Weird Windows Harddrive Issue

[Rebootableglitch]

I reformated my computer today, and for whatever reason it keeps wanting to put a paging file on another harddrive, (from what I can see) Ive deleted partition using windows software, because it seemed like that was the only way to delete it, then I reinstalled windows again, and there it was again, a paging file on what was an completely empty drive, I am not sure why all of a sudden it keeps wanting to put a paging file on another harddrive, how to i stop it from doing this?

 

[sneekypeet]

Does this by default. Disconnect any drives you are not installing Windows on to make it stop.

 

[AsRock]

Yes as above says, how ever if you want to do it with a bunch of drives plugged in you have to make sure the drive you want to install the OS to is the 1st one.

Motherboard manual will help you with that.

 

[Rebootableglitch]

Why all of a sudden though? ive done it a ton of times before and it never did this,

the only thing that changed recently was my memory I now have 256 gbs of memory,

 

[sneekypeet]

Why all of a sudden though? ive done it a ton of times before and it never did this,

the only thing that changed recently was my memory I now have 256 gbs of memory,

You must have missed it. If I recall W7 did this too, but 10 has since day one. Sorry.

 

[eidairaman1]

You must have missed it. If I recall W7 did this too, but 10 has since day one. Sorry.

This is affirmative. Its why I disconnect all other drives until the OS is installed.

Why all of a sudden though? ive done it a ton of times before and it never did this,

the only thing that changed recently was my memory I now have 256 gbs of memory,

Its Windows is why.

 

[xcescxa]

Same here mate, except just recently about a few days ago windows keeps filling up my backup drive for no reason. I have no virus, malaware, or any of that. I keep deleting the junk in there but it came back within a bit, and my computer was idle and i was not doing anything. I recommend you just buy a new storage unit instead of trying to fix it. If you try to fix it there is a slim chance it might work, or corrupt your storage.

 

[Nash]

The white, my eyes!

 

[plastiscɧ]

I reformated my computer today, and for whatever reason it keeps wanting to put a paging file on another harddrive, (from what I can see) Ive deleted partition using windows software, because it seemed like that was the only way to delete it, then I reinstalled windows again, and there it was again, a paging file on what was an completely empty drive, I am not sure why all of a sudden it keeps wanting to put a paging file on another harddrive, how to i stop it from doing this?

easy solution and reason:

your OS drive is not drive "0" it's e.g. drive 5. win is programmed to put it on the first drive no matter what.

just unplug all of the other HDDs except the one u want the OS on it and reinstall OR just do an inplace upgrade next time.

*sry did not see it was already answered two times!

 

[Solaris17]

easy solution and reason:

your OS drive is not drive "0" it's e.g. drive 5. win is programmed to put it on the first drive no matter what.

just unplug all of the other HDDs except the one u want the OS on it and reinstall

^ this. It also applies to the MBR. If the drive in 0/1 or whatever indicates the "first" on your system is formatted with a writable filesystem during install. Even if it is not the drive being installed too, the MBR will be written to the first disk. Its been that way since like XP.

 

[The red spirit]

Does this by default. Disconnect any drives you are not installing Windows on to make it stop.

That's just stupid, you can adjust page file size, you can disable it on specific drives and if you want you can adjust page file size.

 

[elghinnarisa]

I think what people are actually referring too is the MBR partition, Master Boot Record, not the page file. The page file is something completly different and it's just a file you can place change location of.
Because I have never seen a windows installation creating another partition for a "page file".

 

[jaggerwild]

I think what people are actually referring too is the MBR partition, Master Boot Record, not the page file. The page file is something completly different and it's just a file you can place change location of.
Because I have never seen a windows installation creating another partition for a "page file".

Nope windows 10 makes 2 extra partitions, I think you dont have 10 or no extra HDD'S.

 

[newtekie1]

I am not sure why all of a sudden it keeps wanting to put a paging file on another harddrive, how to i stop it from doing this?

the only thing that changed recently was my memory I now have 256 gbs of memory,

The 256GB of memory is a possible reason. Windows, by default, wants the page file to be as big as the amount of memory installed on the computer. It also wants to have a hiberfil.sys for hibernation on the system drive that is also just as big as the amount of memory in the system. That means it wants two files equaling 512GB on the system drive, and you just might not have the room on the C drive for that. So it uses the second drive for the page file.

You can just go into the GUI after Windows is installed and change where the page file is located and also how big it is.

How To Adjust The Page File In Windows 10

just unplug all of the other HDDs except the one u want the OS on it and reinstall OR just do an inplace upgrade next time.

This seems like more work than just using the GUI to move the page file after Windows is installed.

