Virtual memory problems

Hi , I have this annoying problem . Virtual memory , and its settings . I have 30 gig hd , devided equally in 2 partitions C and D , I have window's Virtual memory located on disk C ( with the settings of 640mb min - 1000 mb max) , where PS's skratch disk takes place on disk D: ( due to the virtual memory conflicts that windows and Ps have ) I have 7 gig free on the disk D , and 256mb ram . Im working with the ps files that are relatively big , i.e. 22 mb as being a psd file , and about 400 mb as being a temp file , around 1280*1024 300 dpi 100~layers, still much less than 7 gig that I have .
I m getting the fatal virtual memory error during my work process .
It is REALLY annoying , because Im loosing hours of work sometimes .

Error: "Disk error -36 While reading or writing virtual memory file , sorry but this error is fatal"

Turn virtual memory OFF, I have NEVER run virtual memory on a machine running Photoshop without having problems. The installation instuctions in the readme file on the photoshop CD tells you NOT to run virtual memory because it causes problems.

Hmm .. sounds like your going to lose a lot more if your not careful.

When you get "disk error" messages it can be extremely serious. Get hold of Norton Utilities or something and do a full maintenance on your hard drive. I'm no expert on PC's (being a mac man) — but I would go along with Tornupinside, turn off Virtual memory. make sure youve got most of your 256mb RAM allocated to PS also, and you should have no problem running it.

Turning off the virtual memory may actually work, although Microsoft does not recommend it. The performance of your computer may be improved if you disable the said virtual memory. It can run faster and better especially if it is running on 512 MB of RAM. You will then be able to multitask and run several programs at the same time. In addition, disabling the virtual memory to improve your computer’s performance may work if you are running database or other resource-intensive applications.