Question about Swapfile drive.

Kbird · 01-15-03, 04:51 PM

On tweakxp.com they show a swapfile tweak where you create a small partition on a second drive. I've got a IBM Ultrastar 160 and Atlas V 160. The Ultrastar is at 10,000 rpm and the Atlas at 7,200 rpm. Has anyone tried this? And would it work for me?

XWRed1 · 01-15-03, 05:01 PM

Having the swapfile on the 10k drive would make it perform better than on the 7.2k drive.

Having the swapfile on its own partition would reduce fragmentation.

I don't see any reason why something on your box would prevent you from doing these things unless you maybe had a virus or a corrupt install, or insufficient privileges to the local machine.

o770 · 01-15-03, 05:24 PM

its always faster to have the swapfile allocated onto another disk as long as this disk is not much slower or another partition in the same disk you have the OS.
if you would have it in the same hard disk then you should prefer having it on the same partition of the OS.

if youre gonna allocate it onto another hard disk, make sure you have this other disk connected to the other IDE interface - not the same as the one you have the OS in. otherwise you will still make it slower than it could be connected to the other interface.

ronin1967 · 01-15-03, 05:29 PM

In this day and age with the speeds of the machines we have and the amount memory avaiable, creating seperate swap files or allocating them to seperate drives is almost more aggravation than it is worth.

The new OS's like XP even have features to remove the swap file(assuming you have sufficent memory)of course that doens't entirely work, ut we are getting there...

ninthebin · 01-15-03, 05:42 PM

Quote:

creating seperate swap files or allocating them to seperate drives is almost more aggravation than it is worth.

how so? - I have never had problems with it...

but your fastest drive is your best bet

o770 · 01-15-03, 05:44 PM

actually the speed increase in the processes involving the swapfile usage is really noticeable having it allocated to another disk in another IDE interface. thats because these processes would happen at the same time you have the OS doing other things, in the other disk (interface).
in the situations the OS cant perform two tasks at the same time due to the limitation of the IDE controllers, one being a swapfile related task; to have the swapfile allocated to a disk in the other interface would allow it to perform both tasks, at the same time.

x1xBugsBunnyx1x · 01-15-03, 06:22 PM

This is an interesting concept & i am always looking for free perks

can anyone shed some light on the layout "size" begining/end of allocated space etc etc, like Kbird i have scsi 10k IBM HDs 36gb i am running a 39160 dual channel card & just use the ide for storage.. will this help me any or not worth the hassle? i do alot video encoding which takes awhile..
10x

o770 · 01-15-03, 07:48 PM

there is all about it here at techspot.com. just choose the correct OS (tweaking the system memory).

XWRed1 · 01-15-03, 10:58 PM

I'm thinking you're gonna want the partition with the swapfile either at the beginning or the ending of your drive, I'm not sure which would be faster. I'm thinking outer edge would be spinning faster relative to the inner edge, but the inner edge would would be denser (I think) so it should be less travel distance between contiguous blocks.

Xception · 01-16-03, 12:17 AM

(Swapfile at outer edge of tracs for quicker access.) I believe Norton Systemworks does this for you. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have been using it for over a year and it works good for us.

XWRed1 · 01-16-03, 02:18 AM

Maybe you should try running HDTach on the drive. I think it will plot disk performance all the way across the platters for you. Then decide if its faster on the inside or the outside. And post the answer here

Durin · 01-16-03, 07:54 AM

According to this link, the outer edge of the drive is always faster.
So its a good thing to have your swapfile as close to the edge as possible....

http://partition.radified.com/partitioning_2.htm

Kbird · 01-17-03, 10:31 AM

Well I went for it using what Tweakxp.com suggested and everything is working ok so far. Thanks for all the input! It seems a little faster, but thats probably me trying to rationalize my work. For some reason it never works the first time for me. I have to do it over and over before it works.

