Pagefile will not defrag, delete and it always comes back fragmented!

[JonathanMortimer]

I really don't get this - I have pagefiles on various domain computers that have three or four fragments spun all over the disk. Naturally, I would prefer it if this was not the case so that I can see if it is these that are causing hard drive bottle-necks and general slow system performance.

I have tried various methods I found on the internet, ranging from pagedefrag (worked on some, but not on others), tried turning off virtual memory and rebooting, defragging, then turning virtual memory back on (it magically reappears in the same four fragments, despite XP defrag showing a completely empty space on that half of the drive), tried setting a fixed size or system managed. Nothing makes a jot of difference, the page file is always reported as being in exactly the same fragments.

I've run out of ideas on this one. Anybody got anything different I could try?

Thanks!

PS I have looked at Diskeeper but would rather find a cheaper (or free) solution.

 

[jdemmi]

Make sure the pagefile is gone (pagefile.sys)

1. Boot to XP
2. Turn off the pagefile
3. Reboot
4. Make sure the pagefile (c:\pagefile.sys) is gone.
5. Defrag
6. Reboot
7. Turn page file back on

The pagefile.sys file may remain even after a reboot, if it's still there delete it. It should allow you since virtual memory has been disabled

-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros

 

[linney]

How can I optimize the Windows 2000/XP/2003 virtual memory (Pagefile)?

http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

HOW TO: Move the Paging File in Windows XP(Q307886)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/8/86.asp

How to Move the Windows Default Paging File and Print Spooler to a Different Hard Disk(Q314105)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/1/05.asp

 

[JonathanMortimer]

Thank you for your replies.

I have followed the procedure shown by jdemmi to remove the pagefile (although on one system it was gone from Explorer after I turned it off and rebooted, on another it was still there after a reboot so I went ahead and deleted it; pagefile came back fragmented in both cases).

linney - the PCs are slim workstations with no option to add a second hard drive, I would have to completely remove them from operations and that would leave someone with no PC to work on, so not really an option unfortunately.

The only thing I can think of is that defrag is not reporting all of the files properly in the analyze view, if there's some reason why the fragments are remaining where they are. Or... it could just be some idiosyncracy of NTFS that is only curable by a format. If there was some very basic tool that moved all files to the start of the disk, this might eliminate the secret hidden file theory at least (is there a linux util that does this? Something I could boot and run from a USB thumb drive?)

 

[wlfpackr]

I think Sysinternals (sp?) has a utility that can resolve fragmented page files. I'm not 100% sure, though. You can look through their tools on Microsoft.com.

=================
There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that do not.

 

[jkl0]

Per wlfpackr info here is a link.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897426.aspx

 

[JonathanMortimer]

Thanks wlfpackr and jkl0 but I already have PageDefrag, while it works admirably for others it just doesn't seem to have any effect on these troublesome workstations.