RAMDisk

Here's a guide I wrote a while ago. I told Sprung he could post it here, but being a sphincter he told me to do it myself :wacko: j/k I still want to make love to your sprung! In a heterosexual kind of way. Well anyways here's a guide I wrote back in March on how to make a RAMDisk in windows.

NOTES - I wouldn't try this if you have less than a gig of RAM. Oh an PM me if you want a copy that can give you a larger RAMDisk than 64mb (totally not warez guys). Also, damn the 12 image limit!

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I'm sure a majority of you know what a virtual CD/DVD drive it. But have you ever wanted a virtual Hard Disk Drive? I'm sure you have, at least by the time you've read this sentence!

So just what is a virtual hard drive? Just that, a virtual hard disk that acts just like a physical hard disk. Its in your physical memory. Keep that in mind, as it is locked in physical memory, eating it away (that would kind of defeat the purpose if it were in the pagefile). I wouldn't suggest anything over 64mb, unless you have alot of free memory (+1GB).

What are the advantages? Well, it will be fast as hell!!! No moving parts, the drive in your RAM, which means it can get up to (I've been told anyways) 60 times faster!

The disadvantages? It can only be as big as your free physical RAM, and if power is lost, your drive will be lost.

Installing the drivers and controlling them isn't hard. In fact, lets jump on that and not worry about the risks!!! (actually, though there aren't really any risks that I've noted, always keep your data backed up in case windows explodes or something. And remember that I nor S.O.R. is responsible if something does go wrong. The only thing you have to lose is the data you put on the ram drive :0 . It would also be wise to create a restore point)

So first thing's first, grab the drivers (second link is direct)

http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdi...ramdiskent.htm

http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdi...ion_530107.zip

RAMDisk Pro Enterprise evaluation is indefinitely free, but if you set it to anything above 64MB you get an "Incorrect Function" error and the driver is dead until you reinstall. And apparently there is a "reminder" that the version is free that gives a "fatal error." If that happens, waive it off, nothing has happened, its just a reminder that you are using the free version. (I've never actually had this happen to me btw). This version also comes with Driver utility that lets you save and manage an image to your hard disk, very handy considering you can easily lose the drive with so much as a reboot (Your RAM is not static like a thumb drive :P It'll lose all data if there is no power).

There is a regular RAMdisk out there, completely free, but there is no option to save an image to your drive so upon reboot, you lose all your data. Not to mention the filesize limit is 32MB. It is pointless for anything other than servers.

Anyways, download the drivers and utility, and then extract the folder somewhere. In this guide, I have extracted them to the desktop. Installation is basically the same for both XP and Vista, but I am using vista. So nyah! And while I'm at it, I tried to make this guide as user friendly as possible, with lots of pictures and stuff :D I'm not trying to make you feel like an idiot (Evans has that one covered :wacko: ), I justed wanted those that aren't power users to be comfortable ;)

Go to Control Panel, Click on Add Hardware, and you will get the Add Hardware wizard.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk02.jpg

Click next and tell it that you wish to install the hardware Manually from a list

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk03.jpg

click on Show all Devices at the top of the list

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk04.jpg

Click on "Have Disk" and tell it there location of the drivers.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk05.jpg

They are located in "RAMDRIV\ENG" depending on where you extracted them. In this guide, we extracted them to the desktop, so the path would be:

Code:

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C:\Users\Panda Man\Desktop\RAMDRIV\ENG

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For windows XP users, this would actually be

Code:

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C:\Documents and Settings\Panda Man\Desktop\RAMDRIV\ENG

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk06.jpg

Now you will get a warning that the drivers are not digitally signed. Most 3rd party drivers aren't, but these drivers are safe, so don't fret! Almost done. Under model you should see

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk07.jpg

If you do not, you have the wrong drivers selected. Post here if you need help. Anyways, click next. Let the wizard take over from here. When its finished, you'll get this screen. w00t!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk08.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk09.jpg

Almost done! Now, I doubt we really want a 1MB RAMDrive. So lets fix it! Go back to control panel and open "Device Manager." In Device Manager, find the device called "RAM Drive" and open the submenu. Double click on the device under that category. I have 2 because I installed twice for this guide, you ONLY NEED TO DO INSTALL THEM ONCE, AND YOU SHOULD ONLY HAVE ONE LISTED. I have the nonfunctioning one disabled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk10.jpg

Anyways, after double clicking on RAMDrive [QSoft] Enterprise, you'll be in the properties menu. Click on the "Ram Disk properties" tab, and you will get this screen. Change the disk size to 64MB, unless you bought this software, in which case you can set it higher (The drivers will intentionally crash and you will get the "Invalid Function" error if you set it above 64MB with the free version). At the bottom, make sure you leave "Restart RAMDisk when pushing ok" unchecked, as I have had problems with RAMDisk restarting while windows is running. This may just be an issue with Vista. You can change the drive letter as well if you want. You can't change the filesystem in the free version though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk11.jpg

Now then, reboot!

Now take a look at your drive. It should be something like 63.9MB and labeled B:.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk12.jpg

As you can see, I lied. Mine is only 32MB :D But if you have 1GB of RAM or more, you should be safe with 64MB.

Nearly finished. From the "RAMDriv\ENG" folder, run "RAMDiskImage.exe." Set it up to save and load from an image file called "RAMDiskImage.img" located in the root of C:, like in the image here (In this image though, the drive I have selected is F:. Yours should still say C: ).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk01.jpg

Now check the box labeled "Save in compatible format"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk16.jpg

Now check the box labeled "Synchroneous RAMDisk Image Write." Apply all the changes and your set.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk15.jpg

Now play around with your new drive. When you reboot properly everything should be fine, however if crash or lose power, the data may be lost, so always keep it backed up incase the image doesn't write properly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk13.jpg

I tested the drive with winamp. From the RAMDrive, I got winamp up and running it 1.8 seconds. From a freshly formatted/defragged drive, it booted up in 3.3 seconds. Not too shabby if you ask me, and considering my rig is dated, on a more modern rig the improvement should be more significant, particularly on disk dependent programs. Most programs execute instantly ;D I even moved the CCleaner installer to the drive and installation was nearly instant.

I'm not that big in shell folders, so I didn't move the firefox appdata out of my profile, and thus didn't really receive a big increase in Firefox (it is noticeable though). I did get Power Defragmenter to pop up instantly though! :D

So experiment and play with RAMDrive a little (it gets lonely sometimes). If you decide you don't want it, uninstallation is a snap. Simply go back into the Device Manager, right click on RAMDrive [ QSoft ] Enterprise, and click on uninstall. Confirm that you wish to uninstall the drivers, and reboot. Your all set!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ramdisk14.jpg

^^^^ Took me 3 posts but its all there. If you find errors let me know, I tend to type to fast and screw up sometimes.

25th-July-2007 haha. should check dates since a lot of the threads here are ancient but still on the first page cause of that crash.

It was a bot, already banned it.

I would just like to post some thanks here. Although I've done this before, I sort of forgot the process. I don't think I used this exact method, but this guide certainly helped, we're currently using this to speed up our MineCraft servers :D (www.theatticusgaming.com , go to the forums to get whitelisted if interested :) )

tl;dr
Thanks :D