Memory Upgrade - C drive now has 2 GB less space!

[chrisnyc]

I recently upgraded my T42 from 512 MB memory by an additional 512 MB in the open slot. Although my hard drive is 80 GB I have partitioned it and the C drive is approx 16 GB. Before the memory upgrade I had approx 9.75 GB free space, now I have 7.75 GB free space. I'm sure this relates to the "virtual memory" or page file. Windows has automatically assigned 1 1/2 times the memory to the page file (approx 1.5 GB), but the available space is now exactly 2 GB less than before (2 GB being twice the now-installed memory).

Any advise or recommendations. Will decreasing the size of the page file get my 2 GB space back. I understand a page file is strongly recommended. I really don't do anything that requires a whole lot of memory, and in fact was doing fine with the 512 MB the T42 came with.

Under system properties in Windows and in the IBM area, it shows the C space as 7.75 GB ; when I look under the area where the virtual memory is adjusted it also shows 7.75 GB but it also shows 9.75 GB (expressed as megabites) for drive C ; so I'm sure this is related to the virtual memory issue.

Thanks for any help with this.

[matyst]

Although it is recommended to have a page file equal to 1.5 amount of RAM, I have 768 MB RAM and page file set to min=max=512MB and everything is OK during normal usage. You can try to set it to whatever you like and you can always increase it if necessary. As for the additional 512MB lacking in your case, do you have hibernation enabled? (it also created hiberfil.sys file equal to the amount of RAM)

[pianowizard]

I turn off "System restore" on all of my computers, which can further help you gain space on your C drive.

[chrisnyc]

Thanks matyst and pianowizard.

I do keep system restore on and periodically turn it off, then back on, to clear out all the restore points, which do add up over time.

I was not aware of the hibernation file. Since I use standby and not hibernation, I turned off the hibernation option, and immediately gained 1 GB in space !

I'm still a little confused as to why I lost 2 GB in space with the upgrade from 512 MB to 1 GB memory. The way I calculate it (using approx numbers), the 1/2 GB upgrade in memory should have caused 3/4 GB extra space set aside for the paging file (which is automatically set at 1.5 x the installed memory) and 1/2 GB extra space for the hibernation file, so I should have lost approx 1.25 GB in space on the C drive, not the 2 GB I lost.

Anyways I've gotten back the 1 GB from the hibernation file and am leaving it as is for now ; will adjust the paging file in future if needed.

[davidspalding]

Sometimes Windows' Disk Cleanup Wizard can help identify where some disk waste has come from. I would suspect that the space was a result of Windows adapting to your new, expanded RAM.

FWIW, when I do a thorough defrag, I clear out the hibernation option, clear temp folders (which are on separate volumes anyway, so as not to frag my system volume too much), and ... now I have something new, that system restore point information. Thanks for that information, folks. ,:)

[DIGITALgimpus]

You may also want to look at CCleaner. It's a great utility to clean some of the crap off your computer (windows cleanup wizard on steroids).