Re: Paging File on Second HDD

<see below>
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Mike Hall - MVP wrote:
"Sprockets1440" <rftvhf-nwsgrp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:7Vsgl.9821$pr6.5528@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Interesting ideas about a paging file which I tried.

I always thought a paging file on a 2nd physical HD was better than leaving it on the C Drive with Programs and WinXP OS.

On my pc ,I have the pagefile on D Drive (separate physical drive)Windows System Managed, but as one large drive,not partitioned.

Gerry wrote:
ReadyFreddie

Are the read / write speeds for each drive the same?

It would best if you partitioned the second drive. Create two partitions. The first say 1.5 gb to take your page file and the second should take up the remainder of the drive. You should retain a fixed 50 mb min = max pagefile on the first hard drive. You should not put any other files in the dedicated pagefile partition and I would make it a 1.4 gb min = max pagefile. Doing it the way I have suggested should ensure both pagefiles are contiguous and they will be maintenance free.

So you are saying the 2nd physical hard drive should be partitioned with a 50mb min, 50mb max for the first(?) and the second with a set number or should windows manage the file size automatically on it?

Does this mean using the 2nd drive as a pagefile system only? Or can Temp Internet files be put there too in a folder? Or should Temp Internet files be on another HD?




Leave the Windows and programme files on the first drive. Apart from these you can move as many of the other files as you want to the second drive. Your objective you be to ensure that you have always a minimum of 20 / 25% free disk space on each drive.

More than that free space on the C drive here.

There are many other options for increasing free disk space on a Windows
partition if you have another partition / drive.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and
exit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and
exit.


I found out System Restore was on Monitoring all my HD's even the External USB HD's. So I turned off System Restore on all drives except the C:Drive. Seems to have quieted things down a bit.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of days
history is held.


Yes TIF and History days can get too large, these are set to lower amounts too.

Is the TIF and History kept separately? If you move the TIF does this include History files too?


The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

Recycle Bin size has been reduced.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

You can generate more space in the system partition by relocation of
folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.

You can move programmes but to do this you have to uninstall and
reinstall.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Thanks Gerry for the ideas.and Readyfreddie for bringing up this info.

Sprockets


If the pagefile is moved to another drive, it doesn't matter if it is in a partition or not, as long as there is space enough.

However, Windows still likes to see a pagefile within it's own partition, so it is best to set at least 300mb for the purpose


Mike is correct, of course, and that's something I forgot to mention: If you do move your paging file, leave a minimal page file on the hard disk where Windows is installed. Mike suggested 300 MB, which is fine, but it could be less than that.

The residual page file (Windows will create one if you don't) is for storing memory dumps when you crash. The minimum size for a memory dump is 2 MB, and the maximum size is equal to the amount of installed RAM.

If you hardly ever crash (gloat, gloat) then go for a minimal size. On the other hand, if you enjoy reading memory dumps and you can understand all that gobbledygook...what are you doing in this newsgroup? :-)
.