914 MB pagefile getting out of hand

  • Thread starter Thread starter JLH
  • Start date Start date
J

JLH

Hi,

I have heard that pagefile.sys file serves somewhat like backup RAM when
needed, but it is now at 914 MB. Seems like it is taking up quite a bit of
space for something not always used. How can it be reduced in size?



--
From the sea to the sky and back to the sea they go, Jeffrey

Cayce, South Carolina, USA
(33.94°N, 81.07°W); 207 ft

http://www.midlandstech.edu/jlh/

"The only thing that separates South Carolina from hell is a screen door."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If ye love wealth better than liberty ... servitude better than ...
freedom,
go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or your arms ... May your
chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
- Samuel Adams
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
How much Ram have you got in the machine? 1.5 x RAM is an average
pagefile size, best not to change that. Other than being big is it
causing problems?

John
 
'JLH' wrote:
| I have heard that pagefile.sys file serves somewhat like backup RAM when
| needed, but it is now at 914 MB. Seems like it is taking up quite a bit of
| space for something not always used. How can it be reduced in size?
_____

Well, that is not quite what a page file (pagefile.sys) is. A page file is
'virtual memory' for a computer system. Windows XP tries to keep as much
space as possible for caching data read from or written to drives to reduce
waiting time. Seldom used portions of the Operating System and Programs are
swapped out to the page file, to be reloaded when necessary. The page file
is 'virtual memory' because hardware and the Operating System work together
to extend RAM by the size of the page file. When a portion of data or a
program in the page file is needed, it is automatically brought into memory.
It takes longer to read from a disk drive, but the extra memory made
available outweighs that the occasional 10 - 15 millisecond delay.

Microsoft recommend a page file twice the size of main memory. If you have
512 MBytes of RAM, then a 914 MByte page file would be about right.
However, you probably have the page file set to vary in size. If you set it
to have a definite size, the page file will fragment less.

That 1 GByte of pagefile.sys costs about 75 cents USD if bought today in an
80 GByte hard drive.
For RAM, some systems are limited how much can be installed, and costs
perhaps $100 USD for 1 GByte.

As for how you can reduce the size of the page file, set it to be smaller,
and pay the price of much slower operation and reduced ability to have more
than one application running. How much of your time wasted would it take to
equal 75 cents USD?

Phil Weldon

| Hi,
|
| I have heard that pagefile.sys file serves somewhat like backup RAM when
| needed, but it is now at 914 MB. Seems like it is taking up quite a bit of
| space for something not always used. How can it be reduced in size?
|
|
|
| --
| From the sea to the sky and back to the sea they go, Jeffrey
|
| Cayce, South Carolina, USA
| (33.94°N, 81.07°W); 207 ft
|
| http://www.midlandstech.edu/jlh/
|
| "The only thing that separates South Carolina from hell is a screen door."
|
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| "If ye love wealth better than liberty ... servitude better than ...
| freedom,
| go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or your arms ... May
your
| chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget that ye were our
| countrymen."
| - Samuel Adams
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
 
Personally I recommend leaving the system to manage virtual memory. It can
be limited manually, but programs will puke all over themselves if the
system usage exceeds your limits.

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-
 
JLH said:
Hi,

I have heard that pagefile.sys file serves somewhat like backup RAM when
needed, but it is now at 914 MB. Seems like it is taking up quite a bit of
space for something not always used. How can it be reduced in size?
Click to expand...
Best to just let windows manage it...

914megs is a fairly typical amount
 
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