Moving paging file to outer tracks

Discussion in 'BIOS Optimization Guide (BOG)' started by TomMe, Aug 17, 2006.

  1. TomMe

    TomMe Newbie

    I would like to know if it is possible to move the pagefile.sys to the outer tracks of the hdd, as described in the "Virtual Memory Optimization Guide Rev. 4.1!". I found out first hand that Diskeeper 10 doesn't move this file at all. Perhaps an update to the guide would be nice? :)

    Anyway, is there any other way to do this? If not, I'm thinking of creating a 2GB partition at the start of the hdd for the paging file alone. Then I'd still have 248GB to spend, so no big deal.

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Unfortunately, practically all newer defragmentation utilities no longer move the paging file to the outer tracks.

    One method that you might want to use is create the permanent paging file right after installing Windows XP, before installing anything else. This way, the paging file will be located as close to the outer tracks as possible.
     
  3. Zenphic

    Zenphic Newbie

    I think most people would create a partition for the paging files only. It must be because it's the simplest way of doing it.

    If you can, put your paging files on another hard drive seperate from the hard drive with your OS. I heard that it's better for performance :think:
     
  4. zicovsky

    zicovsky Newbie

    I heard that it's better to use a different HD for your paging files... but it's not good if you have a SATA 5 million RPMs as your primary HD and you move the paging file to one with 5000 RPM... then it's good to keep it in the same HD... at least it's logical...
     
  5. jamotto

    jamotto Newbie

    DefragNT I think can move the page file to a new location.
     
  6. ChampionLLY

    ChampionLLY News Writer

    i read a few articles b4, its better to keep the page files on the same hdd same partition..

    coz if u put another partition, the read/write head has to move all the way to the other partition in order to read/write data from there...

    thus lowering efficiency
     
  7. jamotto

    jamotto Newbie

    Well in my own opinion, It would be more beneficial working out how to reduce usage of the pagefile as no matter what you do it is slow and inefficient.
     
  8. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Hehe.. Exactly.

    Like it or not, a paging file is a poor replacement for more memory.

    If you want better performance, the best way is to boost your computer's memory. :thumb:
     
  9. ChampionLLY

    ChampionLLY News Writer

    get as much ram as u can & put "no page file"..
    my laptop n desktop running @ 1Gb each, both "no page file"
     
  10. jamotto

    jamotto Newbie

    Just curious, how many apps on average can you run at the same time with said config?
     
  11. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Hehe.. I don't recommend you do that. Some applications require a paging file to function.

    Besides, having a paging file won't sap your computer's performance. Don't be worried if you still see Windows XP use hundreds of MB of virtual memory, even with 2GB of RAM.

    Windows XP pre-emptively copies stuff from memory into the paging file, just in case it needs to flush some memory for use by other applications.

    Besides, if you run out of memory, Windows XP will still create a paging file. But this will be a temporary and largely fragmented paging file. Bad for performance.
     
  12. ChampionLLY

    ChampionLLY News Writer

    wad do i run?

    winxp pro sp2
    catalyst display driver
    msn messenger
    acer epowermanagement
    nhc
    intel WLAN software
    IE7beat2/firefox
    bitcomet
    wmp10/winamp

    sometimes:
    photoshop cs2
    pplive
    dap
     
  13. ChampionLLY

    ChampionLLY News Writer

    nah, i know wad i'm doing...

    at first i did get error msg saying "virtual mem too low",
    but as long as i dun overload my sys with apps i dun use,
    it nv appear again..
    at least not in the past 3mth... ;P
     

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