Added RAM and lost HD space

G

Guest

I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected a performance boost...
however, that didn't happen because my free HD space went from 800MB-ish to
175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover the 'lost' space?
 
M

Malke

bwin said:
I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected a performance boost...
however, that didn't happen because my free HD space went from 800MB-ish to
175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover the 'lost' space?

The loss of hard drive space has nothing to do with adding RAM.
Something else must be going on with your computer but since you haven't
told us anything about it, no one can guess what. This link will show
you what details to include in your next post:

http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Malke
 
I

Ian D

bwin said:
I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected a performance
boost...
however, that didn't happen because my free HD space went from 800MB-ish
to
175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover the 'lost' space?

If you have Hibernate enabled, the hiberfil.sys file will grow to equal your
RAM. Also the pagefile could adjust itself to the increased RAM if you
have it set to system managed size.
 
G

Guest

I am positive that the loss of HD space is because of the RAM addition,
because it happened at the exact time. How do I know if I have hibernate
enabled?
 
J

Jim Macklin

How exactly did you upgrade the RAM? Did you just insert
new RAM modules in slots on the motherboard, or did you
re-install Windows or make some other change at the same
time.

If you don't know how to check for a setting to allow
hibernate, how can you be positive of anything?



|I am positive that the loss of HD space is because of the
RAM addition,
| because it happened at the exact time. How do I know if I
have hibernate
| enabled?
|
|
|
| "Ian D" wrote:
|
| >
| >
| > >I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected
a performance
| > >boost...
| > > however, that didn't happen because my free HD space
went from 800MB-ish
| > > to
| > > 175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover
the 'lost' space?
| >
| > If you have Hibernate enabled, the hiberfil.sys file
will grow to equal your
| > RAM. Also the pagefile could adjust itself to the
increased RAM if you
| > have it set to system managed size.
| >
| >
| >
| >
 
G

Guest

I inserted the new module in the slot, and turned my computer on. If by
hibernate, you mean my entire computer... NO. But if you meant the monitor,
then yes.
 
G

Gerry

If the details you have posted are correct you are not really addressing
the real issue. I am surprised no one has commented on how little free
disk space you have!

How large is your hard disk? What have you done to create more free
space?


--



Hope this helps.

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

Robert Moir

bwin said:
I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected a performance
boost...
however, that didn't happen because my free HD space went from 800MB-ish
to
175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover the 'lost' space?

If I had to guess, and noting that you've got hibernate turned off, I'd
suspect your pagefile grew in size with the memory upgrade which is to be
expected. You're probably not going to like hearing this but I'd very
strongly suggest that even _before_ this hard disk space disappeared you did
not really have enough available to ensure the smooth operation of your
computer.
 
N

neil

Clearing all but the last restore point might help get back some space and
your pagefile will grow according to the amount of memory you have. But as
others have said I think you need to consider a larger drive if that is all
the space you have free.
Neil
 
D

David Vair

Also if you have you machine set to Hibernate, the file that is used will grow to match the amount
of memory.
 
L

Lil' Dave

bwin said:
I just upgraded my RAM from 512 to 768 MB and expected a performance
boost...
however, that didn't happen because my free HD space went from 800MB-ish
to
175-ish. Why did this happen, and how do I recover the 'lost' space?

Believe the answer lies with 2 replies that need to be tied together to get
the loss you're looking as the culprit.

By default, windows assigns 1.5 times the RAM as the default pagefile size.
That accounts for 384 MB additional partition space used. The remainder is
probably the hiberfil.sys increase in size, along with other garbage
collected as well.
Dave
 
B

Bill Sharpe

Lil' Dave said:
Believe the answer lies with 2 replies that need to be tied together to get
the loss you're looking as the culprit.

By default, windows assigns 1.5 times the RAM as the default pagefile size.
That accounts for 384 MB additional partition space used. The remainder is
probably the hiberfil.sys increase in size, along with other garbage
collected as well.
Dave
Try cleaning up your hard disk to remove unnecessary files and programs
you don't use. It's not good to have less free HD space than your total
ram. If you can't free up a few gigabytes of disk space it's time for a
larger hard disk.

Bill
 
G

Guest

Thx for all your guys' help ... I have an external HD, but for whatever
reason... I don't like moving stuff between drives. Most new files I have
been putting on the external though. I reduced the system restore percent
before making my original post (but didn't get rid of all but one) and that
did not help.
 
A

Ace

--For your page file:
Right-click 'My Computer' on your desktop, choose 'Properties'
Go to the 'Advanced' tab, choose 'Settings' under 'Performance'
Go to the 'Advanced' tab, at the bottom 'Change' for Virtual Memory
Here you can see just how much Windows wants for your page file.
I keep mine at 'System Managed' because it proves the lesser impact in
performance compared to a fixed size, no matter how big it's set.
Changing these settings requires a reboot.


--For your hibernation file:
Go to 'Start', 'Control Panel' (Default Windows XP style menu location)
Go to 'Start', 'Settings', 'Control Panel' (Classic Windows style menu)
Double-click 'Power Options', and choose the 'Hibernate' tab.
Here you can control whether or not Windows will support 'Hibernate', if
the setting is ON (Checkmarked) then turn it OFF (Remove checkmark) and OK.
You'll also see just how much disk space is required here for hibernate.
You will not be able to turn on hibernate without sufficient disk space.
Changing this setting may or may not require a reboot.


--To clean up system restore points:
Double-click 'My Computer' on your desktop
Right-click your system drive, in most cases "C:" and choose 'Properties'
On the 'General' tab you should find a 'Disk Cleanup' button, click it.
Let the program scan until it presents you with the options window.
Depending on your system, the Disk Cleanup Wizard may take quite a while to
scan your system for junk that can be cleaned!
Once the 'Disk Cleanup for <your drive C:'s name' window appears, go to the
'More Options' tab.
There at the bottom you will find a 'System Restore' section with a 'Clean
Up' button, click that button and confirm the dialog with 'OK'.
That will REMOVE all system restore points, EXCEPT the very latest.
Adjusting the slider for System Restore settings does NOT remove restore
points.
This procedure does not require a reboot.


Hope the above is of any use to you.
As others have noted, seeing as you have so very little disk space
remaining; if the above options do not free up at least 10% space of your
total drive size (Threshold for Windows XP, you'll get a confirmation of
this 10% limit if you run Disk Defragmenter with less disk space)
I'd strongly advise you to reclaim disk space through other means such as
moving your 'My Documents' contents to your external harddrive if it has
sufficient space available to hold the data.
This will relieve Windows XP of having to muddle around with what little
free space it has to work in as your external drive will not be part of
your system's bootup routine.
Windows XP requires some free disk space to operate normally to shift
around data while you work, without sufficient disk space it will
continually try to swap out to the page file in an attempt to keep the
system running at full speed.. but without sufficient disk space, your own
harddrive becomes the entire system's bottleneck.
 
G

Guest

unchecking the hibernate box put me up over 1 GB. thx.

the ironic thing is that my computer never shut down like it says, so I
wasn't actually using it anyways.
 
G

Gerry

How large is your hard drive and how much free space? Is the drive
partitioned? Do you have more than one hard drive? If not have you
considered adding a second drive?


--



Hope this helps.

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

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