-=PCTechTalk=- Moving your Swapfile

The only two reasons why someone might want to do this would be to

a) isolate it on its OWN partition and at a specific, non-fluctuation size 
so that it never has a chance to fragment.

b) have it on a separate hard drive so that the speed with which Windows is 
able to grab data from it doesn't interfere with Windows OWN speed.  In 
other words, if the two are on the same partition, Windows will have to 
pause whatever it's doing in order to redirect its attention to shuffling 
through the swapfile for the data it requires.  It's very similar to the 
difference between stopping your work to look up an invoice in a filing 
cabinet verses continuing your work while someone ELSE looks up the invoice.

Having said that, here's my tutorial for moving the Swapfile.

    Right click on My Computer and select Properties from the context menu. 
When the Property sheet opens, click on the Advanced tab and then on the 
Settings button in the Performance area.  In the next Property sheet that 
opens, click on the Advanced tab and note the size of the paging file 
(swapfile) before clicking on the Change button in the Virtual Memory area. 
In the next Property sheet that opens, you'll see a list of all of your 
partitions as well as the location and size limits of your Swapfile.  Scroll 
through the list until you come to the partition where you wish to store 
your Swapfile from now on.  Click on the line for that partition and then on 
either the "Custom size:" or "System managed size" radio button (those very 
small circles that fill with a dot when you select them) and then click on 
the Set button to tell Windows you're serious.

    With that out of the way, click on the line showing the location of the 
old Swapfile and then click on the "No paging file" radio button and then on 
the Set button to make Windows forget about the old location.  At this 
point, the entire list should show the Swapfile as belonging in the new 
location only.  As long as everything agrees with that last sentense, go 
ahead and OK your way out of all of the open Property sheets and then reboot 
the system.  Once Windows is back up and running, open up Windows Explorer 
and go through the root directory (click directly on the drive letter on the 
left pane) of each and every partition to make sure that it has been removed 
from the boot partition (whatever partition is home to Windows > usually 
C:\) and added to its new location (wherever you told it to reside).  If all 
checks out, congrats on its new home.

    Choosing "Custom size:" is a tricky affair.  If you don't have a lot of 
RAM, a simple rule of thumb used by many is to make the file about 2 & a 
half times the size of your RAM.  So, if you have 512MB of RAM, type in 
1536MB into both Min & Max value boxes.  This will provide Windows with the 
additional space it might require AND keep the Swapfile at a constant size, 
thereby removing the possibility of it ever fragmenting across the partition 
(assuming that nothing else is present on that drive when you set this up). 
Note that this does not prevent the data contained within the file from 
fragmenting within the file.  As data is added, removed, added, emoved, 
added, etc., there's nothing you can do to prevent it from storing data out 
of order.  Of course, this doesn't have any noticable effect on Windows 
performance, so it's a moot point.

Peace,
GMan

"The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked!"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DSWabc" <dswabc@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 6:46 AM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Has anybody ever...


> 1. Used an external drive for their message store?
> 2. Used a second internal drive or an external drive for a)Windows Swap 
> file or b) My Documents?
>
> 3. Used remote assistance?
>
>
> If so would you please share any experiences and resources?  I have an 
> external drive now and would like to store all my data and mail folders 
> there instead of on drive C:.   I would then move the drive back and forth 
> between desktop and laptop as needed instead of trying to keep things 
> synchronized between the two computers.
>
> Also, my Mom finally upgraded to broadband and is now using IE6 and OE6 
> instead of Juno and it will be easier (I hope) for me to use Remote 
> Assistance to help her instead of driving 45 minutes oneway to do it in 
> person.  Especially as often as she will need help.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Don 


---------------------------------------------------------------
Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything 
below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary.

To unsubscribe or change your email settings:
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk

To access our Archives:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/
http://www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/

To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to:
pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------------------------------------------------------------

Other related posts: