Can I delete the page file?

[ingeborgdot]

I have heard and read that putting your page file on another hard drive will help. I have done that for several reasons but now I want to know how I can or if I can delete the left over page file that is on the c drive where it originated. I have a page file for hdd F in place. This is vista os.

 

[Blind Dragon]

If you do put the file elsewhere, you should leave a small amount on C: - an initial size of 2MB with a Maximum of 50MB is suitable - so it can be used in emergency. Without this, the system is inclined to ignore the settings and either have no page file at all (and complain) or make a very large one on the C: drive.

it doesn't hurt to have it on multiple drives as long as it isn't on multiple partitions on the same drive

 

[ingeborgdot]

So, what you are saying is make a page file on my other hard drive and make its as big as it needs to be but leave the one on c and make it 2mb. What can I do with the one on the c drive that is almost 5gb?

 

[Blind Dragon]

Resize it -> can be done through the registry

or through right click computer (my computer on xp)-> properties -> advanced properties (advanced tab for xp)-> under performance -> click settings

 

[link590o]

definitely just resize it. deleting the page file is a bad idea. have you ever had a message that said "virtual memory is too low" ? that's because the page file was too small. if you have no page file, you can't play games. you have to have a minimum size for the page file in order to play certain games.

therefore deletion is a no-go. resize it, give yourself 5 gigs just for the sake of ease and as somewhat overcompensation, and as bdragon has suggested, leave a small one on your other hard drive.

the second paragraph isn't anything you don't know, but the main point of this post is to explain why deletion is a bad idea.

 

[ingeborgdot]

So put the large one on my other hdd and just make the one on my c drive realy small?
I do have 4gb on a vista 64 bit system. Does that make a difference?

 

[link590o]

it should make somewhat of a difference. the page file works just like RAM. it's a spot on the hard drive that the OS can throw information on, and retrieve later. having a larger page file can slightly improve frame rates on games, not to mention you won't run out of virtual memory ever again if it's large enough.

4 gigs should make a difference. that's a decent size page file.

the other comp should have a similar setup. a large page file. doesn't matter what hard drive it's on. but again, you have to have a small bit on your main drive as a back up just in case.

 

[Blind Dragon]

You have your reasons obviously for wanting to put your pagefile on a seperate drive, to be honest it has its ups and downs.

If you want to do this. Resize the pagefile on your C: drive to have a minimum of 2MB and maximum of 50MB via my instructions above.

Then put your big pagefile on the other drive

And just so you know if you were to completely remove the pagefile you would actually be wasting RAM because programs can ask for a lot more virtual memory than they actually ever use, it has to go somewhere and if there is no pagefile, guess where your system will assign it - RAM, which locks it out from any actual use.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I am not going to remove my page file I will just be moving it. Also, it won't let me delete the page file on my c drive anyway. It still remains at over 4gb being wasted now because my f drive also has a page file of the same size.

 

[Blind Dragon]

Did you attempt to resize the one on the C: drive

if it went back to its old size there is a way to force it

 

[ingeborgdot]

I did manage to resize it. It is now at 16mb. My F is at over 4gb.

 

[Blind Dragon]

Perfect