If I understand, once the page file is changed to another HDD, it not only
doesn't save with C:\ drive Restore Points, but, it also no longer is
updated\kept current. I did contact Microsoft FREE support for Vista SP2 who
advised the size of the Page File is as a result of changes included in SP2.
Further they advised the Page File to perform its intended role must be in
the Root Drive......

"RalfG" wrote:
[color=blue]
> denmarfl wrote:[color=green]
> > Your reply was very helpful; Thanks
> >
> > Reviewing the article at the link provided it also outlines having 2 Page
> > Files to "speed up you PC"? Now this seems to work against moving the Page
> > File to another HDD. I do have a 2nd Internal HDD (E:\).... so if a user
> > were to use 2 Page Files, 1 would save on the C:\ the other on the E:\
> > file....wouldn't both page files be the same size...and therefore the issue
> > that I am experiencing, that is, using up 3GB HHD space daily on Restore
> > Points (Vista creates a "System Restore" point any day when no other activity
> > creates a Restore point)....that issue would contine.....since both Page
> > Files would be the same size and 1 would be on the C:\ drive?
> >
> > I have not changed the Page File to my E:\ HDD as yet. The concern is, if I
> > had to use a prior Restore Point, wouldn't that restore point need the Page
> > File as part of it to restore my PC back to the Restore Point\Date selected
> > and since the Page File would not be part of the restore Point....my PC might
> > not restore properly?
> >
> > "RalfG" wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >> The pagefile (swapfile) grows as you use apps until it reaches its optimum
> >> size. That size is either the system managed default (about 3.4GB on mine
> >> currently) or some value that you assign manually yourself. I'm assuming
> >> that loading the apps you habitually use into the swap file likely causes
> >> the fast growth. That in itself isn't the big issue to me. What I don't
> >> understand is why pagefile.sys is included in System Restore points in the
> >> first place. Serves no practical use as far as I can see and it puts a huge
> >> hit on how many restore points can be created.
> >>
> >> The default location of the paging file is on the system drive but you can
> >> set it to be on any of the existing partitions/drives. There are
> >> instructions for changing the paging file size in Windows Help and support.
> >> Just search Paging file in Help. Moving the file is done in the same place.
> >>
> >> Instructions for moving the page file here:
> >>
> >> [url]http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-vista/move-and-optimize-windows-vistas-paging-file/[/url]
> >>
> >> or
> >>
> >> -- If you want to change the size and/or move pagefile.sys:
> >>
> >> Open the System applet in Control Panel
> >> Click on the Advanced tab
> >> Click on the Performance -Settings button
> >> Click on the Advanced tab again
> >> Click on the Change button in the Virtual Memory section
> >> Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives..."
> >>
> >> Click on each drive that is listed in turn and change its page file settings
> >> to your preference, or select No Paging file for a particular drive. Click
> >> Set for each drive that you change.
> >> On your system drive change the setting to No paging file and click Set.
> >> Enable a paging file on the drive of your choice. You can either select
> >> Custom size for for the page file (a range of sizes actually, min to max) or
> >> let the System manage the file size. When finished with the settings,
> >> reboot to initiate the changes.
> >>
> >> After you're done and rebooted the paging file will be in the new location
> >> and System Restore will not be including it in any subsequent restore
> >> points. At that point I deleted all of my existing restore points that had
> >> the old stored page files from the system drive. (turn off System Restore to
> >> delete restore points, then re-enable System Restore)
> >>
> >>
> >> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:7E0D4A34-AACD-4BAA-B230-BE41BDCD7A24@microsoft.com...
> >>> Lets see if I understand, you moved the pagefile to another
> >>> partition....so
> >>> it continues to serve its purpose and does not get saved with each restore
> >>> Point.
> >>>
> >>> What causes this file to grew to such a large file, and, in my case,
> >>> almost
> >>> overnight without me doing anything, ie, adding a new program, changes,
> >>> etc?
> >>>
> >>> It just seems to me, whatever has caused this file to grew to such a
> >>> larger
> >>> size happened overnight and whatever it is that is included in the
> >>> pagefile,
> >>> my PC ran fine for 20 months without it. Is there not a way to ID what
> >>> caused the file to grew so large?
> >>>
> >>> Lastly, is there a link to provide step-by-step instructions to do what
> >>> you
> >>> did?
> >>>
> >>> "RalfG" wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> I had a similar symptom. System Restore was archiving the pagefile.sys
> >>>> file
> >>>> (which had reached 3.6GB at the time) in every restore point. Moved the
> >>>> page
> >>>> file to a non-monitored partition.
> >>>>
> >>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >>>> news:450BFD97-B035-4225-93F4-215F7087C2AE@microsoft.com...
