Pagefile priority question

[Chris Barnabo]

My system is a laptop, and it's docked about 75% of the time. The
docking station contains a 60GB IDE drive that I normally use for just
large working files and backups - i.e. fairly low usage. What I'd like
to do is setup the paging so that when the system is docked paging takes
place to this external drive, and when the system is undocked paging
takes place to the internal drive in the laptop.

I've configured myself thusly:

Primary drive (in laptop) (100GB 5400rpm):

C: NTFS partition (WINXP, programs, etc.)
P: FAT32 partition (pagefile, more-or-less centered on drive)
D: NTFS partition (Docs+Settings, data files, etc.)

Secondary drive (in dock) (60GB 7200rpm):

L: NTFS partition (pagefile + large data files)

In the virtual memory settings, both L: and P: have a 2048-4096MB
pagefile defined. No pagefiles on any other drives or partitions.

Given this config, will Windows "favor" the L: pagefile when it's
present automatically, or do I need to do something to force it to give
that pagefile priority over the one on the P: partition?

Thanks!

-- Chris
________*________ Chris Barnabo, (e-mail address removed)
____________ \_______________/ http://www.spagnet.com
\__________/ / /
__\ \_______/ /__ "The heck with the Prime Directive,
\_______________/(- let's destroy something!"

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You should never relocate Windows XP system files to
an external drive as performance will suffer due to increased
seek time. Leave the page file on the C: partition.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| My system is a laptop, and it's docked about 75% of the time. The
| docking station contains a 60GB IDE drive that I normally use for just
| large working files and backups - i.e. fairly low usage. What I'd like
| to do is setup the paging so that when the system is docked paging takes
| place to this external drive, and when the system is undocked paging
| takes place to the internal drive in the laptop.
|
| I've configured myself thusly:
|
| Primary drive (in laptop) (100GB 5400rpm):
|
| C: NTFS partition (WINXP, programs, etc.)
| P: FAT32 partition (pagefile, more-or-less centered on drive)
| D: NTFS partition (Docs+Settings, data files, etc.)
|
| Secondary drive (in dock) (60GB 7200rpm):
|
| L: NTFS partition (pagefile + large data files)
|
| In the virtual memory settings, both L: and P: have a 2048-4096MB
| pagefile defined. No pagefiles on any other drives or partitions.
|
| Given this config, will Windows "favor" the L: pagefile when it's
| present automatically, or do I need to do something to force it to give
| that pagefile priority over the one on the P: partition?
|
| Thanks!
|
| -- Chris

 

[Ron Martell]

My system is a laptop, and it's docked about 75% of the time. The
docking station contains a 60GB IDE drive that I normally use for just
large working files and backups - i.e. fairly low usage. What I'd like
to do is setup the paging so that when the system is docked paging takes
place to this external drive, and when the system is undocked paging
takes place to the internal drive in the laptop.

I've configured myself thusly:

Primary drive (in laptop) (100GB 5400rpm):

C: NTFS partition (WINXP, programs, etc.)
P: FAT32 partition (pagefile, more-or-less centered on drive)
D: NTFS partition (Docs+Settings, data files, etc.)

Secondary drive (in dock) (60GB 7200rpm):

L: NTFS partition (pagefile + large data files)

In the virtual memory settings, both L: and P: have a 2048-4096MB
pagefile defined. No pagefiles on any other drives or partitions.

Given this config, will Windows "favor" the L: pagefile when it's
present automatically, or do I need to do something to force it to give
that pagefile priority over the one on the P: partition?

When multiple pagefiles are configured in Windows XP then it will use
whichever pagefile is most efficient for each invididual paging
activity.

As always, the ultimate answer is to have sufficient RAM so as to
elminate, or at least reduce to an absolute minimum, the need for
Windows to move active memory content from RAM to the pagefile so as
to allow that RAM to be used for other, currently more important,
tasks.

Note that this would not eliminate the need for a pagefile. In fact
there must be a pagefile present in order to ensure the most efficient
use of the installed RAM.

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