I made a mistake, SSD Too small

[CharlesDesign]

Hi there,

When building my CAD station I underestimated the amount of space needed on my SSD (119GB).
This is causing a low virtual memory warning when running heavy tasks.

Now my question is what is the easiest was to solve this considering it's been very time consuming to set up/ install all the software?

Can I just buy another SSD and plug to my first one with a RAID cable?

Your help is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Charles

 

[strollin]

You could buy a larger ssd, use software such as Macrium Reflect to clone the smaller one to it, then replace the smaller with the larger. You will need to check the partition alignment afterwards to make sure it's optimum but isn't a big deal.

 

[CharlesDesign]

So just to recapitulate; I would just plug in my new ssd on any free Sata and run the Macrium software then just swap SSD over?

Thanks!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Low memory warnings usually mean you need more RAM. Virtual memory is used when RAM has been filled and the computer needs to "borrow" disk space to handle the overflow. While getting that extra space from an SSD is certainly much better than from a HDD, it's still not as good as having enough RAM in the first place. Adding SSD capacity to correct low virtual memory situations is like patching a patch with another patch.

We need your system specs before anyone can make any suggestions beyond wild guesses. MOBOs (motherboards), CPUs, and individual versions of Win 7 have RAM limitations.

While running a second SSD in RAID 0 will give you more capacity for virtual memory, not all boards will support that and RAID 0 is less reliable than just running a single, larger SSD.

 

[CharlesDesign]

@Lady Fitzgerald Thanks, hopefully you can give me a little more information base on this;

Intel i7 4770 K @3.5, 16GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro 2000, 119SSd + 1 TB HDD, MB AsRock Z87 EXTREME3 Socket 1150

Ps: I understand Low VM is due to ram but I have less available space on my SSD that I have set in the page file. Which I'm guessing could be causing the problem?!

 

[LMiller7]

A low virtual memory warning occurs when the commit limit is reached. This will be RAM size plus pagefile size minus a small overhead. You can increase the commit limit by adding RAM or increasing the size of the pagefile. As you are using Windows 7 Home Premium you will not be able to add RAM. 16 GB is the limit, even if your hardware can support more.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to either move the pagefile entirely or add one to a different drive. On a conventional drive this might cost you a bit of performance but probably not significant. Understand that the commit charge has nothing to do with actual usage of RAM or pagefile.

Adding another SSD to create a RAID 0 array would require reinstallation of the OS and applications.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Ok, that board will support up to 32GB RAM. You still didn't state which version of Win 7 you are using. Home Premium will support only up to 16GB of RAM. You would need to be using Win 7 Pro or Ultimate (or Enterprise if you "know someone", which may or may not be legal, depending on circumstances) to be able to use more than 16GB of RAM.

I do not recommend upgrading an existing version of Win 7 at this late date in its cycle since retail copies are, for all practical purposes, gone and OEMs are becoming scarce (not to mention an OEM can be used only once).

Even if you aren't limited to only 16GB of RAM, the high price of buying a new, larger kit (much safer than just adding to existing RAM) may make getting a larger SSD more attractive financially. That would allow for more virtual memory, not as desirable as the proper amount of RAM but still better than a crash due to inadequate memory, virtual or otherwise.

Another possibility is, if only one or two programs are saturating your RAM, those programs may permit the use of a scratch drive, such as Photoshop does. That would reduce your RAM requirements and would allow you to use a second, smaller SSD for the scratch drive than you would have needed if the SSD had to play host to your OS, programs, and virtual memory.