What is a Pagefile?
On current Microsoft™ Windows™ operating systems, a pagefile is the name given to a portion of the hard disk reserved to augment Random Access Memory (RAM). The pagefile acts as virtual RAM, or virtual memory, to improve access time for frequently used programs and data. All else being equal, the less RAM a system has, the larger the pagefile is likely to be. If enough RAM is present there may be no pagefile. RAM is a quick-storage area designed to improve access time to frequently used programs, processes, and files. Retrieving data from RAM is faster than retrieving it from standard platter-style hard disks. As a computer system boots, it stores many routines into RAM so that the system can perform better. As the user opens programs, even more RAM is consumed. Firewalls, antivirus programs and other software that runs in the background also consumes RAM. When RAM becomes full, the system turns to the hard drive for help. Using contiguous, empty space, the system designates a pagefile
In storage, a pagefile is a reserved portion of a hard disk that is used as an extension of random access memory (RAM) for data in RAM that hasn’t been used recently. A pagefile can be read from the hard disk as one contiguous chunk of data and thus faster than re-reading data from many different original locations. Windows NT administrators or users can reset the system-provided default size value of the pagefile to meet their particular needs. In other operating systems, the pagefile is called a swap file or a swap partition.
