Re: Setting up PC for dual-boot Linux and Windows XP

From: DougZ (no_spam_at_no_spam.not)
Date: 08/31/03 

Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 10:27:36 GMT

~misfit~ wrote:
> "John Seeliger" <jseelige@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:bioavp$bpdv1$1@ID-146094.news.uni-berlin.de...
>
<snip>
> Decide how much space you want for Windows and partition and format
> accordingly. I then put a seperate partition for XP's pagefile. Depending on
> your RAM, inteneded use etc. between 500MB and 1GB for swapfile. I use NTFS
> for the XP partition and FAT32 for the pagefile as FAT32 is faster but
> slightly less secure than NTFS. That's not really a problem for a pagefile
> and, depending on your machine's specs, can make an appreciable difference.
>
> Size the partitions for Windows and Linux depending on what is going to be
> your primary OS.
> --
<snip>
All good advice. For super-high security, put
pagefiles on NTFS, but you sacrifice a tiny
bit of performance for security that may not
be needed in normal usage.

Old advice was to have larger Allocation Units
(Clusters) for page files. Disk caching has
changed that. It is wise to ensure that the
Allocation Unit is set to 4K (page size) when
formatting the pagefile partition so as to
minimize buffering. (This is the default, but
it pays to check.)

Biggest performance contiributors -
- Pagefile size min = pagefile size max
   in order to stop file shrinkage & growth
- Pagefile size min = 1.5 times physical
   memory. If you will be manipulating
   large images, etc., increase
- Pagefile on separate disk, if possible
- Pagefile on separate partition, if at
   all possible, in order to reduce file
   fragementation and facilitate file
   defragmentation.

Pagefile optimization -
http://x220.win2ktest.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=602
http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

Relevant Pages

  • Re: System Completely Freezes or Spontaneously Reboots
    ... advocate letting Windows manage the pagefile. ... dedicated first partition on a second drive. ... free disk space you can be frustrated trying to get a contiguous pagefile ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Keeping the swapfile in a separate partition
    ... looking for other space to use on the hard drive, letting a pagefile ... to mention Windows can a will make mistakes by sometimes placing pieces ... that is to have a separate partition for the pagefile, ... If you do setup a separate partition and decide to make it 4 gig the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: A9 home and linux
    ... Just to be equally pedantic, Windows on its own could, if it ... The pagefile, by default, and as pre-installed on almost ... the pagefile is in a partition which becomes ... first because disc access to data ...
    (comp.sys.acorn.hardware)
  • Re: Setting Pagefile to help with Userenv 1508
    ... I believe a similar tool is provided with the Windows Resource Pack, ... that information gets written is if you have a Pagefile allocated. ... Man I just wish I could shove some of the D: partition available space ... If I reboot the machine the ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services)
  • Re: WinXp & Game~Partitions & best for WinXP?
    ... I think the idea of a separate partition just for the pagefile came more out of having fragmentation of dynamic pagefiles than anything else. ... If you set a static size for the pagefile then it will not become fragmented and there is no real need to have a separate partition just for the pagefile, but it will hurt nothing to give it its own partition on an otherwise unused or less used disk. ... drybones wrote: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)