OS installed Page file on both HDD and NVMe drive

I can't believe I never noticed this before. Perhaps a Windows Update triggered this, I don't know.

Should I keep the page file on both or remove one? I noticed my NVMe "wear" drops about 1% every 6 months to a year. I don't believe the Samsung NVMe has a very long Lifetime of writes.

However, I don't want to be impacted by performance. Currently, I have 16GB of RAM in my Lenovo Laptop. I'd love to get more but RAM is still pricey.

Any thoughts?

Well, try to disable the pagefile on your SSD and keep the one on your HDD.
If you notice some performance drop, put it back as it was.
I don't think you should notice it TBH but try it.

OAT said:

Well, try to disable the pagefile on your SSD and keep the one on your HDD.
If you notice some performance drop, put it back as it was.
I don't think you should notice it TBH but try it.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm doing that right now. Not sure at this point, as you say, if there's a noticeable difference.

Sammy888 said:

Thanks. I'm doing that right now. Not sure at this point, as you say, if there's a noticeable difference.

Click to expand...

Ugh - 2% drop per annum means the drive will nominally last 50 years based on current usage.

Changing pagefile to HDD is pointless.

I agree with cereberus, why put the file that should have the quickest access times on the slowest device?
Might as well bin the SSD and replace it with an HDD. Also there is every chance the pagefile is only minimally used during normal use anyway, if at all.
I have a now 4 year old 512GB Intel 660p QLC drive which nearly all internet searches will tell you is a terrible drive with awful longevity and too slow for anything much. It has been my boot drive with the pagefile on it since day one. Several clean installs of Windows and apps over that time, plenty of writes/ re writes, still at 93% health and I have never thought 'must get faster drive'.
SSDs are a lot more performant and resilient than the SSD 'snobs' would have you believe.

My C Drive is not an SSD, rather an NVMe drive. While theoretically my NVMe might "last" a while (depending on what one considers "last"), failure and data corruption rate may be a problem which I'd like to avoid as much as possible.

Lately, I can hear the NVMe drive running despite no non-OS applications running in the background. I've looked at the task manager via Process Hacker and I remain stumped what's causing it, but it's random. When it does occur, the temperature does ramp up (I have CrystalDisk installed). I'm just going to blame it on Windows 11 doing it's "thing" in the background.

@Sammy888

NVMe drives are absolutely soundless. They make as much noise as a.... rock.
You're probably hearing a hard drive, as they do have moving parts.

Sammy888 said:

My C Drive is not an SSD, rather an NVMe drive. .... Lately, I can hear the NVMe drive running....

Click to expand...

An NVMe drive is an SSD - and as a solid state device it cannot make any noise.

The NVMe specification was designed from the ground up for SSDs. It is a much more efficient interface, providing lower latency, and is more scalable for SSDs than legacy interfaces, like serial ATA (SATA)....

Click to expand...

Sammy888 said:

My C Drive is not an SSD, rather an NVMe drive.

Click to expand...

What make and model NVMe drive do have that is not an SSD?!?

cereberus said:

Ugh - 2% drop per annum means the drive will nominally last 50 years based on current usage.

Changing pagefile to HDD is pointless.

Click to expand...

Exactly, you will outgrow the size of the drive, or want to upgrade due to higher performance drives in the future before you use up all of the writes on your NVMe drive.

SSDs of any type can certainly make noise, usually it is not noticable since it is electrical noise of a very very low level, it can however be amplified under certain circumstances and be picked up by an audio system, more likely though the sound is from capacitors on the motherboard.

I bet issues is fan noise. SSDs and NVMEs can run quite hot.

DigitalGoat said:

SSDs of any type can certainly make noise, usually it is not noticable since it is electrical noise of a very very low level, it can however be amplified under certain circumstances and be picked up by an audio system, more likely though the sound is from capacitors on the motherboard.

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And that sound would be totally drowned by the fan noise.

Any SSD / NvME noise at all (I doubt you'd hear any even using a sensitive stethoscope) would certainly be hidden anyway just by ambient noise in the room where you are using the computer and the typical laptop fan doesn't run soundlessly either.

In any case You'd have long got rid of that machine before there's any noticeable problems with the ssd etc.

Cheers
jimbo

Ghot said:

@Sammy888

NVMe drives are absolutely soundless. They make as much noise as a.... rock.
You're probably hearing a hard drive, as they do have moving parts.

Click to expand...

Thanks. That would make sense. Typically my 3.5 inch HDDs would be much nosier so I assumed it was my NVMe (still not familiar with the tech). This is a 2.5 inch HDD. Windows 11 thinks it's a SSD but it's not. I had the same misnaming issue with Windows 7 with 3.5 inch hybrid HDD.

My NVMe is SAMSUNG MZALQ512HALU-000L2

jimbo45 said:

Any SSD / NvME noise at all (I doubt you'd hear any even using a sensitive stethoscope) would certainly be hidden anyway just by ambient noise in the room where you are using the computer and the typical laptop fan doesn't run soundlessly either.

In any case You'd have long got rid of that machine before there's any noticeable problems with the ssd etc.

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Let's hope so. I've been doing some random reading some report bad sectors and dropping of "health" about every year, if not earlier. The drop finally stopped at around 40% for many users. At this time, they had quite a few bad sectors with their SSDs. I also learned an NVMe drive is also an SSD. But NVMe drives are much more expensive than SSDs and obviously HDDs.

Sammy888 said:

Currently, I have 16GB of RAM in my Lenovo Laptop. I'd love to get more but RAM is still pricey.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

A quick method to get approximate RAM replacement prices is to the use the Crucial scanner:

Sammy888 said:

Should I keep the page file on both or remove one? I noticed my NVMe "wear" drops about 1% every 6 months to a year. I don't believe the Samsung NVMe has a very long Lifetime of writes.

Click to expand...

Multiple page files and disk considerations​

If a system is configured to have more than one page files, the page file that responds first is the one that is used.

This customized configuration means that page files that are on faster disks are used more frequently.

Also, whether you put a page file on a "fast" or "slow" disk is important only if the page file is frequently accessed and if the disk that is hosting the respective page file is overwhelmed.

Actual page file usage depends greatly on the amount of modified memory that the system is managing.

This dependency means that files that already exist on disk (such as .txt, .doc, .dll, and .exe) aren't written to a page file.

Only modified data that doesn't already exist on disk (for example, unsaved text in Notepad) is memory that could potentially be backed by a page file.

After the unsaved data is saved to disk as a file, it's backed by the disk and not by a page file.

Sammy888 said:

Thanks. That would make sense. Typically my 3.5 inch HDDs would be much nosier so I assumed it was my NVMe (still not familiar with the tech). This is a 2.5 inch HDD. Windows 11 thinks it's a SSD but it's not. I had the same misnaming issue with Windows 7 with 3.5 inch hybrid HDD.

My NVMe is SAMSUNG MZALQ512HALU-000L2

Click to expand...

Drives... (SSDs and Hard Drives (HDDs)), are like this...





A Hybrid drive has both an SSD and a HDD inside...

zbook said:

A quick method to get approximate RAM replacement prices is to the use the Crucial scanner:

Crucial System Scanner | Memory Upgrade Scanner | Crucial

Upgrade your system storage with our range of solid state drives. Find prices, specs and customer reviews to help choose the best device for you.

www.crucial.com

Click to expand...

Tempting. Prices have dropped the last time I checked.