is it possible to change location of page file?

[billybellfoot]

hi

i was just looking into speedeing things up in vista

and wondered would it be possible to move my page file to a usb flash drive and would that improve the performace of it (the page file) and in turn vista?

any info advice on the matter would be much apreciated

thanks

 

[townsbg]

Yes it is possible however I'm not sure that it would really help considering the transfer speed (unless that is you have USB 3.0 with a USB 3.0 device) especially if your pagefile is hardly used.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/132201-virtual-memory-paging-file-change.html

 

[billybellfoot]

oh i thought that the usb would be quicker than hdd to access (like a ssd) but for just the page file.
and it wouldnt be doing windows operations on the same disk as page file
(leaving the hdd just for windows operations)
i thought that would increase windows performance (not the page file performance) because the hdd wouldnt be writing stuff to page file at same time as windows

but that would not be the case then?

 

[MilesAhead]

I would suggest you get DTaskManager from this Page

Now and then run it and look on the Performnce Tab. In the lower right corner it will show the size of your page file and the peak usage. If you are hardly using any, then it's no optimization to move it.

If you do store the page file on another drive it should be at least as fast and the System disk. If not you'll be sitting waiting for pages to load. It does no good to avoid thrashing(which is what you are doing by putting the page file on a different physical disk) at the cost of slow page file access.

Also if you have no page file on the system disk make sure you don't load large programs on system startup. If the flash drive is not plugged in, or breaks, you could find yourself in no boot city.

 

[billybellfoot]

hi thanks miles for response

i have a 5400-rpm hdd (where page is currently)
would a flash drive be faster than that.(or better suited to page file use) and would shifting page file to that usb free up the system C: drive for windows reads/writes potentially making windows performance faster? as it would not be reading writing to page file at same time as windows activity on the same drive ?

currently

HDD is doing both windows reads/writes and page file reads/writes

if i shift page to usb

usb would handle page file reads/writes

leaving HDD free for windows reads/writes

kind of like ready boost on a flash drive just more direct?

or would that not improve performance anyways?

 

[MilesAhead]

See my post above. Information is better than speculation.

 

[billybellfoot]

using about 145-146mb paged with my most used programs open all at same time

 

[whs]

1. Use HD Tune to test the speed of your USB stick. HD Tune website

2. Then run your HDD thru HD Tune

3. Compare the two - or post the results and we'll help you interpret the nums.

With your 2GB of RAM, you may be borderline. But if your USB2 stick is really fast (and they can vary a LOT in speed depending on model), then you should use it for Ready Boost. That will take care of the pagefile automatically.

Moving the pagefile itself is not a good idea.

 

[billybellfoot]

i am running hd tune now will post results..
i thought moving the page file may help as i saw it on here http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/132201-virtual-memory-paging-file-change.html

HDtune results

4 tests
HDD
mmc card
2x usb

 

[townsbg]

Test the write speed and not just the read speed.

 

[whs]

The U3 would be the best option - if you want to try Ready Boost. Don't expect wonders from it, but it may give a little boost.

 

[billybellfoot]

so i need to perform the same test again but select write speed .. ok thanks shall i post results here?

the u3 would be best could i get faster flash usb than that and expect better performance or is that about as high as usb flash goes ?

thanks

 

[townsbg]

If you have performance issues I would be more concerned with getting more ram rather than relocating the page file. See you want your system to have to use the page file as little as possible because ram is faster no matter where you put the page file.

 

[billybellfoot]

hi townsbg

no real performance issues but just trying to get the best out of what i have (a little net-top) atom processor 2gb ram

i thought moving page elsewhere would help as saw it as a tip on the link you gave me here http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/132201-virtual-memory-paging-file-change.html
at the top in yellow box..

am looking into more ram in future but this netop uses laptop ram

 

[townsbg]

Oh you have a net book? Keep in mind that those are designed for portability and price and that's about it. I've never used ready boost but that might be your best bet.

 

[billybellfoot]

no a net-top desktop (acer r3600) Acer Support: Specifications
as i say no real performance issues
"when its all workng well"

just done clean install a week or so ago and trying to tune vista to get best out of it. and set up right etc

like i say i saw on that tutorial of brinks on here that moving page file elsewhere can improve windows performance question really was can it be moved to a flash drive or would that decrease page file or windows performance . enough to make doing so not worth while.. i suppose best bet is to give it a try on the fastest usb i have. if it improves then great. if it dosent then move it back

 

[MilesAhead]

using about 145-146mb paged with my most used programs open all at same time

Okay, now I recommend using RamMap to see how much it shows as StandBy.

If you always seem to have a large chunk of StandBy (which is just cached stuff it throws away if you need to run something not in the cache) then you might consider setting Vista to only cache boot files. Then it will keep free memory rather than page out just to keep a lot of StandBy.

But the point is, if you always seem to have a lot of StandBy then the system doesn't have to page if it doesn't want to. If the paging is that slow it should detect it and not do it. It depends the applications you run. If you are running a large database then you may need to optimize. But in my experience the default settings work pretty well for most applications.

A lot depends on how you work. If you like to keep a dozen large apps open and a browser with 26 tabs your memory usage pattern will be different than mine. I tend to run a browser, editor and the other apps I open and close as needed, aside from small tray hotkey utilities.

The key to tuning your system is watching it. After awhile you don't need to run a benchmark because you'll notice how it's going just by paying attention.

 

[billybellfoot]

hi i only really run a browser sometimes as many as 5 tabs open (internet shopping) aside from that only programs really used are video player and emails but not all 3 at same time usually one at a time. oh and antifirus running thats it

 

[whs]

Billy, I think you are chasing a red herring. For your type of applications you will not see any performance difference by manipulating the page file. Even Ready Boost will probably not yield any noticeable difference.

Note that Ready Boost manages the page file on the stick automatically (with Superfetch). It will always fetch the pages fron the stick rather than from the disk. And it writes the pages that are being paged out to both the stick and the disk (double security in case you pull the stick).

 

[billybellfoot]

And it writes the pages that are being paged out to both the stick and the disk (double security in case you pull the stick).

so in the case of ready boost it still writes to the hard disk?
i was intending to leave the stick in for the purpose of page file only

thanks

if i will not see any improvement i will probably leave page where it is.. just when i read brinks tutorial it stated moving it may yeild some improvement of windows performance.. so assumed the tip in that tutorial was correct as this is not the case i shall leave the page on the hard disk..

thanks