Ok to move pagefile.sys to non-backedup HD?

I'd like to move my pagefile.sys file to a secondary internal hard drive (for faster performance since the secondary hd is hardly used).

I know that TI doesn't backup that file, but it "reserves some bytes to creat "space" so it can be rebuilt" .

 

I know that moving the pagefile is a Microsoft suggestion to increase performance but, in practice, the performance increase from doing this is so small that it is not noticeable in a normal home environment.

Where you may see some performance improvement is if you were in a business environment where you were making repeated calls to update, retrieve or write data to a database. But even here the calls to the database would have to be data-intensive, constant and by several users.

One of the downsides about moving the pagefile to another physical disk is that if the 2nd disk goes down you will experience problems in starting Windows. There is obviously a way around this, but it requires some technical skill and can be a real "pain-in-the-rear" to sort out.

One thing that you should check is if the pagefile is fragmented. A fragmented pagefile makes watching paint dry positively exciting.

 

Thanks. My pagefile.sys has 3 fragments

My pagefile.sys file has only 3 fragments, but I'm running the SysInternals free "pagefile defrag" on next boot up.

 

see Id disagree with that, while historically that was true these days your just as likely to have a "home user" re-encoding or editing media, using an image editing program and other memory intensive applications quite often concurrently

RClick My Computer > Properties > Advanced Tab > Performance Options > Change

now you can specify one or more HDDs\Partitions for the paging file

Should I use multiple pagefiles? @ StorageReview
(in effect free RAID 0 of the pagefile)


Ideally you want them on the defualt UDMA channels and not competing with other devices on those channels

meaning with SATA you have no worries,
same with a PCI card (SCSI, IDE RAID, IDE Controller card)
but with the primary and secondary IDE channels

or in short avoid placing a pagefile on two drives on the same channel
also makes no sense to place pagefiles on seperate partitions of the same drive
further if its a drive primarilly accessed for the pagefile its ideal location is on the outer diameter of the disk where you get faster sustained transfer and lower latency
but that if its in the OS partition its ideal for the arm to be moving the shortest distance for a read or write giving you the lowest latency, meaning its often in the middle of the partition when viewed with a defrag the OS know best where to put it on its own partition

a special note, Photoshop employs its own pagefile/scratchdisk and should be considered seperately

 

I am a great fan of always taking the defaults since the defaults are the most tested configuration be it an application or an OS.

Naturally, the defaults aren't the best for every situation and my rule number 3571 says, " the only benchmark or bright idea that applies to you depends on your system and what you are doing not what the other guy is doing".

So if you want to see if it is worth the bother for you take your most memory intensive and tasks run them as you normally do and measure with a stopwatch the time taken to do various tasks. Do not rely on feelings that it is faster or slower.

 

as always "it depends" applies

I'll drop the rest of my tutorial in that case (I quoted part 2 physical configuration)

these days if you take the time to give your personal usage pattern some thought and understand how the OS is accessing your data, with an ap like Ultimate Defrag and a few HDDs you can realize some serious optimization to your needs.

The lowest common denominator while generally the best tested, rarely is the optimum solution for anyone. Understanding is the key to optimization.

 

I have my page files on a secondary internal had drive. One is for Windows and the other is a special for Photoshop.

There is no adverse effect on the TI backup process in the page file being absent from C drive. Neither is there any problem with booting into Windows on the main drive if the secondary drive were to fail. I have tested that scenario and Window will create a new page file automatically at the root of C drive.

Since making these changes I have found the following advantages. Performance is a bit faster. The page files never need defragging and remain in one piece. The main drive can be left for longer between defrags as the changes in size and location and fragmentation of the page files no longer effect the smooth running of the main drive.

Enjoy

Xpilot

 

?

common security tweak

Start > Run > (type) Regedit
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management

Select ClearPageFileAtShutdown from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 1 to enable.
Reboot

alternately

Start > Run > (tpye) gpedit.msc > Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > DClick Clear virtual memory pagefile when system shuts down > Enable > Reboot


Ive never had a problem with a suddenly unavailable HDD which contained a partial pagefile or the whole pagefile. The OS doesnt need what was there to function. It will simply create the pagefile on its own partition. I could see that if there was no room or heavy fragmentation on the native OS partition and it hung up trying to allocate enough space for a pagefile. But Ive never actually had that happen. Id say that goes to your awareness level and leaving enough space on the OS partition, and maybe an automatic defrag regimen.


from the aumha link above