Swap File

[David E. Ross]

Windows XP SP3 (home edition)

I have two physical hard drives on my PC. I fear drive C is being
overworked when very large data sets (5 GB or more) are being processed
-- overworked hosting the necessary swap file. My memory is only 1 GB.

Is there some way to designate drive D to host the swap file?

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., the government)
snooping into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>

[BillW50]

On 5/10/2012 10:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows XP SP3 (home edition)
>
> I have two physical hard drives on my PC. I fear drive C is being
> overworked when very large data sets (5 GB or more) are being processed
> -- overworked hosting the necessary swap file. My memory is only 1 GB.
>
> Is there some way to designate drive D to host the swap file?

Sure you can.

Control Panel
System
Advanced (tab)
Performance Settings (button)
Advanced (tab)
Virtual memory (Change)

Select C, then select "No paging file"
Press the "Set" button <- very import!

Select D, then select "System managed size"
Press the "Set" button <- very import!

Then select "OK"

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP2

[William B. (Billby)]

On 11/05/2012 11:57 AM, David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows XP SP3 (home edition)
>
> I have two physical hard drives on my PC. I fear drive C is being
> overworked when very large data sets (5 GB or more) are being processed
> -- overworked hosting the necessary swap file. My memory is only 1 GB.
>
> Is there some way to designate drive D to host the swap file?
>

Easy to change, see XP help notes below:

Cheers, Willaim B.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To change the size of the virtual memory paging file
Open Computer Management (Local).
In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then select Properties.
On the Advanced tab, click Performance *** Settings *** and under Virtual memory, click Change.

In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.

(Or select a different drive letter to change the swap file to another drive...)

Under Paging file size for selected drive, type a new paging file size in megabytes in the Initial
Size (MB) or Maximum Size (MB) box, and then click Set.

If you decrease the size of either the minimum or maximum page file settings, *** or change to a
different drive letter I think ***,you must restart your computer to see the effects of those
changes. Increases generally do not require a restart.

Notes

To open Computer Management, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
You must be recognized as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group on your computer
and on the computer you are managing to perform this task.
You can view or change system properties on a remote computer or a local computer. To access a
remote computer, right-click Computer Management (Local), click Connect to another computer, and
then select the computer you want to connect to in the list.
For best performance, set the initial size to not less than the recommended size under Total paging
file size for all drives. The recommended size is equivalent to 1.5 times the amount of RAM on your
system.
Usually, you should leave the paging file at its recommended size, although you might increase its
size if you routinely use programs that require a lot of memory.
To delete a paging file, set both initial size and maximum size to zero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Tim Meddick]

I may be a bit dim (and plenty say that I am), but the answers I've read
seem to be a little over-complex to me...

The essence of what's important to make another drive than the default [c:]
host the pagefile is this:

In "System" control panel, under the "Advanced" tab, then pressing the
"Performance" button.

Then, under the "Advanced" tab in "Performance Options", press the "Change"
button in the "Virtual Memory" section.

..and the important thing to remember is; only set the page-file on the one
drive you want to host it!

This is because, no-matter where the paging file is set to be located, it
provides virtual memory for the whole system (not, as implied by the
control panel, for just a particular drive!)


==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"David E. Ross" <nob...@nowhere.invalid> wrote in message
news:joi2nq$r2q$1...@news.albasani.net...

[Char Jackson]

On Fri, 11 May 2012 11:11:57 +0100, "Tim Meddick"
<timme...@o2.co.uk> wrote:

>I may be a bit dim (and plenty say that I am), but the answers I've read
>seem to be a little over-complex to me...

They may seem overly complex because at least two posters provided
step by step instructions whereas you posted an abbreviated summary,
or "essence". Other than that, the three of you provided the same
solution, AFAICS.

>The essence of what's important to make another drive than the default [c:]
>host the pagefile is this:
>
>In "System" control panel, under the "Advanced" tab, then pressing the
>"Performance" button.
>
>Then, under the "Advanced" tab in "Performance Options", press the "Change"
>button in the "Virtual Memory" section.
>
>..and the important thing to remember is; only set the page-file on the one
>drive you want to host it!
>
>This is because, no-matter where the paging file is set to be located, it
>provides virtual memory for the whole system (not, as implied by the
>control panel, for just a particular drive!)

I think you misunderstand. It's not suggesting that VM applies to a
particular drive. It's simply allowing you to specify where the paging
file(s) will be stored, and yes, there can be more than one.

[Tim Meddick]

Yes, that was the [only] point that I was trying to emphasise (rather
poorly) which you have put so succinctly!

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)

"Char Jackson" <no...@none.invalid> wrote in message
news:816qq7502rpsb3ats...@4ax.com...

> On Fri, 11 May 2012 11:11:57 +0100, "Tim Meddick"
> <timme...@o2.co.uk> wrote:
>>

>> I may be a bit dim (and plenty say that I am...
>>
>> < clipped >

[David E. Ross]

On 5/10/12 8:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
> Windows XP SP3 (home edition)
>
> I have two physical hard drives on my PC. I fear drive C is being
> overworked when very large data sets (5 GB or more) are being processed
> -- overworked hosting the necessary swap file. My memory is only 1 GB.
>
> Is there some way to designate drive D to host the swap file?
>

Thanks to all who responded. I have changed my VM from C to D.

I really won't know how effective this is until next Tuesday or
Wednesday, when I do a system backup. I transfer my backup files to an
external, portable hard drive AFTER encrypting them. The encryption
process (PGP) is what requires extensive VM.

[Char Jackson]

On Fri, 11 May 2012 10:14:58 -0700, "David E. Ross"
<nob...@nowhere.invalid> wrote:

>On 5/10/12 8:57 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
>> Windows XP SP3 (home edition)
>>
>> I have two physical hard drives on my PC. I fear drive C is being
>> overworked when very large data sets (5 GB or more) are being processed
>> -- overworked hosting the necessary swap file. My memory is only 1 GB.
>>
>> Is there some way to designate drive D to host the swap file?
>>
>
>Thanks to all who responded. I have changed my VM from C to D.
>
>I really won't know how effective this is until next Tuesday or
>Wednesday, when I do a system backup. I transfer my backup files to an
>external, portable hard drive AFTER encrypting them. The encryption
>process (PGP) is what requires extensive VM.

Why not just create an encrypted backup? Many backup programs offer
that. Is it because the encryption might not be as robust?

[David E. Ross]

I both encrypt and digitally sign the files. As far as I am concerned,
nothing is more robust than OpenPGP. Since I store the portable hard
drive where it is possibly subject to theft, robustness of the
encryption is very important.