 

[plastiscɧ]

This seems like more work than just using the GUI to move the page file after Windows is installed.

ofc! u are 100% right mate
i just fear there are more maybe hidden problems as well.
just wanted to make sure once in a time to make it right.

 

[elghinnarisa]

Nope windows 10 makes 2 extra partitions, I think you dont have 10 or no extra HDD'S.

Yeah, and none of them are the page file.... Which is what I said.
It creates two partitions, one 100MB EFI System Partition and one 500MB Recovery Partition. Neither of them is a page file.

 

[Athlonite]

Yeah, and none of them are the page file.... Which is what I said.
It creates two partitions, one 100MB EFI System Partition and one 500MB Recovery Partition. Neither of them is a page file.

The pagefile is just a file on your C:\ root called Pagefile.sys unlike Linux which wants to make it a seperate partition

 

[elghinnarisa]

The pagefile is just a file on your C:\ root called Pagefile.sys unlike Linux which wants to make it a seperate partition

I know... it's like people don't even read the thread.
It started with TS asking about windows creating a pagefile partition. Seeing as he found a pagefile and said he deleted the parition. But as I said originally, it is not a page file partition. Its the EFI partition and the recovery partition and neither is a pagefile.
So I was wondering if TS is actually talking about the partitions windows makes or the pagefile itself and instead I get someone quoting me that windows does indeed make two partitions, which I know, and I said, twice now. It's not what I am talking about.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I now have 256 gbs of memory,

256GB of RAM?

Pretty sure Windows will use the fastest drive for the page file. That's a good thing. And yes, having a page file even with gobs of RAM is a good thing too.

 

[plastiscɧ]

Disable Quick Start, Hybrid Hibernate and Hibernate via Command Prompt:

Open Start menu type cmd.exe and right click to start as administrator
Or press Windows key + X and start Command Prompt (As Administrator)

Use the command

powercfg /hibernate off or
powercfg /H off

and paste it into the command prompt with CTRL + V
Press Enter. That was it.

first opt. to gain more space.

---

second:

You can manually limit the pagefile size by performing the following steps:

• Click on the Start button.
• Right click on Computer.
• Select Properties
• Click on Advanced system settings on the left.
• Click on the Settings button under the Performance group.
• Select the Advanced tab of the Performance Options window.
• Click on the Change button.
• Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
• Select the C: drive in the list.
• Check the Custom size radio button.
• Enter the Initial and Maximum sizes you want to use. I would recommend 4096 MB for the Initial and 6144 MB for the Maximum.
• Click OK on the Virtual Memory dialog.
• Click OK on the Performance Options dialog.

Click OK on the System Properties dialog.

---

 

[Bill_Bright]

Best to just let Windows manage your page file. That 1.5 x RAM is just an outdate arbitrary number from ancient history. Manually moving a PF to a different drive is fine. After that, let Windows manage the size. Contrary to what some want us to believe, the developers at Microsoft really do understand virtual memory management.

 

[oobymach]

I use the recommended for the min and 8gb for the max. You only need a gigantic pagefile for hard crashes where the system writes the entire contents of the ram if your pagefile is auto, for bug reports and that sort of thing. I don't need my hard crashes to trigger ram dumps so I limit it.

FYI if you set the minimum allowed your system will only use 16-24mb for the pagefile but you will probably run into issues with games, and windows panics when it's less than 800mb you get a warning.

 

[Athlonite]

Mines only 16GB in a 16GB partition on a SATA SSD and never uses anywhere near what has been allocated even when gaming

 

[Nash]

Yeah, and none of them are the page file.... Which is what I said.
It creates two partitions, one 100MB EFI System Partition and one 500MB Recovery Partition. Neither of them is a page file.

Yeah, this is something Windows has done for a long time. I have a 50mb System, the other is 508mb, the page file is in the 'center' partition in Disk Management. I cannot get to the page file - hiberfil.sys, but it is easily deleted from a command prompt with powercfg -h off to disable hibernation, after a restart the page file will be gone.

FWIW, powercfg -h on resets it.

 

[Athlonite]

Yeah, this is something Windows has done for a long time. I have a 50mb System, the other is 508mb, the page file is in the 'center' partition in Disk Management. I cannot get to the page file - hiberfil.sys, but it is easily deleted from a command prompt with powercfg -h off to disable hibernation, after a restart the page file will be gone.

FWIW, powercfg -h on resets it.

Why are you mentioning Hiberfil.sys that's a wholly separate system fill from Pagefile.sys granted more often than not the default place is the same ie: C:\ . But both do different things
yes the hiberfil.sys file will be gone but that does not get rid of the Pagefile that just removes the hiberfil.sys file because you've told Windows not to use Hibernation which is what the hiberfil.sys file is for