[SOLVED] Virtual Memory - Do I have this right ?

PC is Windows Home Prem 64 Bit
6 GB RAM
C drive is 250 GB.

I bought a 500GB internal hard drive - this will be my back up drive.
I have not yet back up anything into it. What I have done is SATA cable 'kit' connected the 500GB to my PC via a USB port.
I then split it up (created a partion) so now have 2 drives - an E & a K.
E will be my back up drive and is allocated with 465GB and labeled as "BackUp Drive.
The K drive is allocated with 8.92 GB (roughly 1.5 times the 6 GB of RAM) and label "Virtual Memory" yes it was supposed to be 9216 - not sure how I lost 81.92 MB

Next I want to (of course unplug the PC) connect this new 500 HD internally.
Ultimately I will rename the E drive as a "B" Drive and leave the K as K.

Then I will go into the Advanced settings, click on Virtual Memory and click "change"
"Automatically manage Page file size for all drives" should be unchecked.

Then I will select "K" and set the initial and the maximum to 9216 or should they both be 9134 MB ?

then click OK and all good to go and that then the C (main) drive and the PC should be good to go?

Yes, did I miss anything?
Not sure how to get the K drive to be at least 9216 MB (9GB) or leave it at 8.92 GB ?

Thx

Oh, currently the C drive is set to "system manage size"

Basically you're doing everything correct except for a couple of things.

Some people still go the RAM X 1.5 to get the Paging File size. (Re: Virtual Memory).

I just made mine the same size; 6 GB of RAM - 6 GB Paging File. You don't need to leave it on the C drive anymore, the K drive you've chosen will work just fine. Besides living the Paging File or virtual memory on the C drive causes it to get fragmented quicker.

For a Paging File on a second hard drive, most users will put it at the front of the drive on the outside edge of the platters, where it's the fastest.

|----9 GB---|--------------------------------------------------465 GB----------------------------------------|

Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management then Disk Management and select the drive and from there you can delete, create and adjust your partitions. As you stated, 9 GB should be 9216 MB after using the 1.024 multiplier.

Then go to Computer, Advanced Settings and eliminate the Paging File on the C drive and configure it for the K drive. Then restart the system.

I hope this helps.

Whenever you create a partition there is overhead and you will loose some. Also because of how sectors are addressed and platters are accessed it can be inefficient so the system will adjust your numbers some.

It used to be recommended that your page file be on a FAT32 formatted drive but I cannot find out if that is still the case. Some of what I have found question if it is even beneficial to have the page file on a separate drive any longer, stating that Vista on handle paging much more efficiently.

I can state fairly confidently that as long as the drive is externally connected via USB you will be hurting your performance to put the page file there.

How do I swap the partion sizes - so that 9GB ( and that this time it is 9GB and not 8.92) is up front?

Could I still be able to name the front partition K and the other B?

I am only connecting this 500GB via USB until I get the formats/partitions right.
I guess after that I would then connect it internally AND THEN copy stuff onto the larger partion size.

I really want the BackUP Drive (partion) to be Drive B and the Virtual Memory Drive partition to be K. I have a 12-1 Card Reader and currently J is the last used drive. so when I formatted that partition it automatically chose K.

Thx

If it is empty just merge them back together and start over.

You can name it Z: if you want. Go to administrative tools & pick Computer Management ... Storage ... Disc Management
You can even change your 12-in-1 slots to an order that suits you with "Change drive letter and paths". If you want to switch E & F simply rename E to x, F to E, and x to F - tada switched. Or maybe you want your DVD after your 12-in-1, also no problem.

Two things to note: 1) A: & B: were always reserved for floppy drives so I wouldn't name my HD B:, it might be fine but I don't want to be the one to test it. 2) If you change the drive letter AFTER you have installed from/to that drive it may cause programs to get confused or even fail (this is why it warns you when you change the drive letter in computer management) ... When I moved my DVD drive from D: to E: I ran a registry scan for D: and I changed them to E:

Yes after the partitions are made you can still change the drive letters using any partitioning software.

You might as well go ahead and connect the drive the way you want it to be installed.

You have that option if you want it that way. Drive letters A and B used to be reserved for floppy drives , they still are but you can assign them to any drive regardless.

Thanks guys.

RE: the Floppy drives and A&B-
I had a back up drive on my last PC (Vista) and when I connected it (internally), the PC automatically named it B. Since I am used to that, thats how I hope to keep it here.

I dont have partition magic so hoping the Windows Disk Mgr will suffice.

Take care.

"Partition Magic" will not work with Vista or W7 because they now have their own boot managers and could conflict but there are other products that do work. Frankly, on an empty drive the windows partition works just fine, it's only when you try to move pieces with data or if you have partitions A-B-C and you decide you want to merge AC that windows can't handle.

Partition Magic was the only 3rd party software I could think of.

Just thought of something -

By putting the virtual memory on the new (500GB) drive - will this indeed help the C drive and the PC itself?

For the C drive (in the Virtual Memory screen) do I leave it as "System Managed"?

Thx !