Moving Swap File to Another Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jackson Browne
  • Start date Start date
J

Jackson Browne

A co-worker was talking about getting a second HDD and moving his swap
file to that drive. He said system would be faster.

Can this be done? Can anyone post a link how to do this?

Thank you.
 
JoeM said:
try
this:http://www.youthtech.com/techstuff/techtips/win9x_tips/hdandswapfile.htm
Click to expand...

That page is downright dangerous and should be avoided, especially by
those using Windows 9x (Windows 95/98/Me) which is what the page is
intended for.

Never repeat never specify a maximum size limit for the swap file in
Windows 95/98/Me. Period.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Jackson Browne said:
A co-worker was talking about getting a second HDD and moving his swap
file to that drive. He said system would be faster.

Can this be done? Can anyone post a link how to do this?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Moving the swap file to a different physical hard drive can only
improve performance if Windows is actively using the swap file; which
means that it is frequently moving less active memory pages from RAM
to the swap/paging file and then moving these pages back into RAM
again later when they are needed (and after also moving something esle
from RAM to the swap file to free up space to load them back into
RAM).

And if Windows is actually doing this then adding additional RAM will
probably cost less than the added hard drive, and the performance
benefits will be far far greater.

For more information about virtual memory management in Windows XP see
the article by the late Alex Nichol MVP at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Moving the swap file to a different physical hard drive can only
improve performance if Windows is actively using the swap file; which
means that it is frequently moving less active memory pages from RAM
to the swap/paging file and then moving these pages back into RAM
again later when they are needed (and after also moving something esle
from RAM to the swap file to free up space to load them back into
RAM).

And if Windows is actually doing this then adding additional RAM will
probably cost less than the added hard drive, and the performance
benefits will be far far greater.

For more information about virtual memory management in Windows XP see
the article by the late Alex Nichol MVP at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
Click to expand...

Thanks Ron. I think he was going to purchase an additional HDD
anyways. I'll pass this along to him this evening. I appreciate your
time.
 
In
Jackson Browne said:
A co-worker was talking about getting a second HDD and moving
his swap
file to that drive. He said system would be faster.
Click to expand...


It might be. It depends on how much RAM he has and what apps he
runs.

If he pages significantly, paging to a second hard drive would
decrease the head movement to and from the page file and speed up
his computer.

However, many people these days have enough RAM so that the
system doesn't page very much and there's little if anything to
be gained by doing this.

Moreover, if his getting the second drive is just for this
purpose, he'd almost certainly be better off spending the same,
or less, amount of money for additional RAM. That would speed up
the system more than what he plans to do, as well as save him
money.

Can this be done?

Yes.


Can anyone post a link how to do this?
Click to expand...


No link is necessary. Hold down the Windows key and press Pause |
Break. On the Advanced tab, click Settings, then choose Advanced
again. Under Virtual Memory click change and change it there.
 
In


It might be. It depends on how much RAM he has and what apps he
runs.

If he pages significantly, paging to a second hard drive would
decrease the head movement to and from the page file and speed up
his computer.

However, many people these days have enough RAM so that the
system doesn't page very much and there's little if anything to
be gained by doing this.

Moreover, if his getting the second drive is just for this
purpose, he'd almost certainly be better off spending the same,
or less, amount of money for additional RAM. That would speed up
the system more than what he plans to do, as well as save him
money.




No link is necessary. Hold down the Windows key and press Pause |
Break. On the Advanced tab, click Settings, then choose Advanced
again. Under Virtual Memory click change and change it there.
Click to expand...


Thank you for that information Ken.
 
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