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Neither Windows nor Norton seem to defrag the "Swap" or Page file.
How does one defrag it?
** John **
by thechas
The easiest way to defrag the paging file, is to place the file an another hard drive.
Defrag the hard drive it was on.
Change the page file back to the original drive.
I now setup ALL the PCs I build with an extended partition.
I copy the Windows setup files and device drivers to the logical drive.
After Windows is installed, I defrag the logical drive, then set virtual memory to place the paging file on the logical drive.
While this arrangement is slightly slower on benchmark tests,it has a number of advantages:
1. The page file does not become fragmented.
2. Windows never (well seldom) stops scandisk or defrag on the primary drive because of disk access.
3. The C: drive actually gets less fragmented as the paging file is never using up open drive space.
An alternate method of keeping the page file intact, is to set a fixed size page file.
CAUTION: make sure that the page file is large enough to support the MAXIMUM number of running applications.
My current rule of thumb, is the larger of 2X installed RAM, or 1GB - installed RAM.
The less actual RAM you have, the more virtual RAM you need.
I always choose system stability over speed.
Chas
by admin
Well, except with my personal gaming rig.
Chas has some good advice above for work. I do it too.
:)
by djent
by glyall
First close ALL apps. Then set the page file size to 0. Windows will give you an error about the page file size. You will have to reboot.
Thne run your defrag program. After the hard is defragged then set the page file to 2x to 2 1/2x the memorysize.
I do this after installing the Windows OS and before installing ANY software.
This does work for Window NT, 2000 and XP pro.
Good Luck
by djent
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