Pagefile partition

[stncttr908]

Would it be worth making a partition primarily for the pagefile? This way it would not get fragmented, correct?

[Rampant CL]

If i recall correctly that was the case for windows 95 and 98. I think xp and me automatically assign the page file in a more sensible manner, so it would not be necessary.

How much ram do you have?

[VeritechK7]

fragmentation nowadays isn't a big deal anymore. if you 're that worried about page file fragmentation. .pick up page defrag from sysinternals.com

[The Baron]

No point in XP/2k. Pagefile usage is much improved, so it's pretty useless.

[Gator]

well, be careful about this one. A seperate partition isn't that bad an idea, but it makes a difference WHERE the partition is on the drive. You don't wanna place the partition at the end of the drive or the read heads will have to travel back-and-forth everytime they need something from the page file.

You can gain performance when the page file is on a seperate physical drive I've heard, but honestly with Win2k/XP these days it makes more sense to just leave the default settings alone. Let windows do what it wants, and anyway you would see a much greater benefit from simply buying a little more RAM memory. It's certainly cheap enough these days ;) With my 768 RAM my computer rarely ever uses the page file anymore.

[stncttr908]

Thanks for the replies. I'll just leave it alone then, as norton speed disk optimizes it pretty well anyway.

[|JuiceZ|]

Originally posted by The Baron
No point in XP/2k. Pagefile usage is much improved, so it's pretty useless.

I agree, as I've tried both ways and configuring a static page file on the same partition perfs a lot better, completely opposite of the old win9x kernel OSes.

[PsychoSy]

I tell WinXP to give 1GB of space to the pagefile and stick it where it wants to, regardless how much RAM I have. Currently, with only 512MB of RAM, WinXP is only using 130MBs of that 1GB pagefile.

I let Diskkeeper defrag C:\ today while I slept. It was done when I woke up. I immediately told it to perform a boot defrag at next startup and rebooted the computer while I used the head and visited the living room. Once I was done shaving, came back and the boot defrag was completed.

My pagefile, once defragged after a fresh install, hardly ever gets fragmented again! :)

[FastM]

I'll admint to being a bit of a fanatic when it comes to setting up my computer after a Format.

What i have been doing lately is the following, After the first time WinXP loads again i'll do my nForce drivers, reboot and once back in windows Disable my Paging File completly (requires another reboot). Then once i get back into windows with the page file disabled i Defrag the C:. This organizes all the System files together (i usually hit Defrag twice because it never seems to get everything the first time), The i re-enable the Paging File and set it to Max-Min 1024megs. Run Defrag again and you'll notice how nicely everything is organized :)

[Gator]

Originally posted by FastM
I'll admint to being a bit of a fanatic when it comes to setting up my computer after a Format.

What i have been doing lately is the following, After the first time WinXP loads again i'll do my nForce drivers, reboot and once back in windows Disable my Paging File completly (requires another reboot). Then once i get back into windows with the page file disabled i Defrag the C:. This organizes all the System files together (i usually hit Defrag twice because it never seems to get everything the first time), The i re-enable the Paging File and set it to Max-Min 1024megs. Run Defrag again and you'll notice how nicely everything is organized :)

Save youself a heap of time and just get a better defrag program. If I remember correctly, Symantec SpeedDisk (included with Norton Ultilities) will defrag the swap file for you without all that rebooting you are doing.