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Page Files and Separate Partitions (Read 8141 times)

confused.com

Ex Member

Page Files and Separate Partitions
Apr 10^th, 2008 at 3:48pm

Hi.
Can anyone please explain why I can't (or shouldn't) create a seperate page-file partition on the same drive as the OS (WinXP)?
All advice and info says it should be on a seperate (second) drive, but I am about to install a new hard-drive as the computer's only drive.
I understand why a separate partition for this virtual-memory file is desirable, and how/why fragmenting occurs, and the consequences of it, and so on, and so I want one too! I just can't find anything that explains why I shouldn't do this on the one and only hard-drive.
Can anybody help me with this? Please?
Thank you.
Love and Peace. Cool

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Brian

Demigod

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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia

	Re: Page Files and Separate Sartitions Reply #1 - Apr 10^th, 2008 at 4:12pm confused.com, I like this approach. http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm If I had one HD I'd have my pagefile in the C: drive. And often with two HDs as well.
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MrMagoo

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Resident Linux Guru

Posts: 1026
Phoenix, AZ (USA)

	Re: Page Files and Separate Sartitions Reply #2 - Apr 10^th, 2008 at 6:09pm There's no reason not to do it, really. I like doing it that way to avoid fragmentation. Also, it allows you to put it on the first part of the disk, which is slightly faster than the later parts of the disk.
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Rad

Radministrator

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Sufferin' succotash

Posts: 4090
Newport Beach, California

	Re: Page Files and Separate Sartitions Reply #3 - Apr 11^th, 2008 at 1:41am I tried this and could not notice any perf improvements. I even moved my page file to a physically separate hard drive. Still not able to notice any speed diff. YMMV.
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Brian

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NSW, Australia

	Re: Page Files and Separate Sartitions Reply #4 - Apr 11^th, 2008 at 2:07am Rad, I'm really pleased you made that statement. That's my experience too. There must be lots of things we do with computers that are based on old hardware or on myths. PageFile fragmentation must be rare as well. I've only seen it once and it's easy to fix.
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Christer

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Sweden

Re: Page Files and Separate Sartitions
Reply #5 - Apr 11^th, 2008 at 2:56am

If you let Windows manage the pagefile, it gets expanded and shrinked as needed. That leads to fragmentation. On all systems that had WinXP installed by Yours Truly, the pagefile was (automatically by the installer) set to a fixed size of 1.5-3.0 times installed RAM.

On a computer with only 256 MB RAM, the pagefile (384-768 MB) got expanded when working in MS PowerPoint and other memory hungry applications. On a computer with 512 MB RAM, the pagefile (768-1536 MB) has never been expanded from its minimum size.

Today, installed RAM of less than 1 GB is rare and I don't think that you should lose any sleep, worrying about the pagefile.

Data fragmentation within the pagefile is another issue but I don't think ... Lips Sealed

... well, I don't think anything about that ... Undecided

...

Christer

Old chinese proverb:
If I hear - I forget, If I see - I remember, If I do - I understand

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confused.com

Ex Member

Re: Page Files and Separate Partitions
Reply #6 - Apr 11^th, 2008 at 4:31am

Thank you SO much to all of you.
This is my first ever venture into a forum, and I am overwhelmed by all the friendly and kind help you've given me - there's hope for the human race after all! (here in England people are so self-obsessed these days, "too busy" to help others Undecided

).
I shall make my paging file just like I wanted to, with confidence and peace of mind, thanks to all your help.
Love and Peace. Cool

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Rad

Radministrator

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Sufferin' succotash

Posts: 4090
Newport Beach, California

	Re: Page Files and Separate Partitions Reply #7 - Apr 11^th, 2008 at 3:24pm Quote: This is my first ever venture into a forum If this is your first visit to a forum, then you started with the best. Did you find the double-email registration confusing? Not many forums have that.
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