The RAM Disk Guide

Discussion in 'Reviews & Articles' started by Adrian Wong, May 14, 2014.

  1. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice.

    SSDs are not only much faster than hard disk drives, they are silent and virtually impervious to vibration and shock. The downside though is their limited lifespan. That's where the RAM disk comes in - it allows the user to reduce wear and tear on the SSD by shifting some of the work to it.

    There are, of course, pros and cons to the RAM disk, and this guide will guide you through it all. On top of that, we will teach you how to make full use of your RAM disk.

    [​IMG]

    Link : The RAM Disk Guide
     
  2. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 2.0

    The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice.

    SSDs are not only much faster than hard disk drives, they are silent and virtually impervious to vibration and shock. The downside though is their limited lifespan. That's where the RAM disk comes in - it allows the user to reduce wear and tear on the SSD by shifting some of the work to it.

    There are, of course, pros and cons to the RAM disk, and this guide will guide you through it all. On top of that, we will teach you how to make full use of your RAM disk.

    In this major update, we added two pages on how to move the cache files from Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to the RAM disk.

    [​IMG]

    Link : The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 2.0
     
  3. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 2.1

    The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice.

    SSDs are not only much faster than hard disk drives, they are silent and virtually impervious to vibration and shock. The downside though is their limited lifespan. That's where the RAM disk comes in - it allows the user to reduce wear and tear on the SSD by shifting some of the work to it.

    There are, of course, pros and cons to the RAM disk, and this guide will guide you through it all. On top of that, we will teach you how to make full use of your RAM disk.

    In this major update, we added a new section called "What File System Should You Use?".

    [​IMG]

    Link : The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 2.1
     
  4. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.0

    The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice.

    SSDs are not only much faster than hard disk drives, they are silent and virtually impervious to vibration and shock. The downside though is their limited lifespan. That's where the RAM disk comes in - it allows the user to reduce wear and tear on the SSD by shifting some of the work to it.

    There are, of course, pros and cons to the RAM disk, and this guide will guide you through it all. On top of that, we will teach you how to make full use of your RAM disk.

    In this major update, we revamped the guide, adding important notes on :

    - moving the TEMP folder to the RAM disk,
    - making the RAM disk a Photoshop scratch disk.

    We also added the manual method for moving the TEMP folder to the RAM disk.


    [​IMG]

    Link : The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.0
     
  5. mikiep

    mikiep Newbie

    I'm on win8.1 with DataRam .. RAMdrive. They have a free version for up to 4 gb.

    Might note that to use it, in IE11, need to uncheck the Enable Protected Mode on the Security tab of Internet Options.
     
  6. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Hi mikiep,

    Is that what DataRam said is necessary?

    I'm using IE11 but I have no problem moving the Temporary Files folder to the RAM disk without disabling Protected Mode
     
  7. redrage

    redrage Newbie

    Pagefile's only use is not just because you ran out of ram.

    If you already have an SSD with light medium usage (gaming browsing etc) a ram drive will provide little benefit.

    There are few situations where an RAM Disk will give you any significant boost over a Quality SSD in real world situations.

    There are some specialized applications where you good get a major boost like lots of SQL queries, or if you want data wiped on each power cycle.

    Another place it might be useful is loading raw footage into something like aftereffects.. while it won't speed up the render much it will really improve the preview and load time.. but in these situations you are going to want well over 64GB ram if you render off the same machine.

    EDIT: Also check out Primo RamDisk I'm not sure they have a free version or not, but it is really nice.
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2015
  8. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Yes, you are correct that the pagefile is in use all the time, not only when the OS runs out of memory.

    Another benefit is for hardware testers who want to benchmark the copy (read / write) speed of any media. The RAM disk would remove the performance effect of the source drive for the benchmark files.
     
  9. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.1

    The RAM disk has been around since the 1980s, but it has never been popular due to the high cost of computer memory. It is now making a comeback, partly because RAM is now cheap and plentiful and partly because solid state drives (SSDs) are fast replacing hard disk drives as the storage medium of choice.

    SSDs are not only much faster than hard disk drives, they are silent and virtually impervious to vibration and shock. The downside though is their limited lifespan. That's where the RAM disk comes in - it allows the user to reduce wear and tear on the SSD by shifting some of the work to it.

    There are, of course, pros and cons to the RAM disk, and this guide will guide you through it all. On top of that, we will teach you how to make full use of your RAM disk.

    In this update, we added notes on using the RAM disk for copy and write tests to eliminate the much longer latencies inherent in HDDs or SSDs. We also made various changes and corrections to the guide.

    [​IMG]

    Link : The RAM Disk Guide Rev. 3.1
     

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