--- title: I moved my Windows page file off my main SSD, and my... description: Relocating the Windows pagefile from the boot drive to a secondary SSD can reduce read/write contention on the OS drive. The pagefile handles paging modified... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-windows-page-file-off-my-main-ssd-and-my-drive-stopped-doing-work-it-never-needed-to-do-nox7tybwm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I moved my Windows page file off my main SSD, and my drive stopped doing work it never needed to do | daily.dev og:description: Relocating the Windows pagefile from the boot drive to a secondary SSD can reduce read/write contention on the OS drive. The pagefile handles paging modified... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-windows-page-file-off-my-main-ssd-and-my-drive-stopped-doing-work-it-never-needed-to-do-nox7tybwm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NOx7TybWm.png og:image:alt: I moved my Windows page file off my main SSD, and my drive stopped doing work it never needed to do og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I moved my Windows page file off my main SSD, and my drive stopped doing work it never needed to do **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Relocating the Windows pagefile from the boot drive to a secondary SSD can reduce read/write contention on the OS drive. The pagefile handles paging modified memory pages, tracking memory commit limits, and preventing out-of-memory crashes when the commit limit is hit. Moving it is worthwhile mainly on systems with limited RAM that page frequently; PCs with 32GB or more RAM see little benefit. The steps involve opening Advanced System Settings, Performance Settings, Virtual Memory, setting the boot drive to 'No paging file', and rebooting. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Should I move my Windows pagefile to a second SSD? It helps mainly if the system has limited RAM and pages frequently, since moving pagefile.sys off the boot drive frees it from competing read/write activity with the OS, apps, updates, and caches. Systems with 32GB of RAM or more rarely page and see little to no benefit from the move. _daily.dev surfaces practical windows storage tuning tips like this for developers optimizing their dev machines._ ### How do I disable the pagefile on my Windows boot drive and move it elsewhere? Open View advanced system settings, go to the Performance tab, click Settings, switch to Advanced, and open Virtual memory. Select the boot drive, choose No paging file, click Set, confirm through the remaining dialogs, then reboot the PC for the change to take effect on the secondary drive instead. _developers tuning their workstation storage layout can find step-by-step guides like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [My cheapest SSD is doing the most important job in my PC, and that's on purpose](https://daily.dev/posts/my-cheapest-ssd-is-doing-the-most-important-job-in-my-pc-and-that-s-on-purpose-07m4kaapz) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Windows has been quietly wearing out your SSD, and the fix takes one setting](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-has-been-quietly-wearing-out-your-ssd-and-the-fix-takes-one-setting-hpn9bz5oi) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I added a second SSD to my PC for one boring reason, and it made Windows feel cleaner overnight](https://daily.dev/posts/i-added-a-second-ssd-to-my-pc-for-one-boring-reason-and-it-made-windows-feel-cleaner-overnight-upyvca6dk) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Before you spend a fortune on more RAM this year, try the free tweaks that make your PC feel like it already has more](https://daily.dev/posts/before-you-spend-a-fortune-on-more-ram-this-year-try-the-free-tweaks-that-make-your-pc-feel-like-it-3lboplvcz) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Your SSD has built-in maintenance tools that Windows keeps hidden from you](https://daily.dev/posts/your-ssd-has-built-in-maintenance-tools-that-windows-keeps-hidden-from-you-tlvqck3hc) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-windows-page-file-off-my-main-ssd-and-my-drive-stopped-doing-work-it-never-needed-to-do-nox7tybwm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I moved my Windows page file off my main SSD, and my drive stopped doing work it never needed to do","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-windows-page-file-off-my-main-ssd-and-my-drive-stopped-doing-work-it-never-needed-to-do-nox7tybwm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-windows-page-file-off-my-main-ssd-and-my-drive-stopped-doing-work-it-never-needed-to-do-nox7tybwm"},"datePublished":"2026-09-01T11:03:58.510Z","dateModified":"2026-09-01T11:04:24.163Z","description":"Relocating the Windows pagefile from the boot drive to a secondary SSD can reduce read/write contention on the OS drive. 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