paging file

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Guest

hello
i set my paging file for C: at 2MB for initial and 50MB for max , and for D:
i set it at
3000 for initial and max. does this sound right ? i have been on MS site
all day reading about this , but the more this old man reads the more he gets
confused.
help me out if you can
thanks
larry

ps:i play simulations games on this computer. xp home , 1024 mb ram
--

Aspire X-Superalien 500W
Asus P4c800E Deluxe
Intel P-4 800 3.0G 1mb cache
Crucial 2x 512MB DDR400
2x WD 80GB Sata 150 7200rpm 8M
Ati Radeon 9800XT 256MB
Audigy 2ZS
Windows XP , home
 
I suggest that you just set the pagefile to "system managed" and allow the
operating system to control it as necessary.

Other than that, there is NO best scenario where a chosen setting is better
than another. But you could cause big problems by having a setting that is
"incorrect" for your usage.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
larry said:
hello
i set my paging file for C: at 2MB for initial and 50MB for max , and for D:
i set it at
3000 for initial and max. does this sound right ? i have been on MS site
all day reading about this , but the more this old man reads the more he gets
confused.
help me out if you can
thanks
larry

ps:i play simulations games on this computer. xp home , 1024 mb ram
Click to expand...

Assuming that C: and D: partitions are on separate physcial disks (you
have two drives so that is a logical assumption) then your settings
are not bad.

I don't believe that you need to have the minimum for D: set to 3000
mb, but the only consequence of doing so is that disk space is tied
up. Personally I would set the D: drive to about 100 or 200 mb and
perhaps 2 gb as maximum.

See the article on virtual memory in Windows XP by the late Alex
Nichol MVP at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm


Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
I think it was Jim Eshelman that prophesied that if two hard disks are
available then a "good" configuration is to set the Windows drive swap file
to min.60mb and max.60mb, (because XP would be unhappy to not find one at
all there), and then to set a system managed swap file on the first drive of
the 2nd hard disk. (which is how my main machine has been configured for
years).

I distantly remember that the gist of Jim Eshelmans "method" was that XP
could be doing 2 things at once, ...on the odd occasion !

Upon delving into this seldom rummaged neck of the woods ...in my PC ..., I
discover that my 60mb fixed virtual memory / pagefile.sys is still there on
drive C:\ {my Windows drive}, and drive G:\ {first drive on my 2nd hd} has a
1.12 GB (1,207,148,544 bytes) pagefile.sys in its' root-directory, and is
not being displayed on the "Virtual Memory" i.e. Control Panel | System |
Advanced / Performance / Settings / Advanced / Change

....so possibly XP has not reached a state of unhappiness with my 768mb of
RAM, and chosen to ignore that big swapfile on my drive G:\ ?

....and so I beg to differ just a little bit with your "...there is NO best
scenario..." etc !! :-)

regards, Richard
 
A pagefile.sys file that is in use will have the current date applied to it.
If it doesn't, it is NOT being used, delete it. It is just taking up space.

As I said, there is no best for all setting, but the "wrong" setting can
cause problems.

Best to use system managed and allow the system, which is a heck of a lot
smarter than either you or I, to handle it.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
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