. The command is powercfg -h off

    For the pagefile you need a minimum. I suggest you set it to 1GB.

    They take 56GB of space because 32 plus 24 is 56, LOL. But seriously, they are used to store your whole RAM for hibernation or store a RAM dump in case of a BSOD. If you don't want/need these facilities, do what I suggested.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 1,519
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Mac OS X 10.10, Linux Mint 17, Windows 10 Pro TP
       #3

    Some program installations may balk if they don't find the paging file, if one wants a minimum I'll set it to 2GB. Personally mine on Win7 rests on both drives, 2GB on the 250GB C:/boot drive and 12GB on the 500GB D: drive. [8GB RAM]
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    No, don`t delete them.

    You do what Wolfgang said for the hyberfile and if you don`t want a page file, you simply turn it off.

    I have not run a page file in over 2 years now with 16 GB, no issues ever, so far :)
    Last edited by AddRAM; 22 Apr 2015 at 17:47.
      My Computer


  5. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #5

    I always keep a minimum pagefile of 1GB or 2GB. Maybe that's overkill but I think the system will allocate 400MBs per default anyhow.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2
    win7 ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #6

    ok i think im gonna keep a couple of gig, thanks guys
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #7

    Windows recommends 800MB for the page file, which is what I have mine set at on my three machines I've been using, to ensure room for error messages, such as BSOD dumps. So far, no problems.

    Be aware that removing the Hyberfil.sys file will disable Hibernate. I have to keep Hibernate enabled on my desktop machine, even though it is humongous (24GB), because my UPS uses it to safely shut down my computer without data loss when there is a power outage. I haven't bothered to disable it on my notebooks and I doubt I would gain much, if anything, if I did.
      My Computer


 

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