01-15-03, 04:51 PM	Thread Starter #1
Kbird Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: HOT! South Texas	Question about Swapfile drive. On tweakxp.com they show a swapfile tweak where you create a small partition on a second drive. I've got a IBM Ultrastar 160 and Atlas V 160. The Ultrastar is at 10,000 rpm and the Atlas at 7,200 rpm. Has anyone tried this? And would it work for me?
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 05:01 PM	#2
XWRed1 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001	Having the swapfile on the 10k drive would make it perform better than on the 7.2k drive. Having the swapfile on its own partition would reduce fragmentation. I don't see any reason why something on your box would prevent you from doing these things unless you maybe had a virus or a corrupt install, or insufficient privileges to the local machine.
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 05:24 PM	#3
o770 Member Join Date: Apr 2001	its always faster to have the swapfile allocated onto another disk as long as this disk is not much slower or another partition in the same disk you have the OS. if you would have it in the same hard disk then you should prefer having it on the same partition of the OS. if youre gonna allocate it onto another hard disk, make sure you have this other disk connected to the other IDE interface - not the same as the one you have the OS in. otherwise you will still make it slower than it could be connected to the other interface.
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 05:29 PM	#4
ronin1967 Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Highland Park, NJ	In this day and age with the speeds of the machines we have and the amount memory avaiable, creating seperate swap files or allocating them to seperate drives is almost more aggravation than it is worth. The new OS's like XP even have features to remove the swap file(assuming you have sufficent memory)of course that doens't entirely work, ut we are getting there...
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 05:44 PM	#6
o770 Member Join Date: Apr 2001	actually the speed increase in the processes involving the swapfile usage is really noticeable having it allocated to another disk in another IDE interface. thats because these processes would happen at the same time you have the OS doing other things, in the other disk (interface). in the situations the OS cant perform two tasks at the same time due to the limitation of the IDE controllers, one being a swapfile related task; to have the swapfile allocated to a disk in the other interface would allow it to perform both tasks, at the same time.
	QUOTE Thanks

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01-15-03, 06:22 PM	#7
x1xBugsBunnyx1x Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Gillett Pa	This is an interesting concept & i am always looking for free perks can anyone shed some light on the layout "size" begining/end of allocated space etc etc, like Kbird i have scsi 10k IBM HDs 36gb i am running a 39160 dual channel card & just use the ide for storage.. will this help me any or not worth the hassle? i do alot video encoding which takes awhile.. 10x
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 07:48 PM	#8
o770 Member Join Date: Apr 2001	there is all about it here at techspot.com. just choose the correct OS (tweaking the system memory).
	QUOTE Thanks

01-15-03, 10:58 PM	#9
XWRed1 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001	I'm thinking you're gonna want the partition with the swapfile either at the beginning or the ending of your drive, I'm not sure which would be faster. I'm thinking outer edge would be spinning faster relative to the inner edge, but the inner edge would would be denser (I think) so it should be less travel distance between contiguous blocks.
	QUOTE Thanks

01-16-03, 12:17 AM	#10
Xception Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Chehalis,Washinton	(Swapfile at outer edge of tracs for quicker access.) I believe Norton Systemworks does this for you. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have been using it for over a year and it works good for us. __________________ Evga X58 BL-758, i7 920 DO @3.9 SLBEJ@186X21 SO FAR... stock 1.275 vcore CORSAIR Triple channel 9,9,9,24 1.65vdimm PNY 2X 260 GTX 260 SLI, Corsair 750 TX CNSP 10X Extreme, CoolerMaster HAF 932
	QUOTE Thanks

01-16-03, 02:18 AM	#11
XWRed1 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001	Maybe you should try running HDTach on the drive. I think it will plot disk performance all the way across the platters for you. Then decide if its faster on the inside or the outside. And post the answer here
	QUOTE Thanks

01-16-03, 07:54 AM	#12
Durin Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden(Göteborg)	According to this link, the outer edge of the drive is always faster. So its a good thing to have your swapfile as close to the edge as possible.... http://partition.radified.com/partitioning_2.htm
	QUOTE Thanks

01-17-03, 10:31 AM	Thread Starter #13
Kbird Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: HOT! South Texas	Well I went for it using what Tweakxp.com suggested and everything is working ok so far. Thanks for all the input! It seems a little faster, but thats probably me trying to rationalize my work. For some reason it never works the first time for me. I have to do it over and over before it works.
	QUOTE Thanks

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