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I just installed a second HDD into my brother's 98SE 2000+ XP PC and have hit a SWAP file optimization problem. The original drive is an 80GB WD with 20GB C: and the balance being D:. The new drive is a 320GB WD trimmed to 137GB by the WD installation utility and divided into two aprox equal partitions, E: and F:.

The problem is when I try to use the Control Panel 'System' utility to move the swap file to E: (new drive), all partitions but C: are reported as having negative space, whereas D: and E: are barely used, and F: is empty. I've run the 98SE disc check and Norton 2000 Disc Doctor utilities and appears fine. Any ideas?

Thanks -- Trevor

Welcome to PCHF.

I would recommend leaving the swap file on the C drive.
I would put my programs on the other drive and leave the C drive for system operations.

Well, that is what I would do.

Thanks! To be sure, I could do that (and currently am.) My purpose in moving the swap file to the new drive is to divide the seek load between the two physical drives, thereby allowing for a modest performance boost under relatively busy conditions. Either way, is there any insight as to why the swap file allocation utility would report negative available space on the three non C: drives? This is clearly a misbehavior of some sort and I'm guessing there's a solution.

Thanks again -- Trevor

Did you modify your System.ini file?

PagingDrive= line in the [386Enh] section

I haven't touched a system.ini file since my days with Win 3.1 and DOS 5.1. Used to enjoy those systems -- would tweak the initialization files to suit specific needs, but haven't touched them since the move to Win95.

In my past experience with '98 and '98SE, I don't recall having run into this problem. Are you suggesting modification to the system.ini file could be the solution?

I just fired up the 98SE system and looked at C:\windows\system.ini, that parameter is not present in the [386Enh] section. Here is the actual content:

[386Enh]
device=*COMBUFF
device=TURBOVCD.VXD
ebios=*ebios
woafont=dosapp.fon
mouse=*vmouse, msmouse.vxd
device=*dynapage
device=*vpd
device=*int13
EMMEXCLUDE=C000-CFFF
device=*enable
keyboard=*vkd
Paging=on

If there are no such lines, than the disk that contains the Windows folder also contains the swap file.


The settings for the swap file are actually under the [386Enh] section in the System.ini file. You can actually override the swap file settings here. Here is a typical [386Enh] section, note the last three lines pertaining to the swap file. Note that the values for min and max are in KILOBYTES in the system.ini file (not Mb like the setting in system properties).

[386Enh]
ebios=*ebios
woafont=dosapp.fon
mouse=*vmouse
device=*dynapage
device=*vcd
device=*vpd
device=*int13
keyboard=*vkd
display=*vdd,*vflatd
PagingDrive=C:
MinPagingFileSize=65536
MaxPagingFileSize=395264

If you decide to edit the system.ini file, be sure to use upper and lower case exactly as it appears. It matters. For example, pagingdrive=c: is NOT the same as PagingDrive=C: (in fact, there is an issue in Win98 Second Edition where the computer hangs if a lower case drive letter is specified for the paging file location). The settings shown here are for a swap file on drive C: with a minimum size of 64 MB and Maximum size of 386 MB (multiply each MB value by 1024 to get KB).

Thanks for the solution. I guess the explanation for the negative available space values on the D:, E: & F: partitions will remain a mystery, but at least I have a workaround.

The following parameters have been added to the bottom of the original [386Enh] section:

PagingDrive=E:
MinPagingFileSize=1228800
MaxPagingFileSize=1228800

I initialized them via 'SYSTEM' by setting the C: swap file settings to fixed size 1.2GB. Rebooted and modified the system.ini file to move the swap file to E:. Rebooted once again !

Thanks for the assist -- I'll see how things go !