i wanna know what would be best pagefile setting for me. i have 2 hard-drives; Master drive with two partitions, C: 19,5Gb(windows and programs) and D: 55Gb(games,music and videos). then i have Slave drive with just one partition, F: 74,5Gb (just videos). both drives are same,but Slave is newer and therefore might be little faster. i have 512MB of RAM.

From Microsoft (LINK) To enhance performance, it is good practice to put the paging file on a different partition and on a different physical hard disk drive. That way, Windows can handle multiple I/O requests more quickly. When the paging file is on the boot partition, Windows must perform disk reading and writing requests on both the system folder and the paging file. When the paging file is moved to a different partition, there is less competition between reading and writing requests. However, if you remove the paging file from the boot partition, Windows cannot create a dump file (Memory.dmp) in which to write debugging information in the event that a kernel mode Stop Error message occurs. This could lead to extended downtime if you must debug to troubleshoot the Stop error message. The optimal solution is to create one paging file that is stored on the boot partition, and then create one paging file on another partition that is less frequently accessed on a different physical hard disk if a different physical hard disk is available. Additionally, it is optimal to create the second paging file so that it exists on its own partition, with no data or operating-system-specific files. By design, Windows uses the paging file on the less frequently accessed partition over the paging file on the more heavily accessed boot partition. An internal algorithm is used to determine which paging file to use for virtual memory management. When you put a paging file on its own partition, the paging file does not become fragmented, and this counts as another definite advantage. If a paging file resides on a partition that contains other data, it may experience fragmentation as it expands to satisfy the extra virtual memory that is required. An unfragmented paging file leads to faster virtual memory access and to a greater chance of a dump-file capture that is free of significant errors. Concerning the last paragraph, you can also prevent fragmentation when the paging file is on a partition with other files by making the minimum and maximum sizes of the paging file the same so that it never expands and contracts. Michael J

HOW TO: Move the Paging File in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307886 The information in this article applies to: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Microsoft Windows XP Professional ========================================= http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-27.htm Clear virtual memory on shutdown. Go into Administration Tools [under "Performance and Maintenance" in Control Panel], then Local Security Policy, Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options. Scroll down to "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile". Right click and select properties then click "Enabled". For added security you should always clear the page file upon shutting down your computer. Windows uses this file as extra ram. Lets say that you are working on a confidential MS Word doc. When you load this document it is loaded into ram. To save ram windows places certain items in the page file. The page file can then be opened and the document can be extracted as well as any other open program or files. However Microsoft has implemented a feature that will clear the page file but they do not have it enabled by default. Please note, this will slightly increase the amount of time it takes to shut down your computer but it is well worth it.

i have now split my pagefile to two. 384Mb in my windows partition and 384Mb in my Slave drive. is that good that way?

That looks right to me Hoss78

Doesn't to me. First off you need to take the MS recommendations with a grain of salt. Those recommendation are a conglomerate. First things first. When was the last time a system dump file helped you solve a OS problem? Never you say? Then why setup paging based on that? Why DOUBLE your disk IO for paging? The GOAL is to reduce paging IO and eliminate IO conflict between paging and system OS files. With that understanding you should ONLY have a pagefile on your second disk. Now to the point of setting aside a partition for the pagefile. Does that really make sense? Lets look at the logic behind it: pagefile fragmentation. A pagefile that is set to dynamic when it needs to expand has to jump to the next large unallocated area on the disk. Rarely is this contiguous. This is pagefile fragmentation and it does have a impact on paging [just like having two pagefiles on two disks does]. Solution? Sure if you want your pagefile dynamic put it on its own partition and let it expand and contract at will [consuming cpu cycles in the process. Now some of us consider this a waste of disk space and cpu cycles. INSTEAD if you set your pagefile min and max setting THE SAME the pagefile WILL NEVER FRAGMENT. Of course to do this properly you should not turn off your computer for a month and see what your largest pagefile size was during all this time. I add 5% to that number and set min and max the same. I have never had a problem with this setup. In fact I still have a 7yr old NT Sql server with 2gigs ram and a 125meg pagefile that has been humming for all these years. Now here is a kicker for you. I have XPpro and 768meg of ram in my home pc AND I RUN WITH NO PAGEFILE FOR 3YEARS NOW. What you say NO PAGEFILE!?! Isn't that heresy? Don't you waste RAM? Aren't there other problems since MS OS are designed around paging? Apparently not. I run games, watch TV [capture card], do photo editing and everything you most likely do AND I NEVER HAVE CRASHED OR HAD A PROBLEM. Not only that but my system is FASTER. After all ram operates in millionths of a second whereas disk ops are in thousands of a second. Which to you think is faster? :-) Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Suggest they internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.

so your advise is to put pagefile only to that slave drive? i tried once disable pagefile but then i got problems when launching games.