Colin's Weekly Tip: Speed up HDD Access

[Colin]

This tip is for those of you who work with large files or HDD intensive programs. Did you know that you can optimize your file allocation size for a bit more performance? Well you can. Now, everyone knows how frustrating it can be when you're waiting for a large photoshop file to load thanks to the slow HDD, but there is a tweak for this.<BR>For users of Win2k/XP, load up regedit (Start, Run and type regedit). Follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> System -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management. Inside there add the DWORD ContigFileAllocSize and and modify it's value to 512 while using decimal base. After this modification, you will have to reboot and defrag your HDD. Once everything is done, you should notice your HDD intensive apps run just a bit faster. <BR>

[CompSnake]

huh?

[mrbios]

<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"> how come when i cahnge mine n click ok it changes bak to decimal and the number changes bak to 200 <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0">

[Ghost]

are you working with the right priveldges ??<BR><BR>are you working as administrator ??<BR><BR>every one i changed stayed the same as it was suppose to

[@COMPUTER_HACK]

mrbios, 200 is the hexadecimal representation of decimal 512. Hope this helps...

[@COMPUTER_HACK]

Also, this better work for those of us with only 256 MB of RAM!

[RAAF453Shep]

will this work on a W98se system ? <BR> I already run a fixed swap file ( 1024 ) and dont want to update my OS , yet. I have gone back to M$ and got all the available Data Access tools for this, and it seems to run pretty fast , for what it is.<BR><BR> W98se on a FIC AN17 w/ AMD1700+<BR> 512 DDR 2700 ( 2x256 )<BR> WD30g 7200rpm ATA100<BR> Abit G4 Ti4200 64m<BR> Creative 5.1 <BR> Sony DVD lite<BR><BR> it reboots , in 1.5 mins, to ready , even with my APC UPS, firewall, and ethernet card , and software for BB. <BR> <BR>

[Ghost]

<br><br><< <i>Also, this better work for those of us with only 256 MB of RAM!</i> >><br><br><BR>this setting has nothing to do with ram <BR><BR>it only has something to do with your hard drive

[Apophis]

I'm running win 2k, I haven't found the dword value in my registry, I've tried upgrading my service packs going from 1-3 and just using a fresh install of windows yet all of my attempts are in vain, can you shed some light on my quandry?

[CHE]

Mine takes 38 seconds to <u>boot</u> (not reboot), but my boot takes a long time because of the RAID BIOS screen and the network connection search.

[LodeRunner]

Does using larger values change anything? Also, 512 what? Bytes, Kbytes, Mbytes?

[CHE]

RAAF453Shep,<BR><BR><i>"it reboots , in 1.5 mins, to ready , even with my APC UPS, firewall, and ethernet card , and software for BB."</i><BR><BR>Your reboot sounds a little slow. My Win 98 reboot is 45 seconds from shutdown to desktop and I have LAN and a RAID card with it's own splash screen. Is your LAN searching for network connections during the Windows splash screen? There are network setttings to solve such an issue.

[Ace]

ur complaining about 1.5 mins??? mine takes about 5!!!! (winxp)

[RAAF453Shep]

ok, so yes it does search for network... and the 1.5 is from hitting the reboot tab, to ready desktop.<BR><BR> so where do I find that tweak for speeding it up ? got this lil 1700 humming along nicely, but sure theres room for improvement... <BR><BR> it's a WD 30g HD , ATA 100 7200 rpm. on W98se. <BR><BR> it sizzles the monitor when it opens a new window... but think theres always room for improvement.<BR> have 6.8g's on it... mostly my sim files ( cfs1`,2,&3 ) but could use any help , as I pass out this info to friends.

[SuperOperater]

Hey there!<BR><BR>In this tip You say that we should "add DWORD ContigFileAllocSize" in REGEDIT....<BR><BR>Doesn't seem to work for me (WinXP Pro - SP1), so I am just wondering if it's maybe typing-mistake in Your post...<BR><BR>Should this new DWORD be named "CONFIG FILE ALLOC...." instead of "CONTIG FILE...."...<BR><BR>Thnx!<BR><BR>Vanja Marin<BR>Croatia, Europe

[LodeRunner]

It's supposed to be ContigFileAllocSize, because Contig stands for Contiguous.