PageFile - SwapFile Virtual-Memory size and tweaks.

[Guest]

Hi there,

Running XPSP2, plenty HDD space and 2GB CAS2 RAM.
My Init and Max size is 3070MB. The OS reports the pagefile as existing on C:
but it's actually on a little-used and separate HDD, ( junction/reparsed via
linkd.exe).
The most labour intensive work I carry out is graphic manipulation.
Im aware of the default 1.5 times the amount of available RAM setting for
Pagefile, etc. etc. I've also trawled through, (read and understood), most
of the KB articles.

Now, this 3GB pagefile size appears inordinately large - is it required?
I know I could try a suck-it- and-see approach but are there not any other
real-life benchmarks? Any time that I've checked to see the actual
percentage-used by the pagefile - it is remarkably small.

I'm considering just doing away with the pagefile altogether via
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management\DisablePagingExecutive
which hopefully should make the OS and most programs more responsive?

I hope you get the drift of what I'm attempting to do?

Any comments/suggestions before I 'muck-in' would really be appreciated.

TIA - JJ

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Read this.

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Thanks Wes - so it looks like it will be a suck-it-and-see approach.

I was rather hoping that someone in a similar situ, (type of PC and workload),
had determined Init and Max sizes and/or had knowledge of the
'DisablePagingExecutive' setting.
No such luck, eh? <grin>

I'd still like to hear from yourself, (or anyone else),
that may have experience with the 'DisablePagingExecutive' setting -
ramifications etc.



Bullet points wrt the 'Virtual Memory in Windows XP' article ...

- Not using any Norton Products.

- Not using 'Fast-User Switching'.

- Not outputting any type of Dump File on SystemFail.


- With ref to ...
"In relocating the page file, it must be on a ‘basic’ drive.
Windows XP appears not to be willing to accept page files on ‘dynamic’
drives."
It DOES, if you create a junction point!



More system spec ...
- BTW my %systemdrive% is 'Basic'.

- 'SystemDrive' and 'PagingDrive' are both 60GB NTFS

- The CPU is a P4 3.4GHz with HT.



I know that there are many ways to skin a cat, but I was just comparing
'PeakCommitCharge'
against the size of the paging file to determine whether the paging file was
sized appropriately.

One thing I did glean from the article was the fact that the default settings
for system management of the pagefile has not as yet been resolved!!

Regards JJ

 

[Greg Hayes/Raxco Software]

Obviously, size on disk of the pagefile isn't an issue. What exactly are
you hoping to accomplish by "tweaking" the pagefile?

- Greg/Raxco Software
Microsoft MVP - Windows File System

Want to email me? Delete ntloader.

 

[Guest]

With regards to 'what I'm trying to accomplish by "tweaking" the pagefile',
please see my threads dated the 8th & 9th April - where my goals are stated.

Your response begs the question --> What are the benefits of adjusting the
pagefile?

You may wish to read the following article provided by Wesley Vogel ...

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Regards,

JJ
====================================================

 

[DP]

I don't think you want to turn off the pagefile. I think you will see a
very serious performance drop and you will not see the OS more "responsive,"
as you say. The very article you cite says the following:

Strictly speaking Virtual Memory is always in operation and cannot be
"turned off." What is meant by such wording is "set the system to use no
page file space at all." Doing this would waste a lot of the RAM. The reason
is that when programs ask for an allocation of Virtual memory space, they
may ask for a great deal more than they ever actually bring into use - the
total may easily run to hundreds of megabytes. These addresses have to be
assigned to somewhere by the system. If there is a page file available, the
system can assign them to it - if there is not, they have to be assigned to
RAM, locking it out from any actual use.