Windows 10: Put pagefile.sys on SSD or HDD & System Restore Size?

I'm trying to clean up my SSD system disk after upgrading to Windows 10. I have a SSD and several hard drives in my desktop PC plus 16GB RAM. Do I need a page file at all and if I do, how big should it be and on which drive should it be located for best performance?

Also, how much disk space (in GB) should be devoted to System Restore on my SSD system disk?

:)

 

boot from cloned ssd installed on cd drive

I have to assume that the cloning software you used made the SSD bootable. You can only confirm that by checking the software's documentation and confirming that you followed the procedure correctly.

I also assume that you have made a system image of the HDD. I also assume that you made a Recovery drive or a System repair disk unless you have an installation disk [which can also do the same job]. You will need this if the cloning has not worked correctly
and you need to restore your system.

The BIOS might not be capable of booting from a SSD/HDD in the CD bay. Whilst that can be a convenient location for doing the cloning, you will almost certainly need to remove the original HDD and fit the SSD
in its bay instead.

Put the old HDD in a USB enclosure so that it can be used as a storage drive but do not connect it to the computer while you are trying to get the SSD to boot. Bootable HDDs & SSDs have "signatures" that the system will look for during booting and finding
multiple signatures will confuse it & probably stop it booting at all.

If, when the SSD has proved itself, you decide to fit the old HDD in the CD bay as an onboard additional storage drive then you will need to format it first so hold off on this until you are completely confident in the SSD.

- - - - - - - - -

When I did this job last year, I used Acronis TI to "clone" to the SSD. Actually, what I did was use Acronis TI to restore a system image to the SSD. That is, in effect, cloning it but I thought that it would be a more reliable way of doing it as TI system
images are tolerant of changed hardware being found.

• I put the SSD in the CD bay to do the image restoration.
• I removed the old HDD and put the SSD in its bay.
• The SSD booted correctly.
• After a while, I reformatted the old HDD and fitted it in the CD bay as an onboard additional storage drive.

Best of luck,

Denis

 

boot from cloned ssd installed on cd drive

"Currently, my objective is to keep the HHD as-is for backup and storage uses" - you will be able to do so. You just need to keep it on one side but out of the computer so that you can see the SSD in action on its own first. You have to put the
SSD in the original HDD's bay for the system to be able to boot from it.

There is no method for switching "between SSD & HHD just by changing the BIOS boot order or something like that". BIOS writers did not anticipate the use to which you want to put the CD/DVD bay. You have to put the SSD in the original HDD's bay
for the system to be able to boot from it.

When you are happy that the SSD boots correctly you can first try to put the old HDD into the caddy you have been using in the CD/DVD bay. Then try booting again. If the SSD cannot boot now [but could boot on its own] then it will be because of a clash
of disk "signatures". If there is a clash then you should put the old HDD into a USB enclosure so you can access it as & when required [but you might still have to remove it during booting up] but might eventually need to reformat it in order to use it in
that CD/DVD bay caddy so that you can leave it in the computer all the time.

I have done this job on two different computers.

• The SSD from which the system boots is in the original HDD's bay.
• The original HDD is in the CD/DVD bay [using the caddy that the SSD was in during cloning].

 

Put it on the SSD and let the system manage it. You want the page file on the fastest disk to take advantage of the speed.

I like to keep System Restore to 10 to 15GB. I currently have 3 restore points available. 5/22, 6/5 and 6/11. That, along with weekly image backups using Macrium plus mirroring important files and folders every 4 hours give me all the protection and recovery I need.

 

Thanks. What utility do you use to mirror files/folders?

 

I have the same amount of ram you do and I've disabled it completely. pagefile was conceived at a time when PCs weren't powerful and couldn't hold much memory. They wouldn't have believed what we have today.

I haven't noticed any downsides.

 

Why then does Windows 10 assign a 3GB page file to my SSD when the OS knows I have 16GB RAM?

 

I use a program called Mirror Folder from TechSoft. I've been using it for years. Not free, but works great.

This will give you an idea of the interface and capabilities:

 

I've seen some programs not install if they don't find Virtual Memory/paging file on the computer. I like using 2 drives and put 2GB on the C: [boot] drive and the rest of the written recommended 1.5 times the physical RAM [in Help and Support] on the D: drive.

 

I set PF to 1gb just so some programs requiring it don't complain, that's quite enough even with 8GB of RAM. Even with it turned off windows will do some writing on the system disk so it's not actually "saving" disk from lot's of writing to it, some space only (maybe).
5% reserved for system restore is enough to keep last 2 or 3 system restore points on my 240GB SSD.
Superfetch and prefetch are not real threat to SSDs either.
With current state of SSD technology there's no real reason to treat them any different than just as another Disk Drive.

 

I'll try your recommendation of having paging files on drives C: and D:. How and when does the OS decided to write to drive C: (SSD) and the larger pagefile on drive D: ?

 

The decision as to which pagefile to write to is based on how busy the drive is. It will use the drive that has the shortest write queue. But it does not take performance of the drives into consideration (at least I don't believe so). A secondary drive will usually be less busy. That means the small and fast pagefile on the SSD will rarely be used.

From a performance standpoint you don't want a pagefile on a secondary drive unless it has performance comparable to the OS drive.

 

I was going to say something like that too. Most of performance would be lost if it's on slower drive. Even if it was on another drive, system would still have to use same resources to use it from that drive.

 

Thanks. I'm now trying a single fixed 1GB page file on the SSD for a while.

 

I set my page file on the C drive with a 200 MB initial size and 4000 MB maximum.
That way it starts out as a small pagefile and Windows increases it if/when needed.
I've been doing this for years with W7, W8.1, and W10.
It hasn't caused any problems for me.
Then i can tell if something uses the pagefile, and the size increases.

I set 200 MB initial as i read a long time ago that's the min needed to create a dumpfile if a BSOD occurs.
I don't know if there is a performance difference with these settings.