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After going totally crazy over the hard disk working and buzzing all the time, I thought maybe the problem is with the pagefile read/write process, as a look at the Resource Monitor told so. Then I decided to use a flash memory along with my main hard disk to speed that up, hoping that the faster flash would do some magic. But is seems its still using the hard disk more. if not always. I wanted to know if there is a way to give the flash memory a higher priority?

PS: I even wonder if all that actually work...faster flash and all?

arsaKasra
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  • non-stactic size pagefiles can cause extra hard drive activity indeed. did you set a stactic size pagefile on another drive and remove the original or did you keep both(it seems you kept both)? – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Apr 13 '13 at 18:12
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    How much memory do you have? How big is your swap file? Generally if your system uses a lot of swap file you have too little RAM for what you are doing. – cybernard Apr 13 '13 at 18:35
  • @Znau yes, I kept both. – arsaKasra Apr 13 '13 at 19:49
  • pagefile myths say you need 1.5x your amount of ram (i repeat: myths). so, keep that stactic amount on your hard drive. also, if you are low on RAM you should consider upgrading it, since it is adviseable to let windows manage pagefiles. – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Apr 13 '13 at 19:51
  • @cybernard I have 2GBs of RAM. How can I find out my swap size? – arsaKasra Apr 13 '13 at 19:52
  • @arsaKasra swap = pagefile – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Apr 13 '13 at 19:53
  • @Znau it's twice my RAM now. Actually if you count them both that makes it four times my RAM. Uh...just wanted to make sure about that _faster_ part, does that work at all? – arsaKasra Apr 13 '13 at 19:55
  • a stactic pagefile is healthier for your hard drive since it simply does not grow, therefore reducing drive activity. more pagefile is not better than less pagefile; you need to find a balance. – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Apr 13 '13 at 19:58
  • Its 4095M on C:\ plus 4095M on that flash memory – arsaKasra Apr 13 '13 at 19:58
  • i would test 4095-4095 on hard drive only and see results; but again: consider getting more RAM. – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Apr 13 '13 at 19:59
  • @Znau it was like that before today, and since I changed it I feel like it's working better...now I don't know if its because of that or what. What if I set the hard drive part to none, would it make any problem? – arsaKasra Apr 13 '13 at 20:03
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    Possible duplicate of [Does Windows use the fastest drive for the page file?](https://superuser.com/questions/957204/does-windows-use-the-fastest-drive-for-the-page-file) – phuclv Oct 10 '17 at 03:34

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flash memory along with my main hard disk to speed that up

I'm assuming you mean ReadyBoost.

Windows still needs to write to the harddrive as a secondary flash disk that can be unplugged at anytime can break your OS. While the OS will prioritize reads from the faster flash disk, any writes to the pagefile have to go to the flashdisk and the harddrive.

The OS simply isn't setup to deal with a pagefile that will all the sudden disappear.

Plus, when you come out of standby, the SD/USB ports don't come online before the OS does, unlike your main harddrive.

Now, if you are talking about flash memory as in an SSD, then the computer sees it as a harddrive. That's different. You can place your whole pagefile on there.

surfasb
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Chk your VISTA system power settings, Do you have HIGH PERFORMANCE Mode Chk'd ? If you're not taxing your machines cpu you likely can choose the balanced mode and notice an immediate reduction of 'disc spin'. * You could also be experiencing cooling fan noise if dirty, or running constantly because of high cpu or gpu temps.

KenM
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  • Thanks...had totally forgot about the power settings. I "kinda" solved the issue by turning off almost all of the extra services of Vista, which actually/unreasonably added its own miseries. Final solution maybe: let go of Microsoft forever. – arsaKasra May 13 '13 at 19:54