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Hard Drive Partitioning

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polly-gone
Okay Im sorry if this is a stupid question cuz i know it is cuz i know how to do this but i am having massive cranial flatulence.

Here's what i want:
I have 1024mb of RAM but my video card is using a lot of it. I want to manually partition my hard drive (around 5gb) that i can use as RAM. I know windows does this automatically but i know there is a way to do it manually i have done it before i just forget. If anyone knows how to do this please reply. Don't reply if you wanna tell me something like "Oh windows does this automatically."

Thanks,
Atomic Dingo
(The genius formely known as Polly-Gone! Smile )
Animal
polly-gone wrote:
Here's what i want:
I have 1024mb of RAM but my video card is using a lot of it. I want to manually partition my hard drive (around 5gb) that i can use as RAM. I know windows does this automatically but i know there is a way to do it manually i have done it before i just forget. If anyone knows how to do this please reply. Don't reply if you wanna tell me something like "Oh windows does this automatically."

Firstly, you can specify certain areas of your hard disk to be used as a pagefile - this is "virtual memory" that is used basically to swap data in and out of RAM. It does not function as RAM itself, so your video card will not use it. If this is really causing a strain on your system resources, the only way to get a real improvement is to buy and fit more RAM.

However, if you want to partition your hard disk without reformatting it, you will need to use software like Partition Magic or Partition Manager. This software is not free, and I'm afraid that I don't know of any free alternatives. I use Partition Manager myself and haven't had any problems with it.

It is not necessary to partition the hard drive to increase the pagefile size - the pagefile will already exist on (most likely) your C:\ drive. By default, it is not a fixed size - it swells and decreases as necessary, but this can cause problems with fragmentation, especially since it's on the same drive as your operating system. I'd recommend that you try simply increasing the size of your existing pagefile (but make it a fixed size) and see how it affects your computer's performance. You may notice a slight improvement, but as I said above, the only way to properly increase the performance is to buy more RAM.

To increase pagefile size:
1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
2. Select Advanced, then click on Settings (listed under Performance)
3. Select the Advanced tab, then click on Change under Virtual Memory.
4. Click on your C:\ drive, then select the radio button marked Custom Size.
5. Enter your desired pagefile size in MB - the minimum value should be 1.5 times the amount of RAM you have - anything between 2.5 and 3GB should be appropriate for your setup.
6. Click Set, Ok, Ok, and Ok - your pagefile is now larger.

As I said, this will not take the additional load caused by your video card, but it may make small improvements to your system's performance. If you do decide to use partitioning software to create a "pagefile partition", you would simply repeat the above steps, but disable the pagefile on all drives, and set a new pagefile on the new partition. Remember to leave the pagefile a few hundred megabytes smaller than the actual partition, otherwise you will get those annoying "Low Disk Space" messages constantly.

Hope this helps Cool
polly-gone
Okay, thanks, i will try this. And yeah, i think im just gonna go pick up a 128mb RAM card to replace what my video card is using.
Mannix
polly-gone wrote:
Okay, thanks, i will try this. And yeah, i think im just gonna go pick up a 128mb RAM card to replace what my video card is using.


Please call those "sticks" Wink
polly-gone
Yeah, yeah, RAM Sticks. I was just typing this 5 seconds before i had to log off and i was thinking. Yes I know, it's a stick. Im not a n00b, Thank you and have a nice day. Wink
quotebook
If you want to create a partition for it (probably not a bad idea), you can download an Ubuntu Live CD, it has a partition editor on it - just stick it in your CD drive and boot up. You may have to go into BIOS to make it boot from CD.
internetjobs
you mean the RAM about Virtual memory, you can increase your virtual memory to any drive that has lot of free space.
Kelvin
allocating too much of your hard disk space as virtual memory is not necessarily beneficial. Too much can actually slow down your performance. THe suggested allocation is 2.5x the size of your physical memory.
ssthanapati
Kelvin wrote:
allocating too much of your hard disk space as virtual memory is not necessarily beneficial. Too much can actually slow down your performance. THe suggested allocation is 2.5x the size of your physical memory.


I agree... I tried it and it slowed down mine
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