WINDOWS 2000
Pagefile Essentials
Windows NT requires a generous amount of memory to run well. Considering the bulk of this great operating system, and the great things it can do, the fact that it requires much memory makes sense. But since memory doesn't grow on trees, Windows NT has a way--the pagefile--to make your system perform as if it had more memory available to it than it really does.
The pagefile (pagefile.sys) is a chunk of reserved disk space on your hard drive that is used as an extension to memory. If you are running a host of applications and you find yourself running out of memory, Windows NT will swap out some instructions in random access memory (RAM) that haven't been used in a while to the pagefile. This allows you to have more memory available to system when necessary.
Sizing the Pagefile
Microsoft's recommendation for sizing your pagefile is as follows:
Pagefile = RAM amount + 12MB
So, if you had 32MB of RAM in your system, your pagefile would be sized at 44MB. The reason for this is because you needed a pagefile at least equivalent to the amount of RAM you have in your system in case your system crashes, causing a "Blue Screen of Death." When a Windows NT system displays a blue screen, it can be configured to dump the contents of memory to the pagefile to be analyzed later. If your system's pagefile was less than the amount of installed RAM, the dump couldn't occur. The remaining 12MB is a minimal working set needed for the NT system to run.
This was a fine recommendation when Windows NT 3.1 was released in 1993, but since then hardware has gotten cheaper and applications have gotten larger. While there are many theories out there as to what the best configuration with regard to sizing the pagefile is, I have found a few that work for me.
If you have a desktop computer that you are using for your own personal use, try using the following algorithm:
Pagefile = RAM amount X 2
With a larger working set, NT won't have to swap quite as much information to your pagefile, as there will be more space to store that information. The less you have to access your pagefile, the better system performance you'll enjoy.
If you have a server that you are using for file sharing, print sharing, or application sharing, try the following algorithm:
Pagefile = RAM amount + (RAM amount/2)
Since servers typically have much more RAM than desktop computers, doubling the amount of RAM you have just for your pagefile may be a waste of disk space. If your server has less than 128MB of RAM, then I'd make that last amount of the equation at least 50MB.
The last tip on sizing your pagefile, and probably one of the most important, is to make your pagefile's minimum and maximum values the same size, which would be the value derived from the algorithm above. This is configured under the performance tab in the system applet in control panel. The purpose of the minimum and maximum values are to save disk space, since NT will start the pagefile as the minimum size and increase it as needed. When a pagefile grows, however, it will more than likely become fragmented, which will slow your system down greatly. Setting these values to be equal ensures that your pagefile never grows, avoiding fragmentation.
Where to Put the Pagefile
By default, Windows NT will put the pagefile in the root of your system partition (usually C:\pagefile.sys). However, you can put the pagefile on any partition you wish, or on multiple partitions. If you have multiple hard drives--or better yet, hard drives on different buses (integrated drive electronics [IDE] drive and a small computer systems interface [SCSI] drive)--it might make sense to put the pagefile on one of the other drives because it will be able to write to the pagefile without having to contend with other reads and writes from the system. The only problem with locating the pagefile on a drive other than than the system partition is that in the event of a crash/blue screen, your system will not dump the contents of memory to the pagefile.
The best solution is to determine the size of your pagefile before installing NT and then creating a partition for it on the drive of your choice, making it the size of the pagefile. You then configure NT to use that partition for your pagefile, ensuring that it will never get fragmented.
Tweaking Your Way To Utopia
Configuring your pagefile correctly can give you an extra boost in your NT system and save you heartache in the future. But make no mistake: While configuring your pagefile just right may buy you some extra seconds when running multiple applications, there's no substitute for just adding more RAM to your system.
All the information given above (free) is purly for Educational purpose.
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