What shall I set my Pagefile to in Windows 8?

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by ian82, Jul 14, 2013.

  1. M0rriss0n

    M0rriss0n MDL Senior Member

    Sep 17, 2011
    317
    96
    10
    Great, and explain why they disabled it, if.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  2. Dolorous Edd

    Dolorous Edd MDL Expert

    Aug 31, 2009
    1,054
    217
    60
    Discussing it is fine. Denigrating each other over it isn't. Perhaps someone should read the forum rules.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  3. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
    7,394
    11,615
    240
    Leave it at the default setting. It will not speed up your computer noticeably in any way by disabling it or increasing/decreasing the size.
    What can, and probably will happen, is that a few applications will lock up your computer mysteriously after messing with it.
     
  4. NiHiLisT

    NiHiLisT MDL Member

    Jul 29, 2009
    218
    15
    10
    OCZ suggested to set it to minimum, which is 2048 MB.

    I'm fine with it.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  5. Yen

    Yen Admin
    Staff Member

    May 6, 2007
    13,081
    13,977
    340
    It depends on the amount of installed physical memory and if the system drive is a SSD or still a HDD.
    A HDD can have a fragmented pagefile which might slow down virtual memory read / write speed. At a SSD fragmentation is no speed issue, but NAND-Flash memory have limited cycles of life time. Furtermore T.R.I.M. and 'collect garbage' are technologies which play a role at SSDs....(free-reusable / used-allocated / used-unallocated)....

    Most modern systems with physical memory >= 6GB and a sys SSD should be fine with a pagefile size of 1024 or 2048 MB max. Using a HDD it should be a fixed size to avoid fragmentation. One should force windows to use physical memory first but I don't recommend to disable the pagefile completely. Of course it also depends on which applications you are using.....

    Also hiberfil.sys is mostly not needed @home and can be switched off (deleted) CMD as admin---->powercfg /hibernate off.
    (Don't do that if you need it, of course).
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  6. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

    Mar 7, 2012
    1,147
    303
    60
    correction, to disable the hibernation it is:

    powercfg -h off

    not /
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  7. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
    8,719
    6,741
    270
    #27 EFA11, Jul 17, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  8. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

    Mar 7, 2012
    1,147
    303
    60
    oh ok, thanks for that
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  9. NiFu

    NiFu MDL Member

    Jun 29, 2013
    129
    134
    10
    But keep in mind: If you disable "hiberfil.sys" you also loose "fast boot". Which is different from "boot from hibernation" - this of course you loose also.
     
  10. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

    Mar 7, 2012
    1,147
    303
    60
    can you please explain more about this in detail?

    do you have any proof for this?
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  11. burfadel

    burfadel MDL EXE>MSP/CAB

    Aug 19, 2009
    2,627
    3,856
    90
    Ian82, even if this is the case, it still really doesn't provide much benefit. Okay, so you boot faster, but is boot really that slow these days? If you have a SSD, it just means you will be 'wasting', in your case, 24GB of space on your SSD. If you were booting off a HDD and had plenty of room spare, then it would probably be ok. Then of course, it is only of benefit if you haven't updated Windows, drivers etc since your last boot.
     
  12. Yen

    Yen Admin
    Staff Member

    May 6, 2007
    13,081
    13,977
    340
    Yes, right. But one can re-enable it any time.

    Anyway 'fast boot' is a sort of boot from hibernation and actually an eyewash of M$. W8 boots from a not fully shutdown condition (shutdown /s /full). At fast boot hiberfil.sys stores kernel-condition only....

    It is recommended to switch it off when using multiboot. It SLOWS down the boot process when another OS is booted, except w8, since the bootmanager has to delete the previously stored w8 condition and after it has to completely reboot... then you can change to boot the other os (the second time).....this takes a longer time....and when booted w8 after it again it takes longer also...
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  13. ian82

    ian82 MDL Expert

    Mar 7, 2012
    1,147
    303
    60
    WOWW!! I never knew this! thanks a lot for this info! I will format my laptop right away and keep hibernation this time!

    Strange that noone on any of the forums have mentioned this before
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  14. NiFu

    NiFu MDL Member

    Jun 29, 2013
    129
    134
    10
    • If you have a fast SSD you perhaps don't recognize "fast boot".
    • If hibernation is active and you use the "normal" shut down options, then Windows 8 stores the drivers and their initialisations in hiberfil.sys (shut down is then a little more slow). But the next boot is very fast. Especially the time between "Blue Windows flag with circling dots" and the "Welcome" screen.
    "Fast boot" doesn't work:
    • If hibernation is disabled
    • If your use other shut down commands (like shutdown.exe /s /t 0)
    • If you only re-boot
    • If dual boot is used
    • In virtual machines
     
  15. Yen

    Yen Admin
    Staff Member

    May 6, 2007
    13,081
    13,977
    340
    #35 Yen, Jul 18, 2013
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2013
    Why to format?

    In fact when using a up to date SSD as sys drive one notices no major boot time change, I agree here with that. Fast boot or not. You can test it by yourself...you need to think about to have 24 GB more space or a some seconds shorter boot process...I'd prefer the former....

    Edit: A friend just told me the file can be cut using fast boot anyway: Powercfg.exe /hibernate /size50. Not sure if this is useful....
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  16. f33nix

    f33nix MDL Member

    Apr 4, 2012
    153
    84
    10
    #36 f33nix, Jul 18, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    :smile3:
    Yes correct you should be able to force size of the hibernation file... with a minimum of 50% of RAM size.

    Code:
    PowerCFG /Hibernate /Size 50


    Alias:
    POWERCFG /H

    Description:
    Enables/disables the hibernate feature or sets the hiberfile size.

    Parameter List:
    <ON|OFF> Enables/disables the hibernate feature.

    /SIZE <PERCENT_SIZE> Specifies the desired hiberfile size as a percentage
    of the total memory size. The default size cannot be
    smaller than 50. This parameter will also cause
    hibernate to be enabled.

    Examples:
    POWERCFG /HIBERNATE OFF

    POWERCFG /HIBERNATE /SIZE 100


    If you set a value too low then you could be blue screen when you next boot (not tested from me but advice read) Obivious if you set to 50% of your RAM and you use 75% then it will break! If you use 10% of your RAM then you still have to use the 50% setting.


    My machine boots with SSD in 10 seconds without hibernation or using hybrid boot.
    For mechanical drives of sufficient size then I would recommend the above command (unless you use lots of RAM then you will need to increase size of your hibernation file to suit)
     
  17. Helmutcheese

    Helmutcheese MDL Member

    Jul 29, 2009
    182
    27
    10
    Run Photoshop. :bye2: