Paging File on External Hard Drive?

[Jinded]

Hey guys, I just bought a WD 500GB 7200RPM external HDD, hooked up on USB2.0. I currently have my page file on a 2x160GB 7200RPM RAID-0 setup. Would it be wise for me to move the paging file onto the external HDD, or should I leave it where it is?

 

[drizzt81]

Well, I would not put my pagefile on an external drive. If windows sends a memory page to that drive and you unplug it without using the `remove external drive' wizzard, you may run into trouble later, if a program needs access to that paged data.

 

[MrGuvernment]

external USB, maybe 25MB/sec max speeds

internal raid 0 even if on same drive as windows = likely faster.

 

[Jinded]

Well I'm getting about 40MB/sec transfer speeds with this external HDD. Is that still slower than internal RAID?

 

[Blackforge]

Well I'm getting about 40MB/sec transfer speeds with this external HDD. Is that still slower than internal RAID?

Yes, you're probably getting 60-70MB/sec at least on that internal RAID.

I'd only ever consider putting a page file on an external drive if it was eSATA.

 

[MrGuvernment]

wow 40MB nice external case for sure!! which one u got? most i see peak out below 30MB.

 

[Jinded]

Alright, guys, thanks for the help.

 

[Mansize_tissue]

Keep your pagefile on your internal RAID array, but i'd also add one to the external drive, too. This way, if the RAIDed drives are under load, data can be paged to the external hard drive instead.

 

[Jinded]

Well, load isn't really an issue. I've got 2 GB RAM and a 3 GB pagefile on the RAID.