Advance Virtual Memory managment tool?
Hello, is there a way to specify which hard drive to use first and in which order for the virtual memory? Like I added some SSDs + HDDs + PCIe ssd but I would like the PCIe SSD to be used first (if it is the fastest) and then the SSDs and ultimately the slowest HHDs.
Also if I build a RAID 0 of SSDs I guess it should measure the MB/s and use the fastest first and slowest last. Of course using the PCIe in // with RAID ssds can be great as long as the performance improve.
If such a tool doesn't already exist that will be a great one.

Note: I need a huge amount of virtual memory for few months, I have 64GB ram but buying 1TB will be way too expensive.

Thanks for your he
April 26th, 2015 6:56pm

Hi w.

If you dont want Windows to automatically manage the page file, we have the following options:

You can move the page file to a different volume if you have more than one volume.

If you have more than one volume, you can establish more than one page file.

For any page file, you can choose between System Managed Size and Custom Size.

If you choose Custom Size, you can specify an initial size and a maximum size.

You can remove a paging file from a volume by selecting the volume and choosing No Paging File. (In fact, you can do this to get rid of all paging files, although doing so is not recommended, even on systems with a lot of RAM.)

Because your disk controller can process multiple requests to read or write data concurrently, we should let Windows choose which page file it feels are appropriate.

All we need to do is moving the page file to a fast drive that doesnt contain your Windows system files if you have more than one physical disk. Using multiple page files split over two or more physical disks is an even better idea.

Regards,

D. Wu

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April 29th, 2015 5:38am

Wil

The short answer without some major programming is no.

April 29th, 2015 5:52am

Thanks a lot D.Wu, Wanikiya and Dyami

Right now I have my fastest SATA SSDs as drive 4 and 5 (both are use as virtual memory, those are SAMSUNG 850 PRO 512GB)

Drive 6 is a PCIe SSDs (way faster than drive 4 and 5, drive 6 is a OCZ-Z drive 860GB)

Drives 4,5 and 6 are set as "system managed" so windows use them...

Unfortunately windows doesn't use the fastest drive (drive 6) as the main one...it kind of first fill up 1/2 of drive 4 and drive 5 then 1/4 of drive 6...

How does windows choose which drive to use first for Paging and can I change what ever it is using as a criteria (drive id, or drive letter or what ever it is) so it can use my drive 6 first (instead of drive 4 and then 5)?

yes using the 3 drives in // is probably faster, thought drive 6 is probably 4 time faster than drive 4 and 5.

I guess Ideally I would like windows to use more than 1/2 of drive 6 first and then what ever is needed on drive 4 and 5.

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May 6th, 2015 10:11pm

The algo must choose by some criteria what drive to use first, what are those criteria and can I change them so I can get drive 6 being used first and then drive 4 and 5?

(Like, let's pretend the criteria is the drive letter, then I can just change it and it should start by drive 6 first then the other....)

May 6th, 2015 10:14pm

Hi

The most relevant information I could find was an article about optimal configuration of the page file under Windows XP.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/314482/

The article states that there is no pattern defined, Windows will use the page file located on the volume with the least activity because it is similar behavior like RAM. So I am afraid that there might be no way to manager it as your way.

Regards,

D. Wu

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May 10th, 2015 11:12pm

Thanks D.Wu that is an interesting article.

I believe in today's data mining age, this is an important feature for windows. We always need faster access to our data. Being able to specify (or the system choose) where can be store the data for the fastest access is critical.

I understand it is manage like the ram and so windows doesn't distinguish between a 50MBps cache and a 3000MBps or even 6000MBps cache, which is sad.

I believe must become a high priority feature for windows (can you please process a feature enhancement request - thank you)

In the meantime, who at Microsoft can tell us how the cache algorithm choose which drive to use, may be we can trick windows by adding the drive in a certain order or giving them different drive letter etc...? that will be really nice if you can find the expert on this cache algrorithm

thanks for your help

sincerely

w

May 12th, 2015 8:46pm

Hi w,

Thanks again for your suggestion on Windows, unfortunately since this is public forum for every users, I am afraid we cannot find certain expert from Microsoft work on this. But be sure that there might be no such a tool from Microsoft to do that at the present stage. In the other hand I will record this thread and your suggestion to database so someone who familiar with that might give some suggestion on this. Meanwhile, if you interested to cache algrorithm which related to Windows core design, Id suggest that we could ask at MSND forum. There you can get more effective suggestion by other experts who familiar with design of Windows. Your understanding is highly appreciated.

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home

Regards,

D. Wu

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May 14th, 2015 9:42pm

Thanks a lot D.Wu, can you help me figuring out in which MSDN Forum category I should post my question in? (there are "forum category" and then sub "forum")

I look at all of them 1 by 1 but can't really figure out which one is the most appropriate

thanks again for your help

Sincerely 

May 14th, 2015 10:11pm

Hi w,

Unfortunately we are not familiar with the MSDN forum structure very much, bet Forums do have a Where is the Forum for forum for these questions which covers a wide range of knowledge. You can ask there Windows design or memory algorithm, they might give your suggestion about where to ask.

Regards,

D. Wu

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May 18th, 2015 9:34pm

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