Page/swap file size & partition for 1GB RAM in Win2K for NLVE?

[Fun Guy]

Okay, finally got all my stuff together for my digital video editing and production machine ... dual 1Ghz PIII's with 1 GB RAM. Getting ready to build the box - and know that NT had issues with paging file size: had to be on the system partition, had to be a decent size regardless of amount of RAM, etc, but don't know how to set it up if I will be using Win2K.

I wouldn't be sweating it now if I didn't need to format the hard drive to get started. Reason being, if I have to have a paging file, I would rather have it on a separate partition (which I know I can do in Win2K) and want it to be on the fastest part of the disk (the first part, or outer tracks). So I want to know the optimum size.

I was thinking of setting aside the first 1GB of HDD space for a 1GB page file, but will I need this much space in Win2K? Will it hurt more than help to have a paging file of this size? If you don't know, I would appreciate direction to other appropriate forums/web sites - thanks.

 

[Fun Guy]

Anyone?

 

[jaredm77]

I have 512MB of RAM and my Windows 2000 page file is 768MB. 1GB may be a little much, but I don't think it would hurt, especially if you have a lot of disk space to spare.

 

[WoundedWallet]

I read somewhere long time ago that you needed to have at least the same amount of pagefile as you have RAM in case the the system crashes. Something to do about creating a dump file that big.

Having said that I really don't know what would happen if you were using more RAM at the time of a crash than your pagefile could handle.

I have set my pagefile partition to 1GB as well, but I also use it as the temp drive for some programs.

Also... if you're doing video editing you should have enough HD space to not worry about a gig lost or gain. If you're worrying then you need to get more space.

 

[Oda]

Check out this link. Specifically:



<< Windows 2000, much like previous versions of NT, will dump the contents of memory to Memory.dmp in the event of a Stop, or other fatal error. You can then use this Memory.dmp file for debugging the cause of this error. If this is your sort of thing you'll need to have your Paging File set to (at least) RAM + 12MB for the file to be created. >>



So that is only if you are keen to actually go through the file dump yourself to see where everything went FUBAR.

Oda

 

[Fun Guy]

Okay guys, thanks for the info so far.

Just one item that perhaps I didn't get specific about ... I have heard that having a larger swap/page file actually encourages the system to go to disk more often than if the swap/page were smaller, thereby decreasing system performance. Anyone else heard of this?

Also, if anyone has links to resources where I can read more about this topic, I would appreciate it. Keep the replies coming, please!

 

[Staver]

I heard too small a swapfile causes W2K to swap sooner rather than later. Here's a link.

 

[coolVariable]

I don't think so...
I have 256 MB RAM and I set my Swap-File to Min 20 and Max 768 (my free HD-space).
Usually when I start up I will have a swap-file of 20MB until I power down.
Sometimes (eg Photoshop etc.) I will get a message that I'm low on Virtual memory then Win will enlargen my Swapfile... BUT IT USUSALLY STAYS BELOW 100MB!!!!!

BTW I'm using WinXP but it is very similar to win2k...