[SOLVED] Importance of virtual memory when you have an SSD

[Sagar_20]

Does it make sense to keep virtual memory enabled when i have a 250 GB SSD as boot drive? Some people suggest to move the page file to HDD though i don't understand how disabling it for C and enabling it for the rest of the drives can help the activities going on the C drive.

I would like to know what are the best settings to get the best performance and minimize unnecessary writes to the SSD.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It always makes sense to keep virtual memory enabled, period.

On modern versions of Windows, the OS does a good job of managing virtual memory and the page file, and there is very little need to do anything, or be concerned at all, about the use and management of it.

I like to leave it set on the same drive that the OS is installed on, especially if it's an SSD, and set the min and max values at 4096mb so it leaves no chance of the system constantly rewriting the data and resizing the volume.

 

[CountMike]

It's amount of free RAM that determines need for and amount of virtual memory, type of storage is not, it will just be faster or slower. W7 and up can manage it fine automatically. W10 will use disk for a kind of virtual memory even if you were to kill page file anyway. If you have a lot of RAM and are really pressed for disk space. limit it to 1 or 2GB but leave some as some programs insists on it's existence.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And, it's necessary for crash dumps in the event you encounter BSOD or other errors.

 

[Sagar_20]

I just came across this form recently

pc hardware help

This also suggests to disable it for the C drive and enable it for the other drive ans set it either automatically or manually. Now the problem is "if you choose no paging file for the C drive, windows warns you if you disable the paging file or set the initial size to less than 400 MB and a system error occurs, Windows not not record details that could help identify the problem. Do you want to continue?"

So, may be it's better to keep the original settings and not turn off the paging file.
and i don't think it can put C drive paging files on the D drive.
No paging file means no paging file.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Virtual memory can be allocated to any internally connected HDD or SSD. It does not have to be on the C: drive.

Generally, you want it to be on the fastest attached drive, because if it DOES need to be used, having it on a slower drive, makes access.....slower. If you have an SSD that is not the C: drive, that's fine. If you have one that IS the C: drive, that is fine too. If you have an all HDD system, then it doesn't really matter which drive it is on, so long as it is somewhere.

Realistically I've run systems without any virtual memory at all, including the one I'm typing this now from, and have not noticed any difference. It COULD be a problem under some circumstances though so it's best to have virtual memory allocated somewhere.