Windows XP and HD defrag with swap file.
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Thread: Windows XP and HD defrag with swap file.

  1. #1
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    Windows XP and HD defrag with swap file.

    OK here is the scenario. I got two HD's on this system. First one has the swap file on it. Thats the blue area on the defrag readout right? I read somewhere the proper way to defrag is the temporarily move the swap file to the second hd while defragging and then back again? Anyone have know how on this?
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  2. #2
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    It is completely unnecessary to move the pagefile. Unfortunately there is a tremendous amount of BS on the web with regards to defragging
    Nick.

  3. #3
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    ok thanks for the reply.
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  4. #4
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    I have to agree with SuperSparks, however if you want to defrag your pagefile, get PageDefrag.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by DeP View Post
    I have to agree with SuperSparks, however if you want to defrag your pagefile, get PageDefrag.
    Downloading that now. Thank you.
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  6. #6
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    Another question. I just read somewhere if you have say two HD's in your system you should split the swapfile between the two of them. Any credence to this?
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  7. #7
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    Not really. Remember that the system will only hit the pagefile if it runs out of physical memory. If it has to page data to disk, that will slow down the system regardless of if the swap is on one to two drives.

    The real solution is to get more physical ram instead of toying with pagefiles.

  8. #8
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    I do split mine over a couple of drives, but it is a bit of a pointless exercise, as MK says, because I have plenty of RAM. If you are short of RAM and have more than one physical drive it can be worth doing though, as it will speed things up a bit.
    Nick.

  9. #9
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    A lot of those tricks worked fine with 98 and you must take into concideration the small hdds and slow cpus we had back them. They worked fine then, but with the newer hardware, you find you just wasted your time. I gave up on those ideas when the cpus exceeded 1 GHz. Why, because I could see no difference where it helped out.

  10. #10
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    You can still move the virual memory as long as you move it to a faster harddrive and it does make your computer sing sweet songs.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by paul_ doo View Post
    You can still move the virual memory as long as you move it to a faster harddrive and it does make your computer sing sweet songs.
    I just had to restore my system completely last week.

    I had one IDE drive for OS etc. I have one SATA for DATA and games.

    I split the swapfile between the two and gave the second SATA drive about 1.5x the swap file size of actual memory of 4 gig.

    This page says XP will auto choose the fastest drive to use the swap file off of.

    http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm
    Something to do while waiting for long downloads. Atari Adventure

  12. #12
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    The days of having to perform these tricks are numbered now. I built my main PC with 12GB of RAM, and my new laptop has 6GB. Though they both have pagefiles (because Windows still likes to have one), the pagefile is never actually used to store any data. Now that very large amounts of RAM are affordable, messing with pagefile settings will soon be as obsolete as DOS
    Nick.

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