Swap file question

[Dorkenstein]

I am getting a new HD, a Western Digital Raptor I hope. I am curious, do I leave it as one partition or make one for the OS and one for online games (in my case)? In either event, how should I set up the swap file, on one partition or both? Thanks...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Leave it alone, let windows manage it.

 

[KoolDrew]

Swap file question

Swap file and pagefile are two different things. A swap file operates by swapping entire process out of system memory, while the pagefile functions by moving pages from system memory.

I am curious, do I leave it as one partition or make one for the OS and one for online games (in my case)?

The pagefile should be on the least-used drive and the most-used partition. If you have one drive, the pagefile should be on the same partition as the OS and your applications. Splitting these up would only increase your average seeking distance, thus decreasing performance.

As for sizing of the pagefile, I would just let Windows manage it.

 

[SumYungGai]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

Swap file question

Swap file and pagefile are two different things. A swap file operates by swapping entire process out of system memory, while the pagefile functions by moving pages from system memory.

Same thing, just more specific. "Swapping" itself doesn't specify the method.

 

[Ghouler]

that is interesting. Suppose paging and swapping are 2 differnet processes - can these be manipulated from the GUI? I mean under Windows I can change the size of the paging file and move it to various locations, but do I have control over the other one? If not, then it does not matter if they are separate or the same things - from the user perspective anyway...

 

[Nothinman]

Same thing, just more specific. "Swapping" itself doesn't specify the method.

Not really, swapping is only used by some 'odd' OSes like OpenVMS. All 'normal' OSes use paging, which is a different process.

that is interesting. Suppose paging and swapping are 2 differnet processes - can these be manipulated from the GUI? I mean under Windows I can change the size of the paging file and move it to various locations, but do I have control over the other one? If not, then it does not matter if they are separate or the same things - from the user perspective anyway...

Windows doesn't swap, it pages. You can control the location of the paging file(s), but that's it.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew


The pagefile should be on the least-used drive and the most-used partition. If you have one drive, the pagefile should be on the same partition as the OS and your applications. Splitting these up would only increase your average seeking distance, thus decreasing performance.

As for sizing of the pagefile, I would just let Windows manage it.

Why would you want a page file on a most used partition? It should be on a low utilization drive. If you are paging from main memory how are you increasing seek times? Irregardless of where the page file is, as long as the page file is not fragmented seek times should be uneffected as the data is being pulled from memory, and the actuator is not having to pass back and forth between the application data and the pagefile location.

You can also check to see MS recommends that you have the minimum and maximum size the same to avoid fragmentation of the Page file. Text Text

There is also a recommendation to put it on it's own partition to avoid fragementation.

 

[Nothinman]

Why would you want a page file on a most used partition? It should be on a low utilization drive. If you are paging from main memory how are you increasing seek times?

Because partitions go in drives, if you put it on a seperate partition you'll increase seek times on that drive whenever the pagefile is accessed. If it's in the most used partition of the least used drive the chances are higher that the drive will already be positioned near the pagefile and since it's the least used drive the impact will be lower.

Irregardless of where the page file is, as long as the page file is not fragmented seek times should be uneffected as the data is being pulled from memory,

That's assuming that you're reading from the pagefile in large contiguous chunks and that you're not waiting for any other data on the drive at the same time, both of which are usually false.

 

[KoolDrew]

You can also check to see MS recommends that you have the minimum and maximum size the same to avoid fragmentation of the Page file.

If the initial size of the pagefile is high enough it will never need to resize. The MS article probably does not take that into account.

Nothinman covered the other things.