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Page File Question

S

Stangs55

Golden Member
My boot/os drives are 2x 74 Gb raptors in RAID 0. I also have a standard 7200 rpm 75 Gb slave drive w/about 30% of the space left. This is my first time dealing w/RAID, but in the past I have always moved my page file to a non-os disk in hopes of improving performance.

So here's the question: Which drive do I put my page file on now? Should I leave it w/the RAIDed raptors, or will it still be faster on my standard slave drive? What to do....what to do.

Thanks for any help and suggestions. 🙂
 
Microsoft states that the "fastest" HD is where you should place your PF although they state as well that "performance is improved" by moving it to a different (non OS) physical HD in your machine and keeping it at a static size so as not to get fragmented. "Performance increase" in this case, would be SO MINOR in my opinion with your rig. I would leave it on your Rap's. Microsofts website has several articles on this, but I have not seen any on RAID setups. Some ppl have no paging file as this is the best option for performance at the cost of your system not being able to create a debugging file if a STOP error occurs.
 
Thx for the input. I'll move it back to the raptors.

However, I've never had my page file set to a constant. (then again, i don't know too much about them 🙂 ).

So, considering my rig, how large should I set the page file? Dynamic or Static?

Right now it is "1536-3072"

Thx again.
 
I have a gig of mem and have set mine to 525 (just a random #) . This 525 is to small to create a complete debugging file so really it is the same as having "no paging file." The reason I set it here is because when I play MOHPA and have several other programs running in the background, my peak (under Commit Charge in Windows tsk manager) rises above my gig of RAM. My pc would crash if I didnt have this extra 525 of "virtual memory." Microsoft will recommend that if you use a static PF then set it to atleast (in your case) 1534. Best way to tell is to be familiar with your tsk manager and see how high your Peak Commit Charge gets and go from there. Hope this wasn't to drawn out for ya srry if it is lol. To set your PF choose "custom size" > enter initial size and max size with the same # (if you want a static) > select "set" then "ok" "ok" "ok" then will have ta reboot. g-luck
 
Thx....I've now moved it back to my boot drive and changed it to 1536 static.

Let me see if I can bug you with one last question though -- The whole reason I ended up posting in here about this was b/c I started getting some random bsod's about Page fault in non paged area. And this is right after I've just done a fresh install of my OS. I've ran scandisk, diskeeper to defragment and set the MFT properly. Yet it still gave me the lovely blue screen.

What is this generally caused by? Will having a static page file help this?

Thx!
 
That is a good question that I do not have the answer to lol Srry . I will look into it though and as I learn I will post back here tomorrow if you have not already heard from an Anand "guru" to answer you. I hope the static size does help your bs screens though. 🙂 You runnin XP Pro or Home?
 
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm
I found these two and thought they might enlighten you a little if you have the time and patience lol to read them. The first thing to do when you get the BSOD is to write down the error message/s you get. Then you can research it/them to see what they mean. I read many arguements as to the culprit of these BSOD's your getting and they range from dieing PSU's, corrupted paging file, AV programs, to bad GFX card drivers. Take a gander and I will follow up with ya soon.
 
Have you tried re-installing your 71.20's ? I am not familiar with diskeeper. I've never used a software utility to "set my MFT." What if you didn't use this? lol just a thought. I'm scramblin to find an answer for ya I know how agrivating these BS screens can be especially on such a "mint" rig as yours. Will keep reading I will. Any BS's lately?
 
Still getting them..../sigh.

Here's the information from Diskeeper about the MFT.

Configuring the MFT
The Master File Table (MFT) is, in a sense, a file containing records about each file on an NTFS disk volume. In general terms, one file record exists in the MFT for each file on the volume. (There are exceptions to this. For example, a highly-fragmented file can require multiple file records in the MFT to store the information about the many fragments that make up the file.) When an NTFS volume is first created, Windows reserves a portion of the volume for the MFT. As files are added to the disk volume, the MFT grows as additional file records are added to it. As the disk fills, it is possible for the MFT to outgrow the space originally reserved for it. When this happens, additional new space is reserved for the MFT, but this new space is usually not adjacent to the original MFT zone. This is the cause of MFT fragmentation.

Also, when free space becomes too low, files get written into the space reserved for the MFT, thus causing the MFT to eventually expand around these files in a fragmented manner. This is another common cause of MFT fragmentation.

The MFT configuration tool helps pre-extend the MFT in a contiguous manner, so future growth of the MFT will not result in fragmented extensions of the file. Approximately one spare file record is needed for each file that will occupy the volume in the future. The number of file records to add is determined in one of two ways:

Frag Shield recommends the size increase based on the estimated number of files that could occupy the volume. This estimate is based on the current average file size and amount of available free space.

You can enter in how many files you estimate will potentially occupy the volume.

Tip: Pre-extending the MFT can be beneficial in the early stages of setting up a computer system, including cases where you are creating ?images? of the system to deploy to other computers.

Once the number of file records to add has been determined, Frag Shield ensures it is safe to add these records. In other words, there must be adequate free space in the volume (20% after the MFT has been expanded) and if adding the records would fragment the MFT, or the MFT is already too fragmented, then the MFT is defragmented and/or files are moved to allow the MFT to extend continuously. (Windows NT and Windows 2000 require MFT defragmentation be done at boot-time.)

On an ongoing basis, whenever analysis and defragmentation of the volume is done, the percentage of free MFT space is checked and if it is beyond a certain percentage of use, the Reliability pane shows this information, recommends the MFT configuration tool be run again, and provides a link to run the tool.

Note: Once the MFT is extended, it cannot be reduced in size without reformatting the volume.
Click to expand...
 
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