Increased RAM, decreased SSD free space

[snsjets]

Hello. I recently built a desktop with a Crucial M4 64GB SSD as the boot drive and installed Crucial Ballistix sport 16GB (4 x 4GB) on an Intel DP67DE motherboard.
1 of my memory modules went bad so I removed a pair to return to Crucial for exchange. During that time I ran the remaining 2 memory modules and was therefore at 8GB of RAM. Also during that time I noticed the free space on my SSD was ~25.6GB.
Today I reinstalled the remaining pair of Ballistix bringing the memory back up to 16GB. After that I noticed my SSD free space dropped to ~11.2GB.
Everything is running OK and I use a 1.5TB HDD for storage but I am puzzled as to the loss of 14.4GB of SSD space after increasing the memory.

 

[LittleJay]

Have you checked the size of your page file? I have 8 Gbs of RAM on my PC and by default Windows 7 makes the page file the same size as the amount of RAM.

 

[snsjets]

I just checked it and it is indeed automatically allocating 16361mb. What setting did you end up using or does it even matter if it is left in automatic? Thanks

 

[bobafetthotmail]

having a pagefile on a SSD isn't recommended, as it shortens the life of the device (more write cycles for nothing). Disable it.

Besides, with 8 gigs of RAM (or more) you don't really need any virtual memory.

 

[4wd]

indeed automatically allocating 16361mb

Try setting a custom Virtual Memory, Initial 200 MB, Max 2 or 4 GB. Then monitor it's utilization for some time. With your amount of ram installed, the pagefile may never go above 200 MB, but it's there if ever needed.

 

[x BlueRobot]

It was basically a page file being created, disable the paging file settings as suggested, virtual memory is used from the SSD disk space when the physical RAM is being fully used by applications, and therefore becomes very low; virtual memory also has a much slower performance than physical RAM too.

Start > Computer > System Properties > Advanced System Settings left pane > Advanced tab > Performance box > Settings button > Advanced tab

The above path is for finding the virtual memory settings, if you didn't know how or forgotten.

Hope this helps,

Harry

 

[LittleJay]

I just checked it and it is indeed automatically allocating 16361mb. What setting did you end up using or does it even matter if it is left in automatic? Thanks

I have page file set at 2 Gbs, because with 8 Gbs of RAM a larger page file isn't necessary. Since you have 16 Gbs of RAM I would think you could easily set it to 0, or a much smaller size like I did without any problem.

 

[snsjets]

Great! Thank you all for the responses/help!!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Great! Thank you all for the responses/help!!

You also probably have 16 GB of space devoted to hibernation.

If you don't use hibernation, you can reclaim the space with this command:

powercfg -h off

A few programs expect to find a page file, so I wouldn't eliminate it entirely. I'd reduce it to a low level---maybe 1024 MB minimum and 2048 MB maximum.

You might also check the amount of space devoted to System Restore. That is adjustable also.

 

[snsjets]

I do not use hibernation. I entered the command to disable it but did not notice a difference in free space. Am I missing something?
I am back to 23.5GB free on the SSD after making the above changes to virtual memory settings.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I do not use hibernation. I entered the command to disable it but did not notice a difference in free space. Am I missing something?
I am back to 23.5GB free on the SSD after making the above changes to virtual memory settings.

If you run the command without administrator privileges (from an "ordinary" command prompt), you will get an error saying you don't have the right privileges.

You didn't mention that, so I assume you ran it as an administrator.

If you notice no difference in disk free space, I can only assume it was already disabled.

I just tested it on my own machine--turning it on and back off.

I immediately noticed the difference when I did a right click on the drive in Explorer and checked free space.

I have no explanation if you are using it correctly.

Try this: enter the command "powercfg -h on". That turns hibernation on. See if your free space decreases. If it does, you are doing things correctly and you can then enter "powercfg -h off" to turn it back off.

What did you find with System Restore?

 

[snsjets]

I did run command as administrator and noticed no difference in SSD space with hibernation on or off. I did notice that hibernation is not a listed option in the menu for: Start>> Switch User/Log Off/Lock/Restart/Sleep/Shutdown. Perhaps I already disabled hibernation in power options since I never use it.
I checked System Restore and Turn Off System Protection is checked. What is recommended for System Restore?

 

[razy60]

you could try running this tool to see what is on or off,
SSD Tweaker 2.13 - TechSpot Downloads
I have used a similar tool for my OCZ ssd

 

[gazz9496]

odd that you don't notice a change in disk space usage with hibernation, i saved 6gb of space. i also set a pagefile to 1gb though i'll probably turn it off completly.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I checked System Restore and Turn Off System Protection is checked. What is recommended for System Restore?

Well, if it is off it shouldn't be using any space.

But I use it fairly regularly and have it configured to use about 8 GB maximum. It's helped me out dozens of times.

 

[LittleJay]

System Restore is a handy feature to have turned on, but if you aren't already doing so, I would advise creating regular system images, which can restore your computer back to the way it was, when problems with the OS occur. Macrium Reflect comes highly recommended on this forum, but I have had good luck with Windows Backup and Restore in the Control Panel. There are a number of other imaging softwares out there like Acronis, Easeus and Paragon that will work as well. It is advised to store system images on an external hard drive and not the same drive on which the OS is installed. Personally speaking, system images have saved my bacon on a number of ocassions from having to do a total re-install of Windows.

 

[snsjets]

After looking again I do have System Restore enabled on my boot drive (2% or 1.19GB). For some reason the drives were listed in reverse order so I was viewing the settings for my HDD.

Thanks again you guys for all the input!