Swap partition - "low disk space" warning :(

[azagahl]

My swap partition (2 GB FAT16) has a large swap file on it. I get constant "low disk space" warnings asking if I want to do Disk Cleanup. Is there any way to shut this off?

[mentalindustrie]

indeed there is

as with all reg editing make a back up first

no liablity etc etc

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1051/

[Jeremy]

Moving your swap file to a seperate partition does not give you any performance gain. if you had not done this in the first place, you wouldn't be dealing with a low disk space warning.

[azagahl]

Moving your swap file to a seperate partition does not give you any performance gain.

You're wrong. I placed it at the beginning of one of my hard disks. Now Windows can use the page file as efficiently as possible, without interfering with other disks.

[chilifrei64]

actually he is right... yes you are gaining a little performance because it is at the begining of the disk.. you are still sharing read/writes with the other partition.. In theory.. it may be faster.. but not fast enough to make a difference with anything..

Now.. having a SEPERATE 2gig disk. you are no longer sharing read/writes and gaining performance

[azagahl]

In theory.. it may be faster

It's faster in my case. I rarely access any other partitions on the swap drive.

No point in arguing when you know you are wrong.

[Zxian]

In theory.. it may be faster

It's faster in my case. I rarely access any other partitions on the swap drive.

No point in arguing when you know you are wrong.

If you're going to tell people that they're wrong, you might as well back it up. And there is a point in agruing when the "tweak" that you've applied actually doesn't help performance at all.

Let me explain it as simply as possible.

The outer edges of the disk have higher continuous read/write speeds than the inner regions. For large files, you'll read and write them faster by having them placed on the edge of the disk.

The pagefile is something that is usually does not experience continuous I/O, and the disk read/write head moves back and forth between it and other files quite often. By physically separating the pagefile from the rest of your files, you're causing the read/write head to travel much farther than it would otherwise need to. This back/forth movement of the read head takes time and can actually decrease the life of your hard drive.

Like chilifrei64 said, if you have a separate disk, then you can experience a significant performance gain by placing a second pagefile on the other disk (provided that it's on a separate IDE channel than your system drive). This will allow your system to access your files as well as the pagefile at the same time. The benefits should be obvious.

Quite simply, it's a "tweak" that's just wrong. You end up hurting your performance more than you help it. I've said it before elsewhere, but I'll repeat it:

If you have one hard drive - Place the pagefile on the system partition.

If you have more than one hard drive - Place one pagefile on the first partition of each drive that is on a separate IDE channel.

[Jeremy]

I'm taking a 1 year computer hardware and software course, ending up with A+ Certification. Of course there will be people who find ways to pass certification by memorizing everything but don't understand a bloody thing. I do both. So don't argue with me. lmao. Anything Zxian says you might as well take to heart. He's always right. You should see him rant to me when he finds someone doing something they think is good for their system when it's not. He goes apes***. lmao

[chilifrei64]

Thanks guys.. I just didnt feel like getting into this last night... It was gettin late.

[azagahl]

The pagefile is something that is usually does not experience continuous I/O, and the disk read/write head moves back and forth between it and other files quite often.

But it's in its own partition (which it nearly fills, causing the low disk space warnings), and I rarely access any other partitions on the disk. So I rarely access other files on that disk.

Quite simply, it's a "tweak" that's just wrong....If you have more than one hard drive - Place one pagefile on the first partition of each drive that is on a separate IDE channel.

This is essentially the tweak I've applied. BTW, I have multiple IDE channels.

Edited November 6, 2005 by azagahl

[chilifrei64]

Your question was answered..

indeed there is

as with all reg editing make a back up first

no liablity etc etc

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1051/

Jeremy was just giving insight because you didnt specify you had 2 seperate hard drives.

you replied and still didnt specify you had 2 hard drives and I clarified what Jeremy said. You then mentioned that you had 2 hard drives.. that is good.. that is the way it should be as Zxian said.. so you are good.

As for the poo poo on your optimizations.. we were mearly giving insight to your optimizations to try and help you out but we did not have all the information necessary to give the proper insight

and as far as your p*n*s goes.. that was completely unnecessary.

[Zxian]

I'm taking a 1 year computer hardware and software course, ending up with A+ Certification. Of course there will be people who find ways to pass certification by memorizing everything but don't understand a bloody thing. I do both. So don't argue with me. lmao. Anything Zxian says you might as well take to heart. He's always right. You should see him rant to me when he finds someone doing something they think is good for their system when it's not. He goes apes***. lmao

Not always...I just remember lots of random stuff and I question just about everything when I first read/hear about it. My brain must have a few petabytes of storage space.

and as far as your p*n*s goes.. that was completely unnecessary.