Re: System Restore Size....HDD

I am concerned at the suggestion that if the Page File is to perform its intended role it must be in the Root Drive. I have always put it on a different drive imagining that with two drives working cooperatively it speeds everything up, and am reluctant to give up that notion on the basis of a report of advice given on a Microsoft helpline without further verification. I shall be interested to learn the current truth of the matter.

Four weeks ago I was chided on this NG for mentioning that, with my RAM increased to 4 GB, I had given up using a swap file. The consensus was always use a swap file and leave Vista to choose its size, so I mended my ways and now have it, though NOT on my root drive. Since then some processes, such as Vista's Disk Cleanup, seem to take twice as long as they did with no swap file, and generally things seem a little more sluggish. I had imagined they would be even more sluggish if all the frantic disk activity were confined to a single HDD, but I could well be wrong about that, particularly if Vista is having to make compromises because the swap file is on the *wrong* drive.

Doug

"denmarfl" <denmarfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1355E3E3-CBDC-48E5-9D40-B58EC73EC145@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If I understand, once the page file is changed to another HDD, it not only
doesn't save with C:\ drive Restore Points, but, it also no longer is
updated\kept current. I did contact Microsoft FREE support for Vista SP2 who
advised the size of the Page File is as a result of changes included in SP2.
Further they advised the Page File to perform its intended role must be in
the Root Drive......

"RalfG" wrote:

denmarfl wrote:
> Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
>
> Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2 > Page
> Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the > Page
> File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:\).... so if a > user
> were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C:\ the other on the E:\
> file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the > issue
> that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on > Restore
> Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other > activity
> creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both > Page
> Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C:\ drive?
>
> I have not changed the Page File to my E:\ HDD as yet. The concern is, > if I
> had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the > Page
> File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore Point\Date > selected
> and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC > might
> not restore properly?
>
> "RalfG" wrote:
>
>> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its >> optimum
>> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on >> mine
>> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm >> assuming
>> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely >> causes
>> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I >> don't
>> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in >> the
>> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a >> huge
>> hit on how many restore points can be created.
>>
>> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you >> can
>> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
>> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and >> support.
>> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same >> place.
>>
>> Instructions for moving the page file here:
>>
>> http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/move-and-optimize-windows-vistas-paging-file/
>>
>> or
>>
>> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
>>
>> Open the System applet in Control Panel
>> Click on the Advanced tab
>> Click on the Performance -Settings button
>> Click on the Advanced tab again
>> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
>> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
>>
>> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file >> settings
>> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. >> Click
>> Set for each drive that you change.
>> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click >> Set.
>> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either >> select
>> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to >> max) or
>> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
>> reboot to initiate the changes.
>>
>> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new >> location
>> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
>> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that >> had
>> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System >> Restore to
>> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
>>
>>
>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
>>> partition....so
>>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each >>> restore
>>> Point.
>>>
>>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
>>> almost
>>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, >>> changes,
>>> etc?
>>>
>>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
>>> larger
>>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
>>> pagefile,
>>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID >>> what
>>> caused the file to grew so large?
>>>
>>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do >>> what
>>> you
>>> did?
>>>
>>> "RalfG" wrote:
>>>
>>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the >>>> pagefile.sys
>>>> file
>>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved >>>> the
>>>> page
>>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
>>>>
>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to >>>>> determine
>>>>> that
>>>>> it
>>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB >>>>> of
>>>>> HDD
>>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
>>>>> whole
>>>>> lot
>>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
>>>>> created
>>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, >>>>> it
>>>>> a
>>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has >>>>> the
>>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
>>>>> started
>>>>> to
>>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go >>>>> a
>>>>> week
>>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installed\chnaged or altered anything >>>>> on
>>>>> my
>>>>> PC
>>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
>>>>> someone
>>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
>>>>> abnormally
>>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) >>>>> can
>>>>> be
>>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 >>>>> mos.....without
>>>>> the
>>>>> large File(s).
>>>>>
>>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> See the following
>>>>>> http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_clear_system_restore_po.htm
>>>>>> -- >>>>>> Peter
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
>>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be >>>>>> acknowledged.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
>>>>>>> System
>>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
>>>>>>> where
>>>>>>> Restore
>>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
>>>>>>> suddenly
>>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
>>>>>>> HDD
>>>>>>> space
>>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it >>>>>>> off,
>>>>>>> which
>>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process >>>>>>> than
>>>>>>> starts
>>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
>>>>>>> causing
>>>>>>> this......
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>

I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
days old at most.

As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.

As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
than the system drive so there is that benefit.

Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
microseconds of data loading times aren't.

.