What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7?

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mysticgroove
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2014/03/09 14:04:51 (permalink)

What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7?

Hey Guys,
 
I have a lag in loading my Kontakt 5.3 Samples, none in particular, just in general, I have the latest version of Kontakt, 5.3
and I was wondering if I have the appropriate Page File settings for a Hybrid (SATA/SSD) 750GB, I have 8GB of RAM and my current custom setting is 1024.MB = Initial size and 1024.MB Maximum size. Some say it should be 12GB for 8.GB of RAM some say due to the Hybrid Hard Drive it should be set to None and some say set to System Managed Size.
What is the best setting for me?
post edited by mysticgroove - 2014/03/09 14:27:42

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    ampfixer
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/09 16:32:24 (permalink)
    Most of my storage is now SSD but I still have the page file set equal to my installed ram. I've always set it that way and never a problem, YMMV.

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    #2
    slartabartfast
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/09 22:30:28 (permalink)
    You can move the page file completely off the SSD if you want or split it between several drives.
     
    http://www.worldstart.com/move-your-windows-7-pagefile-to-a-new-location/
     
    With 8 GB of ram, you probably are not using the pagefile all that much as is. Some people just eliminate it altogether, but Windows and some applications may be problematic in a machine with no page file regardless of the memory. Moving it o another drive should not cause that kind of problem, will save space on your SSD, and will probably not affect your performance much if at all.
    #3
    mudgel
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 01:51:58 (permalink)
    The old rule of thumb used to be 1.5 times your physical ram. I don't know if that still holds true but even with 32 GIG of RAM I've set mine to 48 GIG. That chews up a pretty big chunk of an SSD but for the time being it's not causing any problems.
     
    That would be why some suggest you set yours to 12 GIG = 1.5 x 8

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    mysticgroove
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 02:36:22 (permalink)
    Thanks for reply,
    That's the confusion, cause I have a HYBRID Hard Drive which is both, It is the only drive I have internally,
    The Seagate Momentus section on the Seagate Website doesn't have any info, could 1024MB of Page File slow down my Samples loading, or anything for that matter?

    DAW. Sonar X3e Producer 32 bit

    Interface. Roland Quad Capture
    Software. Kontakt 5. - Engine 2 - Garritan Aria - Native Instruments - Izotope - Musiclab - Nugen Audio - Sonnox - Waves- PSP - Fab Filter
    OS. Windows 7. 64 bit Home Premium - Notebook
    CPU. Intel core i7 26302QM @ 2.00 GHz
    RAM. 8.00GB Dual channel DDR3 @ 665MHz
    Graphics. Intel HD Graphics 3000
    Hard Drive. Seagate 750GB Momentus XT( SATA/SDD Hybrid) 7200 RPM
    Optical Drives. Pioneer DVD-RW DVRTD10RS SCSI CD Rom Device
     
    #5
    slartabartfast
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 04:12:12 (permalink)
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    markyzno
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 07:17:34 (permalink)
    If you custom size (and the above equation is correct in about 1.5 times the size of RAM) then keep it the same in both minimum and maximum. So, a set rate.
     
    Do not go for "none" thats suicidal for lag
     
    System managed can work fine.

    A 1024 page file will NOT slow down loading Kontakt Libs at all.

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    #7
    Splat
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 10:03:08 (permalink)
    Page files are increasingly irrelevant nowadays in these days of excessive RAM. Always best to have it away from the OS partition and turned on, but other than that I let the OS manage it.

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    bitflipper
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 11:37:49 (permalink)
    Have you actually looked at your paging statistics (pf/s) to see if you're paging at all? The question may be moot if you're not paging while your project is playing back. Note that you will see some routine page file usage even if you have plenty of RAM - ignore that as long as the amount used is more or less a flat line. You're only concerned with paging activity (the page faults per second metric) during a DAW session.
     
    There is no real downside to making your paging device bigger, other than a couple gigs of wasted disk space. The important thing is to a) make it a fixed size as you've done and b) make sure it's not on the same physical drive as your audio files. If moving it entirely to another disk isn't feasible due to inadequate space, you can split it across multiple drives. You've probably got 8GB to spare, so just make it 8GB (or even 12GB) and forget about it.
     
    What I would not do is set the page size to none. Windows will die a horrible death if it ever happens to need some virtual memory and there is none.
     
    Wait a minute...is that SSD your only drive? That'd be a different can o' worms.


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    joden
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 12:43:58 (permalink)
    With 8gig of ram, a paging file is not required, and with an SSD you are using up read/write cycles to no purpose.
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    spacealf
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    Re: What Page File size is best for Hybrid HDD on Windows 7? 2014/03/10 13:01:54 (permalink)
     
    The old rule is 1.5 times, but if you want a constant set size (which is better) then set the Min and Max the same.
    The file size does not change, and Windows also uses a virtual memory, so it is always needed, because software is written to use it usually. Yes, anything pulled out of virtual memory is always going to be slower than actual memory using, but whether it would slow down a soft synth loading is something best left to finding a review that tests how those work. It may have nothing to do with virtual memory as long as there is enough memory in the computer in the first place. But Sonar does use the harddrive and that is what the buffer setting is there for. If that is set too low, then perhaps you ought to raise that instead and try that out. And I just set mine way up there (use to say in help to set it at 64, and increase it in steps), well, mine is way above that and over 1024 for the buffers in Sonar.
    Otherwise dropouts can occur because there is not enough buffers to work good for Sonar.
    And not enabling harddisk reads and writes in Windows or Sonar because if you lose power you can wreck the data on your harddrive, unless you have a Uninterruptible Power Supply for the computer.

     
     
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