RAMdisk pretty much obsolete?

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Drv30

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Dec 22, 2012
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I recently fell into this whole RAM disk marketing stuff and started looking up information about how it can be used best with 8GB of ram and as I learned more I became more discouraged to attempt using it as it seems redundant.

I had been using Intel Smart Response Technology to cache an HDD with an SSD and I was happy with the results, so I wanted to see if there was a way to cache an HDD or an SSD with a RAM disk. I found the SuperSpeed 5, but it is too expensive for me.

So then I started learning about trying to use the RAM disk for Windows ReadyBoost or in for loading the page file into it, which according to official Windows devs, are not the same thing; but that too was unnecessary with 8GB of RAM apparently.

[[At first I had a misconception that Windows ReadyBoost in a RAM disk was going to cache my HDD analogously as to how an SSD would cache an HDD with Intel Smart Response Technology, but I learned that although Windows ReadyBoost is indeed a cache, its purpose is to compensate for low RAM not to speed up HDDs. It works by speeding up virtual memory random reads in low-RAM systems, which depend more heavily on page files located in their HDDs. My (probably vague) understanding of ReadyBoost is that it is a cache of a page file which is placed in a USB flash memory stick in order to take advantage of faster random reads of flash memory (of course the USB bus speed is a limitation but lets not go there).

The page file on the other hand is virtual memory located in non-volatile memory which helps free up RAM for more efficient RAM usage, and therefore loading the page file into a RAM disk beats the purpose of the page file.]]

Then I saw that people are using RAM disks as TEMP folders, but then I read that Windows can fill these folders up fast and that software installations can fail or that there can be potential software issues because the TEMP folders need to be in non-volatile memory most of the time. So that option went out the window too.

Then I saw that the internet browser cache files can be placed in the RAM disk and this seems like the safer and more reliable thing to do with a RAM disk, which may actually present a speed benefit. I am a Google Chrome user however and changing the cache for this browser is a pain relative to the other browsers and I don't feel like switching over to another browser...

It seems like the best option would be the Superspeed 5 software, but it is clearly extremely overpriced considering that it is just as redundant as all the other RAM disk applications


So does this mean that there is nothing I can do with a RAM disk?

Is everything I said true? or am I just talking out of my ass? I want to know if I have an acceptable understanding of this stuff.

Thanks!!
 
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Yes, this is pretty much correct.

You don't need Readyboost if you have a SSD (as SSDs are faster than USB flash drives). And you can't use a Readyboost with a RAMDrive.

With 8GB of RAM you probably won't be using your swap file much if at all. So there isn't much point making a RAM drive for the swap file. In fact it is counter productive, as taking for example 4GB of RAM to make a RAM drive might force you to use the swap file, which is undesirable.

If you have an SDD then placing browser cache files on a RAM drive won't give a huge benefit. And again it might be counter productive, as 1) all your cache is lost every times you reboot, and you'll need to download the files again. 2) You'll have less available RAM for the operating...
there are a few things you can use a ram disk for. or should i say things that i have used it for. copying a movie file to a ram disk and then using hand break to make them into .mp4 files i can use to put on my media server. and stream to my network devices. while the benefit is questionable you would also need more then 8GB for something like that your looking at 16 to 32 GB for real benefits. it just removes the any bottle necks involved by utilizing a much faster interface. it can also be used as a scratch disk and you can install programs to it however its not really ideal because the contents are erased. unless you have a back up on one of your drives. it really just depends on what your using it for.
 
Yes, this is pretty much correct.

You don't need Readyboost if you have a SSD (as SSDs are faster than USB flash drives). And you can't use a Readyboost with a RAMDrive.

With 8GB of RAM you probably won't be using your swap file much if at all. So there isn't much point making a RAM drive for the swap file. In fact it is counter productive, as taking for example 4GB of RAM to make a RAM drive might force you to use the swap file, which is undesirable.

If you have an SDD then placing browser cache files on a RAM drive won't give a huge benefit. And again it might be counter productive, as 1) all your cache is lost every times you reboot, and you'll need to download the files again. 2) You'll have less available RAM for the operating system's disk cache to work.

RAMdrives only really make sense (in my opinion) for specialized uses on a 64bit system. For example moving a read only database file over to a RAMDrive on a web server. Even then just letting the operating system cache the file into RAM might be just as effective. On a 32bit system there is more justification for its use, as the disk cache can't use more than 2GB of RAM.
 
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