Text 144, 81 rader
Skriven 2006-06-10 18:25:02 av Peter Knapper (3:772/1.10)
    Kommentar till text 142 av Mike Powell (1:2320/105.0)
Ärende: Speeding Up OS/2 on a Slow PC
=====================================
Hi Mike,

 MP> The machine has two HDs.  One is a slower, smaller drive (boot drive), and
 MP> the other is a 20GB drive, hooked up with a Promise Ultra card, that is
 MP> faster.  The C: partition on the slower drive is 
 MP> formatted as FAT, while the other partitions are all HPFS.

I have a few questions.......;-)

What verison of OS/2, and at what Fixpak level?
What format is your OS/2 Boot drive (FAT or HPFS)?
What Drive letter is your Boot drive?
On which drive letter is your swap file located?
How large is the Swap file partition?
is the Swap file partition HPFS or FAT?
How much free space does the Swap file partition have at boot?
What size is your Swap file on average?
What is your Swap files initial size?
How BIG does your Swap file get at its largest size?
What freespace remains on your Swap drive when the Swap file is at its largest
size?

 MP> The slowness shows up mostly when I run Firefox.  I installed it on the
 MP> quicker drive (in an HPFS partition).

FF can be slow to load on just about anything, however I find that it is faster
loading under eCS because eCS seems to keep a lot more .DLL's RESIDENT than
Warp 4, etc... (EG W4 ~20MB resident, eCS ~60MB resident).

 MP> Does OS/2 have a swapfile that is probably on the C: drive?  

OS/2 doesn't care where you place its swap file, however a general rule of
thumb is that Swapfile performance is best when the swap file is on the LEAST
used partition on the FASTEST drive (but one MUST also keep free space in mind
for that). It can also help to TUNE the swap file...

 MP> I have noticed a
 MP> couple of hidden files with the extension .SF, and one is 17MB, so I am
 MP> guessing that is a swapfile.

*** DANGER *** That file is NOTHING to do with the swap file, do NOT touch!!!

The swap file is named SWAPPER.DAT, and it is not hidden or anything special.
Look at the SWAPPATH setting in Config.Sys to find the file. I always place it
in the root directory of the fastest drive, however my Swapfile is rarely used.


The EA_DATA.SF file you mention above stores EXTENDED ATTRIBUTES for a FAT
partition, IE it is ONLY present on FAT drives. That file is CRITICAL to OS/2
use of EA's on FAT drives, and if it is even TOUCHED by any S/W on any other
OS, then you WILL be screwed. Thats why it is marked HIDDEN!!! Dont EVER let
ANYTHING touch that file or you WILL loose your OS/2 EA's, AND NEVER, NEVER,
NEVER let any S/W even attempt to COMPRESS a FAT PARTITION that has OS/2 files
with EA's, or you WILL blow your EA's away...

 MP> Can these be configured to reside on other
 MP> drives (i.e. non-C: drives) to take advantage of their speed?

You can NEVER touch the EA_DATA.SF file, it MUST remain exactly where it is
placed as all access to it is by PHYSICAL sector addressing!

If you wish to alter where SWAPPER.DAT is placed, then just update the
SWAPPATH=x:\yyy statement in Config.sys (note that it is a PATH not a filename
and take care to leave the numerical values after the PATH) and reboot. The
Swapfile is always set up at each Boot. Once rebooted don't forget to delete
the old SWAPPER.DAT file. 

 MP> Would having faster access to the swapfile make a difference?  

If your system is swapping then yes, but only if your system is swapping.

 MP> If so, would it also make a difference to apps opened in a DOS window?

A DOS window would get the same performance as an OS/2 window, because the swap
file is used by the SYSTEM, not by applications.

Cheers...........pk.


--- Maximus/2 3.01
 * Origin: Another Good Point About OS/2 (3:772/1.10)