Pagefile

[Corinne]

I have recently noticed that my pagefile is now in two fragments when I do a
defrag. I have changed the settings to no pagefile and defragged then I put
the settings back to how they were. But then a few weeks later the same
problem has happened.

Is this a problem, or should I not worry about it?

Thanks for any response

 

[Richard Urban]

If you have a small initial pagefile, the file may grow, as required, by
your workload. If this happens, the file may indeed become fragmented. Set a
larger initial size if you are constantly growing above the minimum size.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Corinne]

I have my page file set to min. 768 and max 1536. My RAM is 512. What would
you suggest if my settings are wrong. I do a lot of scanning and picture
editing and I know this uses a lot of memory, so maybe I need to change
things. I have two hard discs one is (C) 60GB with windows and programs on
it the other is (F) 80GB with files and folders on it. It is the C drive
that I have problems with. There is still plenty of free space on both.

Thanks
Corinne

 

[Richard Urban]

Are you, by chance, using Norton AntiVirus 2004? If so, I can shed some
light on the subject!

BTW, even if the pagefile becomes fragmented, upon reboot the pagefile will
be it's original size. This will occur even if the file had grown to many
times it's normal size during the previous session.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Corinne]

I have Norton Antivirus 2003 installed plus McAfee Personal Firewall. But if
pagefile sorts itself out after a reboot then something is wrong because I
booted up this morning, checked my e-mail and then disabled NAV and McAfee,
then did a disk clean up and defrag. so I had not done anything too
strenuous to the pc.

 

[Richard Urban]

Earlier this week I was working on a similar problem on a computer with
Windows 2000. The pagefile was in 2 fragments. I created a pagefile on
partition D: and eliminated the one on partition C:.

After a reboot, I defragged partition C: and put a new pagefile there. It
was in 2 fragments right off the bat. I tried this 3-4 times, with the same
results. I finally got good results as follows:

1. Created a pagefile on D: - eliminated pagefile on C:
2. Rebooted. Ran defrag on partition C:
3. Rebooted again. Ran defrag again.
4. Created pagefile on partition C:

This time the pagefile was in one piece. My feeling is that after the 1st
reboot and defrag, the system remembers where the original pagefile was, and
recreates it in exactly the same way. It sure appeared to look like this
when looking at the defrag visual (using PerfectDisk here).

After the 2nd reboot and defrag the pagefile was created in an entirely new
area, and was contiguous in nature!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Corinne]

I'll give that a try then maybe that will solve the problem, not that it
seems to be a problem at the moment but I do like things to be right.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and giving your suggestions. It is
appreciated.

Corinne

 

[Plato]

I have my page file set to min. 768 and max 1536. My RAM is 512. What would

Why would you set a max? ie if windows needs more swap you're first in
line to lose data.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have my page file set to min. 768 and max 1536. My RAM is 512. What would
you suggest if my settings are wrong. I do a lot of scanning and picture
editing and I know this uses a lot of memory, so maybe I need to change
things.

See www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm. The initial size may be more than
you need, but with really heavy graphics it may prove necessary, and the
only harm done is to tie up disk space unnecessarily. Having a pagefile
mildly fragmented does not usually have any significant effect - access
to it are random and sporadic, so heads are likely to have to move to
get to it anyway, and one place is as likely as another to be in the
best place on any given occasion.