How to defragment pagefile.sys?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Oppie
  • Start date Start date
O

Oppie

Vista home basic
Windows' built-in defragmenter has not been doing too well. Tried running
Defraggler http://www.piriform.com/defraggler
This is working much better and gives a graphical window with the progress.
What I see is that C:\pagefile.sys is hugely fragmented (1.5G and 500
fragments). This file seems to not to be able to be defragmented. Sort of
makes sense since it is an important system file.
Is there a way to get the pagefile to defragment?

Also tried UltraDefrag http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/
which has a boot mode operation that can be enabled to defrag system files
before they are locked. This does not seem to be working properly. It does
not seem to be doing anything with the pagefile (even though it is in the
explicit file list). Perhaps I have not found the correct command line
switches yet.

Both Defraggler and UltraDefrag were recommended by Kim Komando in her
newsletter www.komando.com

tia - Oppie
 
you might try microsoft's
page defrag utility.

suppose to work on
xp and higher.

however, not sure why
you have the problem.

my page file seems to
be contiguous on it's own.

perhaps, you are running
low on disk space?

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
Where does one find the utility you mentioned?
As you had surmised, the system ran low on disc space at one time. I took
care of the problem long ago but the result of my stupidity remains.

Oppie
 
glad you found the link

also, download a freeware
from microsoft called autoruns.

and under one of the tabs
there will be a listing of what
launches at boot time.

page defrag should be listed
but the others you may have
installed should be removed -

"but only the ones you have
know of to have installed"
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
Saucy said:
Could you post back and say how well it worked for you? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Will do. After all, that's the greatness of the cloud. There's no ME in
[Vista] newsgroups.
 
I can't speak for MS
But true,
I don't think the public ones don't get scanned as much as the private ones.
:(
Russ

--
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MCP, MCPS, MCNPS, SBSC
Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist
SBS2003 SBS2008 Support - www.SBITS.Biz
Question or Second Opinion - www.PersonalITConsultant.com
Free Trial Microsoft Online Services - www.Microsoft-Online-Services.com


Oppie said:
Saucy said:
Could you post back and say how well it worked for you? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Will do. After all, that's the greatness of the cloud. There's no ME in
[Vista] newsgroups.
Click to expand...
 
Ran this utility last night and got questionable results.

1) on xp pro, I got a nice display of all the fragmented files that the
utility would address. With Vista sp1 (home basic), the list of fragmented
files was empty.
2) on the vista machine: clicked on the defragment on reboot. Rebooted the
machine and it did indeed go through some process upon reboot. The results
screen was too brief to read and appears to leave no log file. I think that
it reported 1 fragment each in all the sections it addressed.
3) re-ran the utility and file list still will not display (same as 1).
4) run Defraggler (defraggler.com). Shows over 500 fragments in
pagefile.sys.

At this point, I'm taking a step back. Run chkdsk from right click on C:
icon/tools. both option check boxes set. Still running at this point (and
wife's ticked off that I am denying her the computer...). When this
completes. Will try the Vista defragmenter in command line mode.
Ref: http://www.winvistaclub.com/f19.html

I may yet have to delete some DVD images from the drive to make more free
space to work with. Will post results as they evolve.
Oppie
 
well there is a trick
that might help if you
have a second partition
like a d drive.

what you can do is to
move the pagefile over
to the d drive.

then defrag your c drive.

then move the pagefile
back to the c drive.

when it moves back it
will be contiguous.

however, you may simply
want to forego fiddling
around with the pagefile.

the rationale is that though
the pagefile may be reported
as fragmented,

you will only use a tiny
percentage of the total
pagefile.

most of the work is done
inside the ram and will
only use pagefile if it
needs to.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
well there is a trick
that might help if you
have a second partition
like a d drive.

what you can do is to
move the pagefile over
to the d drive.

then defrag your c drive.

then move the pagefile
back to the c drive.

when it moves back it
will be contiguous.
Click to expand...

Or just change to use no page file. Reboot. Defrag. Change back to
using a page file.
 
+Bob+ said:
Or just change to use no page file. Reboot. Defrag. Change back to
using a page file.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Hadn't even thought about that.
I'm at my XP box right now. Found this under System Properties, Advanced
tab,
Performance <settings>

Performance Options: Advanced tab, Virtual memory <change>
(whew!). On Vista, should be something similar (or not). Will take a look.

sometimes working with the OS is like an Easter Egg hunt.

Oppie
 
Oppie said:
Vista home basic
Windows' built-in defragmenter has not been doing too well. Tried running
Defraggler http://www.piriform.com/defraggler
This is working much better and gives a graphical window with the
progress. What I see is that C:\pagefile.sys is hugely fragmented (1.5G
and 500 fragments). This file seems to not to be able to be defragmented.
Sort of makes sense since it is an important system file.
Is there a way to get the pagefile to defragment?

Also tried UltraDefrag http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/
which has a boot mode operation that can be enabled to defrag system files
before they are locked. This does not seem to be working properly. It does
not seem to be doing anything with the pagefile (even though it is in the
explicit file list). Perhaps I have not found the correct command line
switches yet.

Both Defraggler and UltraDefrag were recommended by Kim Komando in her
newsletter www.komando.com
Click to expand...




Another possibility if you dual boot, is to delete the pagefile.sys from
another operating system. It will get recreated the next time you boot in.
 
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