pagefile on Expresscard SSD

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Replies inline--
"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?
For us poor users - No

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.

Perhaps they could. MS has put XP on life support. They won't add new
features.
Jim


"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Replies inline--
"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?
For us poor users - No

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.

Perhaps they could. MS has put XP on life support. They won't add new
features.
Jim


"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Jeff

How much RAM does the laptop have?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Normally one does not want the system to make a lot of use of the pagefile.
Why are you pursuing this point? Also USB is generally slower than accessing
the hard drive so why do you think this might improve performance?

What is your pagefile setting?

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Jeff

How much RAM does the laptop have?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Normally one does not want the system to make a lot of use of the pagefile.
Why are you pursuing this point? Also USB is generally slower than accessing
the hard drive so why do you think this might improve performance?

What is your pagefile setting?

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Jeff wrote:

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.

But you're not the person commanding the center that writes the code.

How it "seems" to you really doesn't matter.

Jeff wrote:

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.

But you're not the person commanding the center that writes the code.

How it "seems" to you really doesn't matter.

Gerry,
I'm not trying to improve the pagefile, I'm trying to off-load the IO from
my harddrive. I/O is the performance bottleneck. I wrote a detailed message
that was lost in cyberspace and just don't want to spit it all out again.

I have 2G RAM; played with the pagefile and settled on 3G. Tried setting
it low to force memory use, but it almost seemed to increase paging activity.
Didn't work on it too hard because there doesn't seem to be a paging problem.

I appreciate your interest and comments. If you have any suggestions for
spreading out I/O or reducing it somehow (like reduce pagefile usage), please
let me know. My drive is defragged. I have most of the space free; so, it
isn't really fragmented anyway.

Thanks again for your comments.

Jeff

"Gerry" wrote:

Jeff

How much RAM does the laptop have?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Normally one does not want the system to make a lot of use of the pagefile.
Why are you pursuing this point? Also USB is generally slower than accessing
the hard drive so why do you think this might improve performance?

What is your pagefile setting?

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Gerry,
I'm not trying to improve the pagefile, I'm trying to off-load the IO from
my harddrive. I/O is the performance bottleneck. I wrote a detailed message
that was lost in cyberspace and just don't want to spit it all out again.

I have 2G RAM; played with the pagefile and settled on 3G. Tried setting
it low to force memory use, but it almost seemed to increase paging activity.
Didn't work on it too hard because there doesn't seem to be a paging problem.

I appreciate your interest and comments. If you have any suggestions for
spreading out I/O or reducing it somehow (like reduce pagefile usage), please
let me know. My drive is defragged. I have most of the space free; so, it
isn't really fragmented anyway.

Thanks again for your comments.

Jeff

"Gerry" wrote:

Jeff

How much RAM does the laptop have?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Normally one does not want the system to make a lot of use of the pagefile.
Why are you pursuing this point? Also USB is generally slower than accessing
the hard drive so why do you think this might improve performance?

What is your pagefile setting?

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jeff" wrote in message
news
I appreciate your reply, but let me clairify: I have plenty of free space
on
my current harddrive (126G free on 146G drive). I have no more room in my
laptop for another (second) harddrive.

Any way to get around the "removable media" issue?

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to
me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a
harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed
drive.



"Gurpreet Singh" wrote:

XP will not allow pagefile on a disk marked removable media. You can move
your data to a removable disk and make more room on the disk for page
file.
Moreover, if you have a good system performance, you can try compressing
the
drive to add some more room.
--
Regards
Gurpreet Singh


"Jeff" wrote:

I have a laptop with one hard drive and no room for more. The disk
access
seems to be the bottleneck for performance most of the time (big
surprise, I
know). I'd like to do something to split up the I/O. I'd like
something I
can keep in my machine. I've tried some fast flash cards (I have a
multi-reader), but it must run off the usb stack because I can't put a
pagefile on there (xp lets you set it up, but won't create the file).

I think Vista features would really help, but don't want to go there.

Last thing that might work is Expresscard memory -- some call it an
Expresscard SSD. There are a couple out there that say they use the
pci bus
(ie. - NOT the usb path thru the expresscard). I would like to know if
a
pagefile can be setup on an expresscard like this. I understand the
performance swap (fast access, slow read/write vs. hard drive). I
think it's
worth a try.

the big question is: will xp let me put a pagefile on an expresscard
"drive" if it is using the pci interface and NOT the usb?

I've checked the web and the windows boards. There is some speculation
out
there, but no definitive answers.

Thanks.

Ray,
Your comment is a little bizarre in this forum. I'm looking for
technical help, not situational commentary.

Besides, you are wrong -- it matters to me.


"Ray Luca" wrote:

Jeff wrote:

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.

But you're not the person commanding the center that writes the code.

How it "seems" to you really doesn't matter.

Ray,
Your comment is a little bizarre in this forum. I'm looking for
technical help, not situational commentary.

Besides, you are wrong -- it matters to me.


"Ray Luca" wrote:

Jeff wrote:

I know Vista can pre-fetch/cache hardrive data to an Expresscard (with
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost), but that is not available in XP. It seems to me
that the pagefile is not TOO much more critical than reliance on a harddrive
cache (either way I assume the machine is probably going down). It seems
reasonable to me that MS could make XP accept an Expresscard as a fixed drive.

But you're not the person commanding the center that writes the code.

How it "seems" to you really doesn't matter.