Windows 10: Is it time to ditch the swapfile

Hi there

I think you have to distinguish between PAGE and SWAP files. SWAPPING consists of a "Dump" or Copy of a users address space in it's entirety whereas PAGING consists of simply copying out to HDD those parts of memory that are not actually being concurrently used by the system when another process needs more memory and there isn't enough in the system.

I'm not sure if it's possible to actually set a SWAP file on Windows -- however provided you have enough REAL RAM you can actually turn off the paging file -- Windows will use REAL RAM to create a paging file if it needs one any way and there isn't any HDD space or allocations.

However it's best to leave the OS to manage this sort of stuff -- HDD space is cheap enough anyway.

I think though that Windows tends to forget the difference between SWAP and PAGE -the terms in classical OS design ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE although Ms might erroneously have made them so.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Well I'm referring to the old pagefile.sys.

 

swapfile.sys appeared in Win8 methinks
pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, and swapfile.sys

I've always used custom page file, usually 1/4 to 1/2 the memory installed (older Wins wanted it all or 3/4). As Mystere explained, the page file isn't what it used to be.
Hibernation always gets turned off on these machines, even the laptop
I haven't researched swap file.

Anyway, the only reason you need a pagefile to match installed memory is for a full memory dump. A minidump will tell you lot, and that only requires 256 KB - if the cause of the dump is re-occurring, you can increase your environment to get a full dump if needed.

The minimum pagefile is 16 MB, but I usually run a 1.5 or 2 GB page file on C:

 

Very good reference Mr Frost. So swap is mainly for the apps, eh.

Hey ... aren't you one of the Batman's arch enemies - I always liked you ... well the character anyway.




The Riddler was just annoying *Smile

edit: oops, not Mr Frost ... Mr Freeze

 

swapfile.sys is used for suspending Universal (ie Modern/Metro) apps. Most people don't realize that Universal apps are really a completely different operating system running within the Win32 OS. That's why it has its own swapfile.

 

I normally disable the swapfile completely and everything runs great, but Samsung Magician (for my SSD), turns it back on by default and sets it to 200MB ->1GB. However, if you read Samsung's tooltips, they have this to say about SSD's:

"In order to address any potential lack of memory capacity, the Windows operating system automatically generates a block of virtual memory (pagefile.sys) on the C: drive. For example, a Windows® 7 64-bit system with 4 GB of physical memory would generate 4 GB of virtual memory at boot time. In the past, before PC Memory (DRAM Modules) were available in high volume, PCs needed to utilize some HDD space to address any memory shortcomings. Today, with PCs featuring 4 GB of memory or more, it is possible to reduce or even eliminate the use of virtual memory. Additionally, using expanded physical memory, rather than creating virtual memory on the SSD, has performance and reliability advantages for the entire system. Some applications may require the use of virtual memory. In this case, please consider your specific application requirements before disabling this feature."

I'll be disabling it again since I avoid Metro apps, and I will be fine with a longer lasting SSD and system stability for the long term.

 

May I ask. What do you get out of turning off the swapfile? (Other then free space.) I see this pop up all the time, what benefit are you getting from turning off the swapfile?

 

Do you mean the "swapfile" or the pagefile?

bob frost

 

Both. Swapfile Pagefile, really both the same thing. I rather be general here.

However, I'm going to follow Mark Russinovich, as far as I'm concerned he actually knows what he is talking about.

Blogs - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

Let Microsoft speak for itself: How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows

 

Thanks Cliff,

This is a well written and clear document ... and ... it is current.

I skimmed it and now I understand what that automatic setting does. I think that setting would work best if you let Windows manage the page file - This setting automatically selects the best system crash dump based on the frequency of system crashes. so teh page file has to be a bit dynamic.

 

Being Dynamic: this is one of the reasons on my main every day system image, I leave pretty much everything set the way Microsoft planned and Windows set. It's a very dynamic system. It will have a set maximum of space or percentile of space given and only uses what it needs or overwrites if too large or not large enough in most cases. A good example is the hiberfileL:, some people think they need to tweak it, to a set maximum size, so it doesn't fragment and only those specific blocks will be used, but that "can" cause problems.