> >>>>> Thanks; b=as I wrote in my original message, I was able to determine
> >>>>> that
> >>>>> it
> >>>>> was the System restore points that were causing me to lose 3 to 4GB of
> >>>>> HDD
> >>>>> space daily becuase when I turned off System restore, I regained a
> >>>>> whole
> >>>>> lot
> >>>>> of space. However, the new restore points simply start again to be
> >>>>> created
> >>>>> in the same 3 to 4GB Size. I don't want to turn if off permanently, it
> >>>>> a
> >>>>> resource I may need some day. The issue is, and I hope someone has the
> >>>>> answer, the PC is almost 2 yrs old and just about 3 weeks ago it
> >>>>> started
> >>>>> to
> >>>>> save Restore points in this 3 to 4GB size, prior to that I could go a
> >>>>> week
> >>>>> and not lose 1GB. I have not installed\chnaged or altered anything on
> >>>>> my
> >>>>> PC
> >>>>> so that is not the reason for the large restore Files. Hopefully
> >>>>> someone
> >>>>> knows what file ot files overnight grew so large as to cause the
> >>>>> abnormally
> >>>>> large size System Restore points on my PC....possibly that file(s) can
> >>>>> be
> >>>>> altered or deleted...afterall, my PC ran fine for 24 mos.....without
> >>>>> the
> >>>>> large File(s).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "Peter Foldes" wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> See the following
> >>>>>> [url]http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_clear_system_restore_po.htm[/url]
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Peter
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
> >>>>>> Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> "denmarfl" <denmarfl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >>>>>> news:79F3044D-23B0-49BA-A0BF-A66F89DCE518@microsoft.com...
> >>>>>>> Vista Home Prem 32bit. Has anyone come up with what is causing
> >>>>>>> System
> >>>>>>> Restore Points on a PC that has been running for almost 2 years
> >>>>>>> where
> >>>>>>> Restore
> >>>>>>> points were Restore Points took 5 to 7 days to equal 1GB, and now
> >>>>>>> suddenly
> >>>>>>> over the past 3 weeks each restore Point is taking up 3 to 4GB of
> >>>>>>> HDD
> >>>>>>> space
> >>>>>>> Daily? I know its System restore using up space, if I turn it off,
> >>>>>>> which
> >>>>>>> deletes all Points, I regain the Space lost....but the process than
> >>>>>>> starts
> >>>>>>> over again. There has to be a file(s) that grew in size in 1 day
> >>>>>>> causing
> >>>>>>> this......
> >>>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
> >>[/color][/color]
>
> I deleted all the old restore points immediately after moving the page
> file so that I wouldn't run into the issue of having my changes undone
> the moment I did a system restore with one of those old points. In my
> case the restore points were essentially redundant since none of them
> was more than 3 days old and all were essentially identical anyway. The
> whole point of the excercise was to free up the space that all those
> copies of pagefile.sys were consuming so that over time I could actually
> start creating a useful collection of restore points again rather than
> be limited by that handful of huge sized points which were only a few
> days old at most.
>
> As far as I can tell the page file is irrelevent to the actual system
> restoration. I've only needed to do one system restore since moving
> pagefile.sys and that went smoothly. AFAIK the only useful data that the
> pagefile contains pertains to programs that are actually running in real
> time, the rest being essentially a cache of software that you are likely
> to be using during any given working session on the computer. There's
> nothing in it that I know of which pertains to the actual
> re-installation of the OS or software. The only slight benefit from
> including the pagefile in SR, as far as I can see, would be to have a
> ready to use intact cache matching the software as it exists in the
> newly restored sytem. The alternatives would be that either the
> non-restored pagefile might contain software that was removed from the
> system during the restoration or the pagefile might need to be recreated
> from scratch after a restoration. From my point of view neither of those
> two scenarios is as bad as being limited to 5 or 6 system restore points
> that might only be 2 or 3 day old duplicates of each other and wasting
> 20-30GB of SR harddrive space to hold them.
>
> As far as concerns about using multiple page files, I think that amounts
> to a bit of a red herring as far as we are concerned. IINM neither of us
> knows enough about the workings of Windows WRT swapfile usage to make
> any worthwhile changes to the system default of letting Windows manage
> the pagefile. If it wasn't for the drive space issues affecting my
> system restore points I wouldn't even have bothered moving the pagefile
> to another drive, although the drive it is on now is slightly faster
> than the system drive so there is that benefit.
>
> Splitting the single file into multiple parts might be useful if drive
> space is limited on your system drive (not able to create the optimum
> sized swapfile) or if for some reason you wanted an especially large
> swapfile. We could specify an arbitrary size for the pagefile, or
> pagefiles, but I think it would be largely a waste of time and effort
> for little or no real benefit. IMO system tweaks that save minutes of
> operating time are worthwhile doing, those that save imperceptible
> microseconds of data loading times aren't.
>[/color]