Page File / Swap File / Virtual Memory

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Im very confused at the moment can someone explain to me what they are and what the differences are?
Page File / Swap File / Virtual Memory

thnx

 

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Unless you want to get super technical, they are all one and the same.

 

Yea, basically different names for the same thing in different OS's..

 

Please get super technical There must be a reason why they have 3 different names :P

 

basically a page file is an area on the hard disk that programs use if there is not enough area in memory (RAM) to use.

So for example you are running lots of programs that are using the ram all at the same time and you execute an instruction that would need to go to the ram before executing if it can't it uses the page file on the hard disk.

Hopefully this makes sense.

 

ok right, so when a computer says your virtual memory is running low its actually talking about the amount of space designated to the page file? & Also SWAP FILE = LINUX?

 

correct

 

yes you are correct.

If you run a lot of applications that will use memory at the same time, you will notice your hard drive light flashing a lot this is because the programs are using the page file on the hard disk, usually the size of the page file is very near to the amount of RAM you have.

as I am at work I may be slighlty of with the figures for the page file size, but on my home PC I have 3072MB RAM (3GB) and my page file size is 3064MB not that it'll ever use that much.

 

hehehe excellent, so has anyone figured out how to increase the page file in windows Vista or where it's held at?

 

Understanding Windows Vista Paging File Size

 

um... because different vendors gave them separate names?

 

ok so Swap file = Linux - Page file =? - Virtual Memory = ?

 

I think you're overanalyzing this.

 

As has been said page file, swap file, virtual memory its all the same thing.

Its like when you drive a car with sequential manual gears (automatic with flappy paddle gears and two clutches) The rally world and BMW call it SMG (sequential manual gears), whilst volksvagen call it DSG (direct shift gears) it is exactly the same thing.

As BM said different vendours call it different names thats all.

 

And to be quite honest, most people (and often, many vendors - because they're just people too) use them interchangeably. There's no standard. Use any one you choose, and most people understand what you're talking about. I'd have no problem understanding what you mean if you say, "The swap file is too big", or "The computer is using too much virtual memory." It's all the same.

 

Page File = Microsoft - c:\pagefile.sys


Virtual Memory = generic