Paging file moves by itself??? WTF LOL

Kai_Force · Oct 14, 2007

So i use eexecutive software diskeeper to analyze and defragment my hard drive. Recently i have noticed, the paging file has moved from the start, to the middle, and im like oh weird.....And just today, it split itself! 1/4th of it is in the middle, and 3/4ths has been put right at the end of the drive. I thought it was impossible to move when in windows? What is going on, it shouldnt move should it? Am i getting a performance loss from this?

Eloora · Oct 16, 2007

I have a similar problem that I just noticed today.

While I don't recall where my page file was originally, or if Diskeeper 2007 is moving it as a whole on the hard disk, it did split the page file somehow.

In the graphic drive map display it shows the page file as a yellowish chunk on the drive. Today it showed up in 2 parts: the majority of it in the usual place, and about 1/4 of the middle moved off to the left. There even appeared to be a couple of files in the middle gap.

I don't know how or why my page file was split but I'm thinking it can't be good, unless it's just a graphical display error.

Does anyone know how/why this would happen? Should I set the page file size to 0, then let Windows create a new one? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

bchur83 · Oct 16, 2007

If your page file is set to start at one size, and your system requests more, it will expand and put it where ever there is space on the drive. Then only way to stop this is to set the PF to a fixed size.

IAmMoen · Oct 16, 2007

I made a partition on a seperate drive and put the pf there. Works well.

Thund3rball · Oct 16, 2007

Yes it sounds like Windows is resizing your PF as it needs it. Here's what you can do to stop this.

1. Set PF to 0 (or no PF)
2. Reboot into Safe Mode and Defrag
3. Set PF Min. & Max. to 1.5x total RAM (a general rule of thumb)
4. Reboot to Normal

This will move your PF out farther on the HDD so it is a good idea to uninstall and delete anything you don't want or need anymore to get the PF as close the the centre as possible.

Eloora · Oct 16, 2007

Thanks for the replies.

My page file was already set to, min and max, 1.5x my RAM and has been from the beginning. I guess it doesn't hurt to start from scratch with it though.

Thund3rball · Oct 16, 2007

Eloora said:
Thanks for the replies.

My page file was already set to, min and max, 1.5x my RAM and has been from the beginning. I guess it doesn't hurt to start from scratch with it though.

Just out of curiosity, what are your system specs? Maybe you need a larger PF IDK?

Eloora · Oct 16, 2007

My specs:

Windows XP Pro
Intel Core 2 Duo 6700
Asus P5N32 SLI SE Deluxe
2 GB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2
WD Raptors RAID 0
Creative Audigy 2 ZS

My system is used for gaming mostly. The Page file set to 3072 MB. I defrag regularly with Diskeeper and this is the first time it has displayed a split up page file before. My HD is admittedly quite full, and I'm working on trying to free up more than 13% free space.

Kai_Force · Oct 16, 2007

Thund3rball said:
Yes it sounds like Windows is resizing your PF as it needs it. Here's what you can do to stop this.

1. Set PF to 0 (or no PF)
2. Reboot into Safe Mode and Defrag
3. Set PF Min. & Max. to 1.5x total RAM (a general rule of thumb)
4. Reboot to Normal

This will move your PF out farther on the HDD so it is a good idea to uninstall and delete anything you don't want or need anymore to get the PF as close the the centre as possible.

I did this a few months ago, it has had a minimum and maximum of 1.5GB for a long time. Sooo....hmm....

Kai_Force · Oct 16, 2007

Eloora said:
My system is used for gaming mostly. The Page file set to 3072 MB. I defrag regularly with Diskeeper and this is the first time it has displayed a split up page file before. My HD is admittedly quite full, and I'm working on trying to free up more than 13% free space.

Wow! That is exactly where i am at. Exactly what you just said, is going on with me.

Captain Newbie · Oct 16, 2007

Thund3rball said:
1. Set PF to 0 (or no PF)
2. Reboot into Safe Mode and Defrag
3. Set PF Min. & Max. to 1.5x total RAM (a general rule of thumb)
/QUOTE]

... that's a crap load of swap: is this true for machines with RAM >= 1 GByte?

Neuromancer · Oct 16, 2007

Captain Newbie said:
Thund3rball said:

1. Set PF to 0 (or no PF)
2. Reboot into Safe Mode and Defrag
3. Set PF Min. & Max. to 1.5x total RAM (a general rule of thumb)

Click to expand...

... that's a crap load of swap: is this true for machines with RAM >= 1 GByte?

You need to have more pagefile then ram for debugging... when your system crashes it memory dumps... thats why people recommend more....

Personally at 2GB I stop using one at all...

And thunderball... you do not want your PF at the center of the hard drive... you want it at the beginning of the drive.. which is why most of us when we us a pagefile but it at the start of a second drive (static size)

Thund3rball · Oct 16, 2007

Kai & Eloora

If there are unmovable files (or bad sectors) on your HD, the defragger might not be able to keep the PF contiguous in all circumstances, I would say you need to clear out some stuff and free up space.

You might also try PageDefrag

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/pagedefrag.mspx

Captain Newbie said:
... that's a crap load of swap: is this true for machines with RAM >= 1 GByte?

Yup

I also have 2x1GB Ram and a 3072MB PF.

Paging file moves by itself??? WTF LOL

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