lack of Virtual Memory

[Cathrine]

Hello,

Can anyone tell me what to do regarding I keep receiving
an error message telling me that the system is low on
virtual memory? The error message I receive is:"Your
system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows
runs properly increase the size of your virtual memory
paging file"

Thanks for any help and suggestions

Best regards,
Cathrine

 

[Guest]

Go into "Control Panel" select the "system" icon.
Go to the tab at the top that says "advanced"
Select "Performance Options"
On the bottom it will read "Virtual Memory" select the change button.
In here you will have to increase the size under initial and max.
Richardhtml

 

[Guest]

I also found this article for the size of page file/virtual memory
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;197379
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 197379
Configuring Page Files for Optimization and Recovery

 

[Cathrine]

Hi again,

I just tried doing what you describe. Well, a friend of
mine partitioned the computer so I am being told that the
initial size on C is '384' and maximum size is '784' I
realize I can change these numbers but - what should the
numbers be then? Is it actually a bad idea to have
partitioned the computer?

Best regards,
Cathrine

 

[Guest]

This is from this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;197379

To determine the size of the pagefile multiply the amount of physical RAM by
1.5 to a maximum of 4095MB. However, placing the pagefile on the boot
partition does not optimize performance because Windows has to perform disk
I/O on both the system directory and the pagefile. Therefore, it is
recommended that you place the pagefile on a different partition and
different physical hard disk drive so that Windows can handle multiple I/O
requests more quickly.

 

[Cathrine]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for trying so hard what I have to do....
(smile)..
I am reading what you have explained to me and - I still
am not sure what you actually are telling me. The
computer has been partitioned so there is harddrive C
which contains 5G, harddrive F caontaining 10G, and then
two more harddrives.
Does any of this information have any impact on my
problems with the Virtual Memory?..........

Best regards,
Cathrine

 

[Andy]

If you have another HD, put your pagefile there. The size
of the pagefile should be at least 1.5 times the amount of
ram on your system. If you have plenty of HD space, make
it 2 or 3 times the amount of ram. You may also like to
set the min and max size to be the same to reduce
fragmentation on your HD.

Hope this info is useful.

 

[XMan]

It's only a performance saving if the other partitions are being served by a
different disk controller - otherwise it doesn't really matter where you put
the Pagefile - It's the same controller dealing with a potential IO
bottleneck wherever the pagefile is


Mike

 

[Rob Stow]

It's only a performance saving if the other partitions are being served by a
different disk controller - otherwise it doesn't really matter where you put
the Pagefile - It's the same controller dealing with a potential IO
bottleneck wherever the pagefile is

The first goal in determining page file placement
is to minimize the drive thrashing that takes place
when the drive heads have to bounce back and forth
between the page file and whatever other reading
the drive needs to do. This is the origin of the
rule of thumb
Place the page file on the most used
PARTITION on the least used DRIVE.

You use the least used drive to decrease the odds
that the drive has to do things other than service
the page file. You use the most used partition on
that drive to increase the odds that the drive
heads are already over the page file's partition
and hence minimizing thrashing.


A different controller helps, but even putting
the page file on a different hard drive on the
same controller can make a huge difference in
page file performance simply by reducing drive
thrashing.

If you upgrade the hard drive on a system, instead
of removing the old 20 or 40 GB drive, keep it in
the system as a dedicated page file drive - even if
it is only a 5400 rpm drive and even if it has to be
a on the same controller as another drive.