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Excessive swap file

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by tellme82

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I am not an IT professional, but a keen user. I have a problem. I notice excessive hard drive activity (standalone PC) when nothing is happening and have noticed my swap file reaches upwards of 1.5Gb sometimes. This HD activity slows down my (simple) system quite dramatically. On some occassions the swap file has used up all available space and I am shown the error message that my hardrive is full....I have to re-boot. Can anyone explain why this happens, is it normal or is there somethingI can do about it?

Thnx

9 replies

by matrix007

when your system needs to use the swap file often, that means you need more memory. the formula for swapfile is ram*2=swpfile or some people say ram*2+128=swpfile. try running the system monitor program. some bad programs stay in memory when closed down, check if you have a memory leak.try closing all programs running in backgroud etc.. anti-virus, firewalls.

by bill_w

If your swap file is too big (and 1.5Gb is way too big!)then you maybe should adjust it's size. Jeff is right - excessive use may indicate you need more RAM, but 64Mb should be OK for 95/98 (32 is marginal, 16 it just runs, and 8 is a joke - I tried); whilst for NT/2000 128 seems a minimum (my 256 seems fine). Anyway, try adjusting the size of the paging file - how depends on your operating system, but start\settings\control panel\system is a good place to start. Try making it about 200 - 300Mb or so.
Good luck
Bill

by tellme82

Thnx Bill....I have also responded to Jeff.

When you say adjust the size of the paging file, are you referring to manually adjusting the swap file size? (I have previously been warned against doing this).

I am particularly interested to find out what is causing this....any ideas.
Terry

by tellme82

Thnx...Jeff. But you've lost me a bit. I have 64Mb memory, so your formula would suggest my swp file should be between 128 & 256....but it runs from around this up to 1.5Gb from time to time. (For example if I leave the computer on unattended).
I don't run any resident programs (I have even removed my virus check).

What is the system monitor prog?? How do I heck for a 'leak' (I wrapped the memory chips in bandaid but it hasn't mporved..:)?

I can adjust the size of the swap file manually, but as all written advice I have seen says 'leave it to Windows' I am reluctant to do this (particularly without knwing what is causing the problem).

It seems I may have a rogue progam or something...but I am not sure how to check.

by anasri

Are you running GoBack? Or some other backup programs which does back in the background. This will definitely cause a lot of disk activity.
You can find system monitor by going to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. If its not there you need to install it.Its on your Win 98 CD.Install it through Start/Settings/Control Panel/AddRemove Programs/Windows Setup and check under system tools(details).

by gmscne

If you do, then you will always have the problem. Leaving it to windows is clearly not working right. Why don't you take control of your PC? Maybe it will work if you would only tell it not to use up all of your disk space. Stop being intimidated bythose useless warnings.

by matrix007

All Windows OS are hogs when it comes to the swapfile. I recommend not to let Windows control it. If you have 64MB. Manually set Max/Min at 128MB. If you say that the swapfile still rises over this while unattended. Your swapfile on your harddisk iscorrupted or you have a memory leak. Install the system monitor program which can compare the memory in use and the swapfile size. You can test by opening applications and see which ones are using the most memory and seeing how much swapfile. control panel/add remove program/system tools.

by bill_w

Greetings, Terry.
Adjusting the size of the paging file in this context means manually (even though there are warnings about that). As Jeff mentioned, setting the upper limit to (say) twice your physical RAM should not cause too many problems. I suspect the "dont fiddle" warning was because in earlier days, Win95 was often coaxed into life with really really minimal amounts of RAM - like 8 or 16 Mb, and no swap file (if someone set it like that) would and could cause 95 to stop. Set a minimum swap file size of (say) 60Mb or so, and a max of (say) 200Mb and see how you go.
Best of luck
Bill

by merv amos

The answer to this problem depends on the OS.
Please give us a hint so we can help.
It is also helpful to know things like the Service pack or Service Release.
Hard disks & memory size would also be helpful.

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