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Best Paging File Solution for my Laptop /w SSD & HHD
Posted on 2014-02-09
Hey All -
I'm doing an OS re-install of Windows 8.1 this afternoon and wanted to post a quick question about the paging file since research turned up multiple responses.
First, here's my laptop's specs:
- Dell Latitude E6420
- Windows 8.1 x64
- x1 128gb SSD (OCZ Vertex 4) in primary drive slot
- x1 320gb 5400RPM HDD (ST9320325As) in module bay which I purchased to replace DVD Drive
- 16gb RAM (DDR3-1333 DDR3)
(Even though the max specs for the E6420 said the laptop supported a max of 8gb, i found a post that it actually supported 16gb. Sure enough, I installed it a few months back and 16gb seems to have worked great!)
My current config (prior to os re-install) was having a page file on the HDD and have it set to 32gb (which I think is honestly too high so don't know what I was thinking.) AIDA64 showed that at the time I ran it, 3301mb of the paging file was currently being used - why, i don't know.
I'm upgrading the 320 HDD in the near future. Don't know if possible with my laptop, but perhaps I may put another Vector 4 in and run them in RAID!
So... Here are my questions?
1. Should I put the Page file on the SSD or HDD?
2. Set statically or just let Windows manage?
3. If answered SSD to #1, would answer change if I got faster HDD soon?
Thanks!
I'm doing an OS re-install of Windows 8.1 this afternoon and wanted to post a quick question about the paging file since research turned up multiple responses.
First, here's my laptop's specs:
- Dell Latitude E6420
- Windows 8.1 x64
- x1 128gb SSD (OCZ Vertex 4) in primary drive slot
- x1 320gb 5400RPM HDD (ST9320325As) in module bay which I purchased to replace DVD Drive
- 16gb RAM (DDR3-1333 DDR3)
(Even though the max specs for the E6420 said the laptop supported a max of 8gb, i found a post that it actually supported 16gb. Sure enough, I installed it a few months back and 16gb seems to have worked great!)
My current config (prior to os re-install) was having a page file on the HDD and have it set to 32gb (which I think is honestly too high so don't know what I was thinking.) AIDA64 showed that at the time I ran it, 3301mb of the paging file was currently being used - why, i don't know.
I'm upgrading the 320 HDD in the near future. Don't know if possible with my laptop, but perhaps I may put another Vector 4 in and run them in RAID!
So... Here are my questions?
1. Should I put the Page file on the SSD or HDD?
2. Set statically or just let Windows manage?
3. If answered SSD to #1, would answer change if I got faster HDD soon?
Thanks!
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8 Comments
Active today
1. On the SSD
2. Let Windows manage it
3. No
Any hdd you will buy will be slower than any ssd, so the page file will still need to be on the fastest drive, the ssd.
HTH,
Dan
2. Let Windows manage it
3. No
Any hdd you will buy will be slower than any ssd, so the page file will still need to be on the fastest drive, the ssd.
HTH,
Dan
Active 6 days ago
#1 Page file on SSD - but - do you have any page file activity? with 16GB of RAM it may still be years before a program would actually use the amount of RAM you have and need to access a page file. I would try not using a page file at all.
#2 Set Static use about half your RAM size for PF size. windows settings are legacy and don't take into account large RAM setups. The page file was to compensate for computers that did not have enough ram to run programs.
#3 having all SSD is the fastest solution at this time - next best is raid 0 setup with ssd and sata drive. your Dell can do the Intel Rapid Storage Technology settings for raid 0 - this manages your raid 0 set by placing your most frequently accessed files on the SSD.
Here's a link to help you work through the install:
https://communities.intel.com/thread/32268
Cheers!
#2 Set Static use about half your RAM size for PF size. windows settings are legacy and don't take into account large RAM setups. The page file was to compensate for computers that did not have enough ram to run programs.
#3 having all SSD is the fastest solution at this time - next best is raid 0 setup with ssd and sata drive. your Dell can do the Intel Rapid Storage Technology settings for raid 0 - this manages your raid 0 set by placing your most frequently accessed files on the SSD.
Here's a link to help you work through the install:
https://communities.intel.com/thread/32268
Cheers!
Active today
@Greg_Hejl:
1. Windows will try to make use of all the RAM available. I have 16GB of RAM and after a few days the RAM usage is above 10GB, even if the opened programs use less
2. Win 8 memory settings are not legacy. For my setup Windows recommends 5 GB swap
3. Technically, that's not RAID 0. If it was, and you paired a 128 GB SSD with a 1 TB HDD you could only access 256GB (2X the smallest disk).
I think you're referring to hybrid drives, where Windows sees only the big drive and the smaller one is used for caching.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive
1. Windows will try to make use of all the RAM available. I have 16GB of RAM and after a few days the RAM usage is above 10GB, even if the opened programs use less
2. Win 8 memory settings are not legacy. For my setup Windows recommends 5 GB swap
3. Technically, that's not RAID 0. If it was, and you paired a 128 GB SSD with a 1 TB HDD you could only access 256GB (2X the smallest disk).
I think you're referring to hybrid drives, where Windows sees only the big drive and the smaller one is used for caching.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive
Active today
I also vote for no pagefile. I keep practicing it and could measure at least better startup times then with a pagefile.
@Dan
> Windows will try to make use of all the RAM available. I have 16GB of RAM and after a few days the RAM usage is above 10GB, even if the opened programs use less
-not quite. Unless you experience some memory leakage with your programs, you would not see that behavior. I hope you don't confuse consumed RAM and cached RAM. The amount cached will grow, that's right.
@Dan
> Windows will try to make use of all the RAM available. I have 16GB of RAM and after a few days the RAM usage is above 10GB, even if the opened programs use less
-not quite. Unless you experience some memory leakage with your programs, you would not see that behavior. I hope you don't confuse consumed RAM and cached RAM. The amount cached will grow, that's right.
Active today
Yes, that's the prefetch doing it's job.
There's no point in memory just sitting there and looking pretty :)
There's no point in memory just sitting there and looking pretty :)
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