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RAMDisk

Denna
Level 11
Is it possible to configure RAMDisk to not save the drive's contents to a file ?
4,254 Views
3 REPLIES 3

Korth
Level 14
It is possible to do this with other RAM disk softwares. Volatile storage (RAM) is vulnerable to data loss during power loss so most RAM disks backup onto some kind of nonvolatile media by default - but there are a few niches (like cryptosecurity) where it is desirable for no permanent copies to ever be made, so the option is provided by many commercial RAM disk softwares.

Asus RAMDISK is designed for simplicity and convenience, for gamers with overkill hardware who just want maximum performance with minimum hassle. RAM disks (and worse yet, RAM drives) are counterintuitive and complicated concepts for non-tech-savvy people, lol, so Asus RAMDisk just does what it does without offering the user many potentially confusing choices and tradeoffs. Yes there are many people who aren't "dumb" gamers and who would benefit from RAM disk performance gains - alas, it seems that such people are just expected to buy better RAM disk software. I use Asus RAMDisk when gaming and when not gaming, it's more than good enough for the task.

Why exactly do you want a RAM disk to not save contents to a file? Note that Asus proudly advertises RAMDisk being engineered to impose minimal footprint and minimal wear-and-tear on drives, so your SSDs will last longer.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Korth,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I've noticed that boot times can exceed 90 seconds if RAMDisk is loading a drive image supporting the TEMP and TMP variables, browser cache, etc.

Deleting the data on the RAMDisk before shutting down allows 16 second boot times.

Perhaps a shutdown task to clear the contents of the RAMDisk would fix the problem.

Korth
Level 14
RAM disks are not intended for swap, scratch, temp, paging, caching junk. I suspect you're trying to configure your system to store all such stuff in memory instead of disk so that you can reduce wear and increase longevity of your (flash) disk media. Sadly, you're taking a performance hit and actually increasing overall disk usage.

The operating system commands all physical memory (which hasn't been reserved for hardware, firmware, and programs like RAMDisk). It uses virtual memory (stored on disk) when available physical memory isn't adequate. It doesn't use virtual memory when it's not needed, and it doesn't use physical memory when it's not needed. It always accesses physical memory first because it's faster than accessing virtual memory on storage media. At least that's the ideal.

Yes, Windows is notoriously bloated and stubbornly insists on occupying all the physical memory it can grab plus big chunks of virtual memory (stored on disk). But as of Win7/8/10 it's actually not that bad at all. It actually does "dynamically" release unused memory and actually use virtual memory only when needed. And Windows always works best when it's allowed to do things automatically, the more you manually override or reconfigure Windows the clunkier and crankier it becomes.

Instead of giving all your RAM to your WinOS you're partitioning it - Windows gets some, RAMDisk gets some. And instead of Windows filling/releasing all the RAM it instead fills up one segment of RAM then starts using "virtual" memory (through RAMDisk) on the other segment of RAM. And when the RAMDisk gets full then Windows starts allocating more virtual memory onto disk (as usual). Things are complicated with Windows and RAMDisk both independently (and selfishly) resizing themselves, you're basically doubling all the junk data on disk and basically transferring it over and over again on parallel paths to and from memory and disk - even when it would all normally just fit entirely in memory. Lots of extra process threads running in processor and memory, lots and lots of extra file access and writes wearing out your precious flash drive, lots of extra access across slow media instead of fast memory.

So don't attempt to use Asus RAMDisk as a physical RAM drive. Use RAMDisk for game and app directories, as it was intended to be used, lol. Or don't use it at all. Why run programs which functionally accomplish nothing but negatively impact performance?
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]