Re: how to set pagefile system size and location

[flash@xxxxxxxx]

≪Fash wrote:

If you have multiple physical hardrives, you can have one pagefile.sys on each HD and share the CPU
load across them all. No sense in having multiple pagefile.sys files on the same HD though.

Harry replied:
So it needs to be physically different not just logically different in order to gain speed. Yep,
sure makes sense.

So I'm outta luck, as a laptop user. I could use my external drive, through USB, but the slowness of data transfer has to negate any speed pickup.≫


Yes, the HDs should be physically separate. However, as you say, an external (USB) HD would slow the
system down; you should use an internal HD which communicates via the internal bus (i.e., tower, not
laptop) for the second pagefile.sys (if at all).

Bear in mind that a second pagefile.sys is an option, not a necessity; if your system is not
thrashing (that is, gasping for more RAM), you don't need a second pagefile.sys. A pagefile.sys
(whether primary or secondary) does not _gain_ speed in comparison to RAM. What the pagefile.sys
does is off-load the RAM when it would otherwise get overloaded--temporarily--by RAM-greedy apps.
Some OSs call this a "swap file", since the CPU is swapping bits between RAM and HD to
avoid overflowing the RAM. Think of it as a bucket to which you transfer some of the beer which is
flowing too quickly out of the tap to drink straightaway; you drink it a moment later after you've
caught your breath again. A second pagefile.sys is a means of compensating for a machine which is
under RAMmed; but RAM upgrades are cheap these days. If your RAM is chronically overloaded, get more
RAM.