Optimizing the paging file size and location for server clusters

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Optimizing the paging file size and location

The location and size of the paging files can greatly affect performance. Paging files cannot be located on the shared bus, but if multiple unshared drives are available on the individual servers, placing the paging file on a separate, fast, low-use drive can boost performance. The size setting of the paging file is also critical to performance. A paging file that must constantly expand and shrink requires additional processor and I/O overhead.