request: A dummy's guide to swap files, pagefiles, and virtu

[shassouneh 0]

Hi All, Exactly what's the deal with page files and awap files in Windows NT (nt/24/xp) ??? [note: I shall be referring to Windows NT4/2000/XP hereon as Windows NT]

I know that in win9x/me (eww) a swap fie is essentially what windows uses to throw around program data that temporarily doesn't fit in system RAM, effectively trading hard drive space as a slow alternative to RAM.

Here's my main question: What is a pagefile? Also, how related is it to a swapfile? does windows NT use swap files or page files or both? if so, how? So to put these questions into breif form, here we go:

 

-what's a pagefile?

-does Windows NT use swap files? page files? or both? how?

 

Thanx. Note: I said "A dummy's guide" for a reason, so please use simple plain english whenever possible. Thanx

[Palos 0]

A swapfile is used by Windoz to page data that doesn't fit in RAM.

"Paging" means swapping data from RAM to HD...

 

According to M$ it has to be 2.5 times your RAM. Personally I think it's bull$hit, I set mine to 250 MB fixed size. Also you can reduce the aggresivity of the OS for paging (using the swapfile) by playing with some registry keys (forgot which).

[shassouneh 0]

Quote:

A swapfile is used by Windoz to page data that doesn't fit in RAM.

Wow. Plain english please? to PAGE data? what's THAT mean. Also, what's the difference between a PAGE file and a SWAP file then? Does Windows NT use on or both of them? details please...

[Palos 0]

Paging is the way windows moves data between ram and hdd (and viceversa). It is called like that because the way data is organized in the swapfile (in blocks, i.e pages).

 

In other words, the swapfile is the physical item, whereas paging is a process. Page file is another name for swap file.

[shassouneh 0]

Gotcha. Thanx. But what's the difference between paging file and swap file?

[shassouneh 0]

Thanx AlecStaar. I'll read up on it