Page File & SSD & 32GB RAM

[TDKMate]

I was just 'lurking' and skimming thru another post about the Page File and it prompted me to make this post.

I'm not clear on: In general, because of the 'wear factor' of a SSD drive, is it better to use a fast HDD instead of the SSD? (I have a WD Black Caviar with a 128MB cache.)

Second, I have 32GB RAM (I do photo editing and some video work). But I do like to have a lot of programs running/open at the same time. Still, I don't think I've often gone over 30-50% RAM usage in normal/typical computer usage.

So, with 32GB RAM, do I even need to worry about the Page File?

 

[Layback Bear]

From post #1

So, with 32GB RAM, do I even need to worry about the Page File?

My opinion.
No. Just let Windows 7 manage you Page File.
Windows 7 will use Page File when it needs to, if it needs to.

Personally I gave up on trying to out smart Windows 7 when it comes to memory usage and control.

From post #1

I'm not clear on: In general, because of the 'wear factor' of a SSD

I also don't worry about the wear factor of a quality ssd. They will last as long as a hard drive. Just use your ssd and enjoy it.
Many use a ssd for the operating system and programs and the hard drive for data.

 

[UsernameIssues]

~~~
So, with 32GB RAM, do I even need to worry about the Page File?

Without doing anything special (e.g. normal usage for a while), I would be interested in seeing what this looks like in Resource Monitor > Memory tab.

 

[Layback Bear]

Keep in mind that the ( Resource Monitor > Memory tab) will change after every boot.

 

[AddRAM]

I haven`t used a page file in over 3 years.

 

[maxseven]

I set mine to Custom of Initial Size 16MB and Maximum size 12145MB (for my computer) based on advice here:

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com...pushing-the-limits-of-windows-virtual-memory/

IIRC this low minimum size is only possible because I also set my "Write debugging info" to Small memory dump. If you need/want Kernel then you need a much larger pagefile.sys i.e. to your RAM size.

My pagefile.sys has never changed from 16MB.

I would think for the OP's RAM size just 16MB would work great, and I agree there is NO need to worry about SSD wear, provided that basic settings are correct e.g. defrag and superfetch are off...

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
To give you an idea how win-10 handles the page file it uses a Initial size of 200mb and a max size of 1024mb
Not sure if Samsung magician did that or not it is not set to Automatically manage...
It does say recommended is 2931mb and 16mb
This is with 16gb's of ram.

 

[Ranger4]

I was just 'lurking' and skimming thru another post about the Page File and it prompted me to make this post.

I'm not clear on: In general, because of the 'wear factor' of a SSD drive, is it better to use a fast HDD instead of the SSD? (I have a WD Black Caviar with a 128MB cache.)

Second, I have 32GB RAM (I do photo editing and some video work). But I do like to have a lot of programs running/open at the same time. Still, I don't think I've often gone over 30-50% RAM usage in normal/typical computer usage.

So, with 32GB RAM, do I even need to worry about the Page File?

With 32GB of RAM Windows may set the Page File as high as 45GB, so if you are very short of disc space this could be a problem.
Photo & video editing can take up a lot of RAM.
If you are not having any disc space problems you can leave it to Windows or you could set the Page File to a much lower figure & see if it cause you any problems.

As mentioned in other Posts don't worry about the "wear factor".

 

[whs]

You worry too much. "Do Nothing" is your best strategy. Things are perfect the way they are.

 

[ThrashZone]

I just checked my Acer win-10 it's default setting with 8gb's of ram is recommended 16mb & 1920mb's

 

[TDKMate]

Hi All. Wow, thanks for all the replies!!

I don't really know proper etiquette on how to reply to each, so I'll try this. (If there's a better way, please let me know!)

Layback Bear:

"My opinion.
No. Just let Windows 7 manage you Page File.
Windows 7 will use Page File when it needs to, if it needs to.

Personally I gave up on trying to out smart Windows 7 when it comes to memory usage and control.

...

I also don't worry about the wear factor of a quality ssd. They will last as long as a hard drive. Just use your ssd and enjoy it.
Many use a ssd for the operating system and programs and the hard drive for data."

Sounds good, thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UsernameIssues:
"Without doing anything special (e.g. normal usage for a while), I would be interested in seeing what this looks like in Resource Monitor > Memory tab."

Attached

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AddRAM:
"I haven`t used a page file in over 3 years."

I don't even know where to look, LOL!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

maxseven:

"...I would think for the OP's RAM size just 16MB would work great, and I agree there is NO need to worry about SSD wear, provided that basic settings are correct e.g. defrag and superfetch are off... "

OK, I'll forget about SSD wear. But you make me think of another queston on superfetch: I do have a lot of programs on my data hard drives. I think 'prefetch' is turned off, but I have no idea about superfetch. Should I not worry about this? Or would it be a benefit?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranger4:

"With 32GB of RAM Windows may set the Page File as high as 45GB, so if you are very short of disc space this could be a problem.
Photo & video editing can take up a lot of RAM.
If you are not having any disc space problems you can leave it to Windows or you could set the Page File to a much lower figure & see if it cause you any problems.

As mentioned in other Posts don't worry about the "wear factor"."

No, not having any 'C:' drive space issues. Currently I have 324G free of 507GB per Windows Explorer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

whs:
"You worry too much. "Do Nothing" is your best strategy. Things are perfect the way they are."

That's sounding real good, thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ThrashZone:
"I just checked my Acer win-10 it's default setting with 8gb's of ram is recommended 16mb & 1920mb's"

Where do you check it out at?
.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Thanks for the screenshot. It looks like you use quite a bit of RAM and still have some to spare

 

[whs]

The dark blue RAM is caching. The picture will be different depending on the time you take it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Click Start and type in the search box
advanced system settings
Or Start and right click Computer and select Properties
On the top left click on Advanced system settings

 

[whs]

I would leave it system managed. With a custom size you can only be wrong.

 

[ThrashZone]

Win-10 manages ssd's a lot better than win-7 does this is the bottom line
A system with less ram is more dependent on a page file than one with more ram

I'd go with my 16gb's of ram setting which was 200mb's and 1024mb's for the 32gb's ram system
I'd also turn off system protection for all drives that will stop windows from writing and rewriting windows system restore points

Use Macrium reflect to make restore points called system images instead they are 100% more reliable and save them to a external or internal hdd

 

[TDKMate]

Thanks for the screenshot. It looks like you use quite a bit of RAM and still have some to spare

Yeah, having 24.5GB 'Available' seems like a nice buffer.

 

[TDKMate]

The dark blue RAM is caching. The picture will be different depending on the time you take it.

OK... but now I'm a little unclear. As the name suggests, 'RAM caching' is just using memory?

 

[TDKMate]

Hi,
Click Start and type in the search box
advanced system settings
Or Start and right click Computer and select Properties
On the top left click on Advanced system settings
View attachment 384040

Thanks. Attached is how Windows has it set up:
.

 

[TDKMate]

I would leave it system managed. With a custom size you can only be wrong.

I'm liking that idea