Page file question.

[weh]

The answer is a qualified 'yes' -- the qualification being how much actual memory you have, what applications you run and how they work.

There is a great (relatively speaking) benefit for the page file being on a drive not currently in use when the page file services are needed. What happens is that the OS temporarily moves program code out of main memory into the page file when it needs that space for other program code for immediate processing. Paging is a relatively slow process. Anything that can speed it up increases the overall efficiency of the system. Since the presumption is that the OS will be reading in code either from itself or from applications most probably located on the system drive, having the page file elsewhere is an advantage.

With slower hardware (P4C, 4GB DDR RAM) and XP Pro 32-bit, using PhotoShop, this was easily demonstrated. Install XP Pro on a 36GB Raptor, use a 2nd 36GB Raptor for data (your images), use a 3rd 36GB Raptor for PhotoShop's scratch/cache files. Start with the page file on the system drive. Then move the page file --all 8GB of it -- to a 4th 36GB Raptor. The improvement when editing very large images was easily noticable. (So to was the impact of moving the PhotoShop cache to its own drive.)

Today, with much faster hardware, and especially with more memory available to 64-bit versions of the OS, the effect is much less noticable, but it is still there. The whole point of having extra real memory is not having to depend on a page file when you are taxing your system. However, there are still situations where it is needed so, in general, I do not recommend that it be gotten rid of entirely.

As I noted above, when I finalize my Win.7.x64 installation, I will most probably move the page file back onto the system drive. At that point, the system drive will be a RAID-0 array comprised of a pair of 150GB VelociRaptors -- except for SAS/SCSI and SSDs, nothing is faster.

 

[marttie]

Thanks alot weh nice post

 

[stevae]

is there a post already, that tells how to move your pagefile?

 

[TheBull]

Hey Stevae, this helped me, Move and Optimize Windows Vista’s Paging File — MAXIMUMpcguides Windows Vista

 

[stevae]

i figured it out. i have two hdd's partitioned into five drives. i have win vista ult on a: drive, internet and downloads on b: drive, win 7 ult black edition (7077) on c: drive, data on d: drive and recovery on e: drive.
out of these, the data partition get the least activity, so i put a four gig page file on it, and removed it off of all other partitions.
instant performance boost in speed of loading apps, and other general activities. thanks for the advice.

sorry didn't see your post until i was finished, bull. thanks for your help. i will still look over that information and see if there are any other helpful hints there. thanks again. are you really living in china? i ask because you have a south african flag down there, and i use to live in china.

i do have one further question. how do you know which partition is on which hard drive? that info would be very useful, in making sure that my page file is on a different drive than my op sys's. thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Stevae,

You can tell in Disk Management. In the Start menu search line, type diskmgmt.msc and press enter. Each listed Disk # is a separate hard drive.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[stevae]

ok, so here's the problem. when i set up my system, i put win vista ult on one drive, and then put win 7 ult black edition on the other drive.
then, today, i switched my page file to my data drive partition, which is on the opposite drive from win 7, the one i am using now. and the performance is much faster. however, that other drive is the same drive as my vista op sys. so everyone has said that you should not put a page file on another partition of the same drive, so is it going to kill my vista op sys, or can i direct the vista op sys to put it's page file on the win 7 drive? in other words, can you direct diff op sys's to use different page files, on diff drives?

 

[Brink]

Stevae,

No, that Windows 7 page file will not hurt Vista since it is on a separate partition than what Vista is installed on. The main reason for not having a page file on a separate partition on the same hard drive for a OS is that you will not see a performance gain from it. In fact it may decrease performance instead.

Yes, if you like, you can add a page file for Vista on a separate partition on the Windows 7 hard drive to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[stevae]

thanks a lot!!! that helps a ton!!!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Stevae.