hello,i have 1 hd, with 4 partitions, c windows d fs9 e scenery f data,they are almost the same size, on wich one should i put paging size, and shall i let xp determine the size, or do it manually?? Or should i put paging on every partition?i have 1024 mb ramthanksrick

Hi Rick,Assuming you are formatted NTFS, then the best advice I have been given is to place the Paging File on C: and C alone, i.e. no Paging File on d, e and f in your case. Accept the Total Paging File Size recommended by Windows and allow it to be 'System Managed'.I have a 10 GB partition reserved for Windows, including the Paging File, and that seems to work fine leaving me with around 3.5 GB free on that partition. You will, of course, be aware that you should spend some time ensuring software that defaults to the C: drive when saving temporary files should be directed away from C: to avoid cluttering it up needlessly.If you are concerned about fragmentation (and you should :)) then I can recommend Perfect Disk which does a very thorough job. The Windows defrag module is okay but you really should run it 3x in succession to achieve reasonable results.Mike

thanks for your answer mike, i have set paging file like you recommended.<< You will, of course, be aware that you should spend some time ensuring software that defaults to the C: drive when saving temporary files should be directed away from C: to avoid cluttering it up needlessly>>how you do this??rick

Hi Rick,<< You will, of course, be aware that you should spend some time ensuring software that defaults to the C: drive when saving temporary files should be directed away from C: to avoid cluttering it up needlessly>>"how you do this??".......essentially it's application dependent. I got around the problem by creating a copy of the 'My Documents' folder tree ( found under C:Documents and SettingsUser Name (Rick, e.g.) ) and pasting it on the D: drive.Then you need to look at the content of the 'My Documents' folder which will show you the names of the applications currently using it. Now fire up each application in turn and look for a configuration option like 'Preferences' or 'Tools' or 'Working Folder' or something similar. Then simply change the path root from C: to D: as in my case, but you may have elected to place the 'My Documents' folder tree on another partition - your choice.For example, I recently installed 'Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4.0 Disc Creator' and it's working folder defaults to the C: drive - C:Documents and SettingsMikeMy DocumentsUlead DVD MovieFactory 4.0 Disc CreatorAll I had to do was change the 'C:' to 'D:' to ensure that my C: drive doesn't suddenly fill up unexpectedly when I capture DV Video from my camcorder.The same applies to any new application installations. So get into the habit of checking and doing any necessary housework immediately following the completion of an installation where the creation of large temporary files may be involved during the running of said application.A word of caution: Not all applications will follow this convention so it would be wise to be aware that some may not use the 'My Documents' folder and instead save elsewhere to, say, 'Folder_X'. However, the principle is the same: just make a copy of such a folder, paste it to your D: drive, or wherever, and modify the relevant default path as described above.Hope this helps.Mike

seems to make life extremly complcated, surely it would be easier to just have one large drive, rather than dividing it up and moving files around, to say nothing of the daners of all that registry editing. that said if you have allready created partitions ands installed softare it may cause evn more problems going back to one big drive. if you get new drives where possible install programs on the new drive, also cutting and pasting the my documents folder to a different drive can be the cause of many problems, so watch out for that, if you must move your documents folder do it via the windows interface; rght click on the My documents icon and select properies, from here you cn change the target folder location and move the folder, this will allow windows to use the new location, but be aware some programs (like FS9) require the folder to be on the c drive. moving of programs and editing root directory locations can be a little complecated and should not be attempted unless you are happy messing with your registry. also if you do decide to attempt this make sure you create a system restore point if you find things are not working.do not take this wrongly Mike, it is just a warning that things can go wrong if care is not taken. it is not something i would hapily take on and i have been using these things since Windows 3.1.

Hi Bruce,No problem. However, I would draw your attention to the fact that I suggested copying and not cutting or moving the 'My Documents' folder. That way Windows will remain happy come what may as the default locations still exist on the C: drive to be used by those programs that demand that they should always be present. Fortunately very few do.Moving programs is, I agree, a totally different ball game and should not be undertaken lightly. However, even these days, I still come across the occasional rogue that insists on installing on the C: drive. Fortunately I found a clever little utility called 'Change of Address'(COA2) which can be d/l at: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,88432,00.aspThis has come to my aid with great success on a number of occasions and is pretty straightforward to use. Certainly one should always emphasize the caveat that a registry backup is mandatory before attempting to make any such changes. System Restore is quick and easy to use so it would be silly not to employ it.Yes, I agree absolutely that should you be starting afresh, installing the whole shebang on the C: drive rather than on several partitions would be regarded as being preferable under Windows XP/NTFS. I might consider that next time, but for the time being 2 partitions on my main drive and one big partition on my second drive for backups, image files, etc works just fine and appeals to my instinctively tidy nature and it makes regular housekeeping so much easier :)Mike

Some tips for managing the My Documents folder in XP:http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_mydocs.htmAnother thing, re: paging file:Most defrag programs do not defrag the paging file.RaxCo PerfectDisk DOES:http://www.raxco.com/EVEN if you don't buy it, you can use the 30-day trial version to defrag the paging file. If you set a STATIC paging file size (min and max size to the same value), it will NOT get fragmented again :) I recommend buying the program however because it's a very efficent defragger, much better than the built-in, as you will certainly discover after having used it for 30 days.