Using 2nd hard drive as Virtual Memory

Question

My laptop, by default, has been set up with 2 hard drives; one named C: and other named D:. I read on Yahoo Answers that Windows uses C: as the default drive as extra memory, or Virtual Memory, if the programs you use exceeds the amount of RAM you have, but this slows down the performance of your computer as it needs to spin around the hard drive to access space on it to use as memory.

I was wondering, if I used my D: drive, which has literally nothing on it, as Virtual Memory, will this prevent Vista from slowing down the performance of my laptop because it doesn't need to access the drive for data or will it be the same as using the C: drive as Virtual Memory and still slow down performance?

Another question, how do I know if I have 2 separate hard drives or just one hard drive that has been partitioned on my laptop?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,

You can put your pagefile on the other drive as long as that drive is a fast as your OS (C:) is AND

you put it on the primary partition.

Do this - download JKDefraf 3.36 - SAVE - go to and RIGHT CLICK on it - RUN AS ADMIN to install

(you can upgrade to MyDefrag 4.x later if you wish and both are Free)

JKDefrag - Fee

http://kessels.biz/JkDefrag/

Use it to defrag D: or whatever is the primary partition of the 2nd drive (scroll down for instructions)

or do both drives.

Then follow this to move the pagefile to primary partition of 2nd drive.

Move and Optimize Windows Vista’s Paging File

http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/move-and-optimize-windows-vistas-paging-file/

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Rob - Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Answer 2

Thanks, I'll give that a go.