pagefile.sys

[Tom Schelfaut]

After I installed XP Home, I created a separate partition
for my swap file and instructed Windows to only use that
partition for swap files. Of course, Windows had already
created a swapfile on my C: drive before I did this. Since
it's fairly large (1.5 GB), I'd like to get rid of it but
Windows won't let me delete it, even though it's no longer
using it, but uses the pagefile.sys on my D: drive instead.
Any ideas how I can delete this file?

thanks,
Tom

 

[Plato]

After I installed XP Home, I created a separate partition
for my swap file and instructed Windows to only use that
partition for swap files. Of course, Windows had already
created a swapfile on my C: drive before I did this. Since
it's fairly large (1.5 GB), I'd like to get rid of it but
Windows won't let me delete it, even though it's no longer
using it, but uses the pagefile.sys on my D: drive instead.
Any ideas how I can delete this file?

If you put your page/swap file on another partition on the same physical
drive you will just slow down your pc.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

After I installed XP Home, I created a separate partition
for my swap file and instructed Windows to only use that
partition for swap files.

This is not a good idea, and can hurt your performance. What
you've done is move the page file to a location on the hard drive
distant from the other frequently-used data on the drive. The
result is that every time Windows needs to use use the page file,
the time to get to it and back from it is increased.

Putting the swap file on a second *physical* drive is a good
idea, since it decreases head movement, but not to a secod
partition on a single drive. A good rule of thumb is that the
page file should be on the most-used partition of the least-used
physical drive. For almost everyone with a single drive, that's
C:.

If you have enough RAM, the penalty for doing what you've done
may be little or slight, since you won't use the swap file much,
but it won't help you.

Also, the other problem with a separate partition like this is
that you run the risk of making it too small, in which case
programs will fail for lack of virtual memory, or two large,
which is wasteful of disk space. If you leave it on C:, it can
expand or contract as needed.

 

[Alex Nichol]

After I installed XP Home, I created a separate partition
for my swap file and instructed Windows to only use that
partition for swap files. Of course, Windows had already
created a swapfile on my C: drive before I did this. Since
it's fairly large (1.5 GB), I'd like to get rid of it but
Windows won't let me delete it, even though it's no longer
using it, but uses the pagefile.sys on my D: drive instead.

You need to retain a notional amount on C or the system is inclined to
disregard the settings and either turn off paging altogether or make a
giant file on C. Take custom settings for C and make Initial 2 max 50.
Click Set before going on

I don't advise such a separate partition for the file (unless you are
happy tying up all that disk space probably unused). Having it separate
means that you are helping to *maximise* seek time in getting at it -
the most critical aspect of disk performance and that is the opposite of
what you want. Read up more at my page www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

[Tom Schelfaut]

OK, point taken.
Actually I was concerned about fragmentation but I'll
switch it back to the default location and settings. With
1 GB of RAM I don't think the system will be using the
pagefile often anyway.

thanks for the advise,
Tom

 

[Hilary Karp]

If you're worried about fragmentation then give the page file a fixed
size, the same for minimum and maximum. FYI I have 1GB of ram. On boot
the amount used is less than 20 mb but it has grown to over 100 mb with
multiple programs running.

 

[Alex Nichol]

If you're worried about fragmentation then give the page file a fixed
size, the same for minimum and maximum.

DON'T. That is wasteful. You should give it an Initial size big enough
that it does not grow in practice. But in XP, the 'potential space left
can be used as somewhere to assign the pages that programs have asked
for but never taken up, and also for contingencies. This may amount to
hundreds of MB. There is no downside in having Max a *lot* bigger.
On modern large RAM, especially as appears to be the case here, there
will be so little actual traffic on the swap file that fragmentation is
completely immaterial, and as reads from it are random pages on the fly,
it is a minor consideration anyway

 

[Hilary Karp]

I stand, or as it is the case now, sit corrected...lol...that's actualy
what I have set on mine. Don't know what the brain was thinking..

 

[Pop]

If you put your page/swap file on another partition on the same physical
drive you will just slow down your pc.

No, it's really not true that it'll slow down your system,
except under certain circumstances of use, and there are
some benefits. But, that wasn't your question:

You cannot delete the pagefil with a Delete command.

To open System, click Start, point to Settings, click
Control Panel, and then double-click System
Advanced tab.

To delete a paging file, set both initial size and maximum
size to zero, or click No paging file. Microsoft strongly
recommends that you do not disable or delete the paging
file.

a.. To have Windows choose the best paging file size, click
System managed size.
a..
a.. For best performance, do not set the initial size to
less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging
file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent
to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your system. Usually, you
should leave the paging file at its recommended size,
although you might increase its size if you routinely use
programs that require a lot of memory.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

No, it's really not true that it'll slow down your system,
except under certain circumstances of use, and there are
some benefits.

No, not so. Plato's comment is correct. This is not a good idea,
and normally hurts performance, unless there's enough RAM for the
pagefile not to be used at all. What it does is move the page
file to a location on the hard drive distant from the other
frequently-used data on the drive. The result is that every time
Windows needs to use use the page file, the time to get to it and
back from it is increased.

Putting the swap file on a second *physical* drive is a good
idea, since it decreases head movement, but not to a second
partition on a single drive. A good rule of thumb is that the
page file should be on the most-used partition of the least-used
physical drive. For almost everyone with a single drive, that's
C:.

a.. For best performance, do not set the initial size to
less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging
file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent
to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your system. Usually, you
should leave the paging file at its recommended size,
although you might increase its size if you routinely use
programs that require a lot of memory.

That 1.5 times RAM recommendation is the Windows default, but
it's a poor one. In general, the more RAM you have, the *less*
pagefile you need. A multiple of RAM is not the way to go.

See MVP Alex Nichol's article at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm