How to create a disk in RAM. Optimizing Windows by using a RAM disk

If you often switch between a large number of applications and files, then a few seconds of difference at startup is far from trivial. You probably know that the easiest way to get such a boost is to buy an SSD. But what if you don't have the opportunity to use it? Or maybe you already have solid state drive and you want to save another second or two while reducing disk wear? In this case, you should experiment with a RAM disk - launching applications directly from the image into RAM.

While writing this article, it was difficult for me to shake off the feeling of déjà vu. I remember about seventeen years ago I created disks in memory to speed up the work of the old “Searchs”, which worked without hard drives. Loading took place from a floppy disk; when loading into memory, a RAM disk (an image with DOS software) was used. After loading the image into memory, all DOS utilities were loaded from this RAM disk, and not from a floppy disk, thanks to which the old “Search” worked much faster and the floppy disks themselves wore out less.

It turned out that the RAM disk is still relevant today. With its help (if you have a sufficiently large amount of RAM), you can speed up your computer (a memory disk works faster than an SSD) or Live USB(the idea is the same as with “Search”), extend the life of the hard drive/SSD.

Why is this necessary?

Goals can be absolutely anything. You can either install applications on the RAM disk or use it to store data. Those who like to play can install their favorite toy on the RAM disk, but then the system must have more than 8 GB of RAM.

The most logical scenario for a RAM disk is computers with regular hard drives - especially laptops entry level, Where hard drives They don't shine with performance. True, it will not be possible to completely replace an SSD in this way, if only because of the price. Let's say a 60GB SSD can be purchased for about $60. Organizing a RAM disk of such capacity will be problematic. Firstly, not all computers support 64 GB of RAM. Secondly, finding a module with a capacity of 32 GB is still a problem. At the time of writing, offers on Yandex.Market were mainly for memory with a frequency of 1333–1600 MHz with a price starting from 22 thousand rubles per module.

To summarize, then best option to use RAM disk - this is a laptop with usual hard disk and 8 GB of RAM. Of the 8 GB, 4 GB can be allocated for a RAM disk. The remaining 4 GB is enough for quite comfortable work. And on the RAM disk you can install either one “heavy” application or a set of frequently used applications.

What do we need

Firstly, at least 6 GB of RAM, the more the better. Secondly, we will need a 64-bit version of Windows to support large (more than 3.25 GB) amounts of RAM. Thirdly, you need a program to create a RAM disk and work with it. In this article we will look at the Lite version of Dataram RAMDisk. This version is free, but the maximum supported disk space is only 4 GB. Paid version costs $18.99 and supports drives larger than 4GB.

Setting up a RAM disk

There is nothing complicated about setting up a RAM disk. First of all, download and install the Dataram RAMDisk program. There are no problems with the installation, the program works in both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows (I personally tested it in 32/64-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Windows 8), however, as already noted, The 64-bit version is recommended - this way you can support larger RAM disks.

After installation, you need to run the configuration utility (Fig. 1) - either through the main menu or directly from the installer. I had a little confusion with the configuration program. At first I didn’t pay attention to the action being performed - by default, the program does not try to create a RAM disk, but to use an existing one (even when starting it for the first time), so when I pressed the Start RAMDisk button, naturally, nothing happened, and I also could not select the RAM size -disk.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do is select the Create a new FAT disk action, after which you will have the opportunity to set the size of the RAM disk and additional parameters. You also need to select the Save them on shutdown action so that the data written to the RAM disk is saved when the system or disk is shut down. You can select the disk location by clicking the Browse button: do not try to enter it manually, otherwise, every time you press the key, the program will tell you that such a file does not exist and it will be created :).

The minimum size of a RAM disk is 40 MB (who needs that - I don’t know). The maximum is calculated approximately like this: the maximum amount of RAM is approximately 30%.

Theoretically, you can click the Start RAMDisk button and start working. But we’re not looking for easy ways, right? Therefore, select the menu command View, Advanced to install additional options. After this, tabs with advanced parameters will appear. So, on the Settings tab you can set the size of the RAM disk, determine the type file system(you can generally create an unformatted disk, and then format it as NTFS using Windows), select the boot sector format, set the disk label and create the TEMP directory.

On the Load/Save tab, you can enable automatic loading of the disk image at startup, as well as enable/disable saving the image upon shutdown. The Options tab allows you to set various options such as Clear RAMDisk memory on exit - an option for the paranoid, prohibiting compression of the image file on NTFS (Do not compress image file on NTFS filesystems) and others. As for me, the only useful option here is to prohibit disk compression (Do not compress image file on NTFS filesystems), since if compression is already enabled on an NTFS disk, I see no reason to compress the disk image again, however, I also don’t see It makes sense to use compression on NTFS. Why first forcefully reduce performance using compressed disks, and then heroically try to improve it using a RAM disk?

Now you can press that treasured Start RAMDisk button. When you start the RAM disk for the first time, you will need to install its driver, so in the window that appears, click the “Install” button.

Next, you need to wait until the RAM disk is created and formatted. On my not very fast laptop, this operation took a couple of seconds, which felt like system slowdown while creating the image file. After this, you can work with the RAM disk as with a regular disk.

If not selected in the program settings automatic download disk at startup, then next time (after the system reboot) you will need to select the Load a saved image action.

Results

Fans of numbers and diagrams can run a disk performance test and compare the results with the usual hard drive and with SSD. In this article, I will not specifically present such results, since in theory (in these diagrams) everything will be very colorful - reading performance will increase by 50 times, and when writing, a 20-fold acceleration will be felt.

But what will we get in practice? In practice, everything will not be so beautiful, but the results will still be there. So, loading the same Word 2010 from a regular hard drive on an average computer takes about three seconds. Loading Word 2010 from a RAM disk, the image of which is located on a regular hard drive, will happen twice as fast - in about 1.5 seconds. However, loading the same application from an SSD without any RAM disks takes less than a second. Launching an application from a RAM disk whose image is located on an SSD disk will take less than half a second.

Hello GeekTimes! Absolutely incredible power and performance is hidden in the word RAMDisk - Once upon a time there were even special devices that simulated the operation of a ramdisk at the hardware level - Gigabyte i-RAM, for example. However, now with access to a huge amount of RAM, building virtual disks is becoming even easier. What does this give? The answer is under the cut.

First, the hardware configuration - to make a big RAMDisk you need a lot of RAM. “I have them” - 128 selected gigabytes of DDR4 HyperX Savage - how much more? Strictly speaking, my motherboard does not support such a volume of RAM, but with the help of a tambourine and a few other shamanic accessories, I managed to start the stand, albeit with a reservation, at a frequency of 2133 MHz. Otherwise, everything is of the highest standard - eight memory sticks of 16 gigabytes each, branded beautiful radiators HyperX Savage, long warranty period, technical support(in case you can’t handle the setup and installation yourself). Such a kit needs an appropriate test bench, and I also have it at my disposal.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-5960X
• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme, Intel Socket 2011-3
• RAM: HyperX Savage DDR4-2666 128 Gb (8*16 Gb)
• System SSD: HyperX Predator PCI-E SSD 480 Gb
• Video card: AMD Fury X
• Power supply: Corsair AX1200i, 1200W
• Operating system: Windows 10 Professional (64-bit)

In the vastness of this RAM you can deploy anything you want. Surely you can run everything at the same time installed programs, and maybe even several copies Mozilla Firefox(sarcasm), but today I’m interested in virtual disks.

When your computer has an indecent amount of RAM, you want to use it as much as possible, and RAMDisk is the most successful use. At the moment, there is a fairly wide selection of software for working with RAMDisk, but I will build using software that has already proven itself on the positive side and has collected a number of reviews - DATARAM Ramdisk and ROG Ramdisk.
The first software is shareware; previously it was possible to purchase a high-quality license with a good discount when purchasing AMD products.
The second option comes free with ASUS Republic Of Gamers series boards. As soon as testing takes place at the base motherboard ASUS Rampage V Extreme/USB3.1 - it would be a shame not to appreciate the capabilities of this software.

Of course, the temptation is great to create 64 gigabyte disks, but I have two programs, which means they will try to eat up all the available RAM. Therefore, I will limit myself to two disks of 32 gigabytes each.

Testing the RAMDisk turned out to be quite difficult, because many programs do not want to deal with it, such as the familiar and convenient PC Mark 8 - it completely refuses to pass the test on the specified partition, giving an error. In this case, the fact is that the use of RAM Disk will lead to a significant increase in the result and the system of protection against “unfair play” is triggered, because PC Mark 8 ratings are used by many enthusiasts to compare the performance of their systems.

Crystal Disk Mark 5.1.2

Crystal Disk Mark demonstrates that not all yoghurts are equally useful, namely the ROG disk is faster than the DATARam and quite significantly.

Copying a file from a RAMDisk to another RAMDisk is a very fun procedure - everything happens almost instantly. A huge video file, the recording speed of which on a RAM Disk is limited only by the reading speed from a USB source, flies at supersonic speed inside the RAM.

Copying a disk from an SSD to a RAM Disk is also very fast - the speed is limited by the reading speed from the solid-state drive, and similarly in the opposite direction - you won’t be able to work faster than the SSD writes.

As an application software, I offer a purely subjective assessment: working with photographs in the DxO OpticsPro 10 application. The task was to export 20 photos from RAW Canon format(CR2) to full-size JPEG with PRIME quality noise reduction enabled. Much of this task depends on the processor, but still working with data storage is also important.
The result is a difference of about 20 percent compared to exporting to a HyperX Predator system PCI-E SSD. Is this too much? Yes, quite a significant increase, because overclocking the processor by 10% (300 MHz) changed the packet processing time by only 1%.

It was not possible to take advantage of all the benefits for games, or rather, everything works correctly, without any questions, but the FPS in two very demanding games: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Total War: Attila did not increase relative to the test results of games that were installed on PCI- E SSD.

So what is a RAMDisk for? What can you speed up with it? Archivers (who needs to compress/decompress data so quickly). Browsers ( quick access to all the cache you have). Saving the recording resource of SSD cells (a controversial point when taking into account the cost of a large amount of RAM). content creators running large files in Adobe PS/AI and so on (the most realistic example).

The cost of RAMDisk does not apply to strengths"project". Converted to ruble per gigabyte SSD drive will be much more profitable than a colossal amount of RAM - SSD Kingston KC400 with a capacity of 128 GB costs from 3,800 rubles, a 128 GB memory kit will cost 83,000 rubles. But the read/write speed exceeds budget SSDs by more than 10 times, and besides, a large amount of RAM has never harmed anyone. Unless the wallet will be unhappy, but who cares =).

There are some nuances and disadvantages: Small volume for storing information, although if we are talking mainly about temporary storage of media files during processing, there is no point in complaining. Second nuance: if there is no ASUS ROG board, there is a need to purchase a high-quality software to create a RAMDisk, Third feature: volatility - let the RAMDisk image be saved every time you exit Windows, but in the event of a sudden power failure, data loss cannot be avoided.

Thanks for your attention and stay tuned Kingston on Giktimes!

Even from a depressing situation with hardware there is a way out - from “voting with your wallet” to technical progress, which slaps the well-fed faces of marketers and forces them to release what customers crave. Everything will be great, we promise!
We are also damn, incredibly happy to communicate with like-minded people on our blog and intend to give high-quality Kingston hardware to our subscribers. At the end of June we will give 11 subscribers of our blog 1 SSD drive

By using special programs discussed in this review, you can create a virtual disk in your computer’s RAM that works much faster than a regular HDD, so that any disk-intensive tasks will be performed on it several times faster.

RAM disks were used back in the days of MS-DOS and allowed you to work on a computer without a hard drive with just a floppy disk. Using the RAMDRIVE.SYS file, a small virtual disk was created in memory, on which the user stored files until the computer was turned off, and then copied them back to the floppy disk. This made it possible to save the resource of floppy disks, and also increased the speed of operations on the computer.

Many years have passed, and RAM disks are being returned again, but this time, instead of floppy disks, they are used to protect SSDs, while at the same time, as before, increasing the performance of the computer.

Increased productivity

RAM disks can be used for different purposes, but maximum growth can be achieved only if the following conditions are met: after placing the files in the RAM disk, there will still be a few gigabytes left on the computer free memory; When processing data, the disk must be intensively used, otherwise the performance gain will not be noticeable.

Most often, RAM drives are used for the following tasks: compiling heavy programs; launching a web server; launching games with large textures; loading large projects into the application, working with images virtual machines. Although these tasks are indeed often mentioned when discussing RAM disks, not all of them benefit from using a RAM drive; read more about this in the testing section.

Some of the above examples are not relevant for regular user, however, on a home computer you can also use RAM disks to speed up some everyday operations (launching programs, games, opening files). The increase will be especially noticeable if the system has regular HDD instead of SSD.

It makes sense to transfer games only if the PC has at least 8 GB of RAM installed, and sometimes all 16, otherwise, after copying the game, there is no free RAM left to run it. The gain should be noticeable only when running the most demanding games (Crysis, Metro 2033), in particular with high-resolution textures installed. FPS increase You shouldn't expect it, only the level loading time will decrease. In the case of Steam games, you can use the utility to move games to any selected folder. Gamers who record HD gaming video without compression may also notice the benefit.

SSD storage

RAM disks are also becoming popular as a means to reduce SSD wear. To do this, the swap file, the directory of temporary files, as well as some programs are transferred to a virtual disk, thus reducing the number of accesses to the solid-state disk. Some RAM disk creation programs even include options to make these settings easier.

Of the frequently used programs on RAM, it is advisable to move the browser first. If it opens with a large number of tabs left over from the previous session, it will start to launch much faster. Also, starting from a RAM disk will prolong SSD life, since browsers intensively use the cache, which in this case will be located in memory. The easiest way to install a browser on RAM disk— copying the folder with the Portable version of the program to the virtual partition. This way you won’t have to manually enter the paths to the required directories in the browser.

Other benefits of RAM disks

Using RAM disks brings other benefits:
- Reduces noise and, to a small extent, PC heating due to less frequent use of the HDD
- Reduces disk fragmentation by ensuring temporary files and browser cache are never written to the physical disk
— Will appear on your hard drive more space: Temporary files that programs sometimes fail to delete will not accumulate on your computer.

There is another interesting use for RAM disks - the ability to place RAM drives in memory unused on 32-bit systems. As you know, Windows 32-bit can use no more than ~3.5 GB of memory, and if more is installed on the computer, then the memory simply “disappears”. The programs Gavotte Ram Disk (more about setting up) and SuperSpeed ​​RamDisk Plus (this program was not considered in the review due to the lack of free version).

Programs for creating RAM disks

Before moving on to a review of the programs, two clarifications need to be made. First, only free programs were considered. Second, the Bond Disc and Gavotte Ram Disk utilities were not included in the review because they did not run on Windows 8 64-bit.

One of the simplest and most understandable programs. Allows you to create RAM disks up to 4 GB in size (limitation of the free version), but only in a single copy.

Dataram can initialize the RAM disk when the system starts, and optionally loads any specified image into it.

Autosave can be set for any period of time (five minutes by default), and you can separately specify whether the disk will be saved when the computer is turned off. Manual saving is also available, which can be done at any time.
After overwriting the image, the previous copy of the disk is not deleted, but is saved with the .bak extension.

In the program settings there is an option to create a TEMP directory on the RAM drive, but the system paths for storing temporary files do not change and applications still use the regular TEMP folder. Therefore, to transfer temporary files to the RAM disk, the TEMP and TMP variables will need to be edited manually in the My Computer settings System Properties->Environment Variables.

The options on the last tab of the program mainly concern functionality related to extending the life of the SSD. If the virtual disk will be used solely for storing temporary files and reducing system access to the solid-state drive, then settings such as erasing the contents of memory when exiting the program and not storing the previous copy of RAMDisk will be very useful.

The disadvantages of Dataram RAMDisk include the banner that appears on the screen when the program is launched, and the already specified limitation on the size of the RAM drive of 4 GB.

ImDisk has a somewhat confusing interface compared to its colleagues, and it is not clear why they left it this way, because some options could have simply been removed.

The program has only a console version of the executable file, and for working with graphical interface you will need to open the Control Panel, where the ImDisk icon is located (however, you can always make a shortcut for it on the desktop using Windows).

The difference between ImDisk and some other utilities is that this program allows you to create any number of virtual disks (as long as there are free drive letters).

ImDisk was originally intended to emulate floppy drives, optical drives and hard drives, but it can also be used to create RAM drives. To do this, you need to specify the path to store the image file, specify its size, select the Harddisk disk type and do not forget to check the Copy image file to memory option.

The last option means that the image file will be loaded into memory and all operations will be performed with it there. Thus, the original image will not be updated unless all changes are manually synchronized.

IN manual synchronization there are both pros and cons: you will need to use the Save image function yourself, but this can only be done when you really need to update the file, and thus the computer will not periodically slow down when dumping the contents of memory into a file.

After creating a RAM disk, some of its properties can be changed: for example, increase the size or set the Read Only label.

The main disadvantage of ImDisk is that the program cannot start a RAM disk automatically when you turn on the computer and you have to create it manually each time.

The OSFMount utility clearly has some kind of relationship with ImDisk, which is noticeable by the presence of absolutely identical options in the programs and also in the interface. However, there are still some differences between the utilities.

OSFMount has a separate executable file, the interface is a little simplified and more emphasis is placed on working with RAM disks.
The utility can also be used to mount common images (ISO, NRG, VMDK, etc.).

No settings related to autosave have been added, but when you disconnect the disk, the utility asks whether it is worth updating the contents of the image. This feature can be combined with manual saving, which remains in place.

The only complaint about OSFMount, besides the lack of automatic creation RAM drive when you turn on the computer, as in the case of ImDisk, is that when you disconnect disks and some other operations, the program freezes for several seconds, and, as the Task Manager shows, at this moment the contents of the memory are not copied to hard drive, and what the program is doing is unclear.

After working with SoftPerfect RAM Disk, I was left with the impression that this is one of the few free programs, the interface of which is being tried to be more or less brought into line with the requirements of 2012.

As with other applications, SoftPerfect Ram Disk is generally designed to work with images own format(SVI), and in particular can be used to create RAM disks.

After launching the program, the main window displays the amount of free RAM, which simplifies the creation of a RAM disk, since it is immediately clear what the limit on its maximum size is.

To access some program options, you must first create an image and save it to physical disk. This will enable the option to autosave the contents of the RAM disk to a file.

SoftPerfect RAM Disk allows you to create any number of virtual disks without software size restrictions.

Among useful options It is also worth noting: data compression on disk; creating a RAM disk at system startup; cleaning the disk when unmounting; autosave after a specified period of time; editing the path to the Temp folder; export/import of all settings for disks.

This utility is installed and uninstalled almost like real hardware, through the manager Windows devices by manually adding a driver in the Settings Wizard.

After this, RAM disk B: 1 MB in size appears in the system, and to change its parameters, you must either download a separate executable file from the developer’s website, or each time open the properties of the virtual device in the Windows device manager. Instructions for installing the program and a direct link to the configurator can be found in the CHM file.

QSoft RAMDrive can create only one RAM disk in the system, but its size is not limited by software. There is an option in the settings automatic change RAM drive size, however, when using it, the disk volume is 256 MB and does not increase after free space will come to an end (probably software incompatibility with Windows 8 64 bit).

RAMDrive can work with images, load them when the system starts and save the content when the driver is unloaded, at certain intervals or by a timer.

The site states that the Russian-language version of RAMDisk “Enterprise” is free only when run on localized Russian-language systems, but the use of English-language Windows 8 during tests confirms the opposite. Perhaps it is enough for the system locale settings to be set to Russian.

Important clarification: QSoft RAMDrive did not take part in testing because the program generated an error during the creation of the RAM drive large capacity(disks with a capacity of 1-2 GB were used for testing). Apparently, this is due to poor compatibility of the program and Windows 8 64 bit.

Testing

Of the seven free programs selected, for the reasons stated above, only four made it to testing. Initially, it was planned to use several synthetic benchmarks to test them, but during testing it turned out that many of the test programs work with disks at a very low level and simply do not see RAM disks. That is why basic information about the performance of RAM drives was collected from using CrystalDiskMark. Testing was carried out on a computer with 6 GB of memory and an Intel processor [email protected] GHz

Synthetics
CrystalDiskMark shows highly repeatable results, although on some RAM disks it produces two separate sets of numbers that differ by about two hundred megabytes. Apparently, this is explained by the use of several memory sticks with different speeds in the computer. The diagrams show the best result.

CrystalDiskMark (sequential operations, MB/s, more is better):

CrystalDiskMark (4K, MB/s, bigger is better):

As you can see, performance indicators RAM disks are noticeably different, and due to the fact that the priority when working with them is read speed, the undisputed winner in this category was left for further tests - SoftPerfect RAM Disk, which showed excellent results in both sequential and random reading(as well as random recording).

The HD Tune benchmark was able to recognize only one of the virtual disks, and it incorrectly reported its size, so it was not possible to determine which one. However, this test can compare typical access times and CPU load.

As for the CPU load, for the hard drive according to HD Tune it was 4%, for the SSD - 7%, and for the RAM disk an error was received, since the result was minus one percent.

Program launch time

After testing, it was known that VLC is one of the longest-running “daily” programs, so a comparison of startup speed was carried out only with its participation.

VLC startup time (seconds, less is better):

Quite predictably, there was virtually no difference between a cold start from a RAM drive and a hot start from any media, since in both cases the program actually started from RAM. As for performance, the RAM disk was twice as fast as even the SSD, and as already mentioned, this time was very close to the time of hot startup, that is, there was simply nowhere to improve it further.

Other tasks

Archiving in zip (fast compression, seconds):

Testing performance when creating an archive showed that there is a bottleneck in such operations on at the moment is the processor, and not the hard drive, because even with the minimum possible zip compression, a 1 GB file was archived in about 40 seconds on all disks.

To be fair, it is worth noting that in the zip store mode (simply put, without compression), in which the file is not compressed, but only copied to the archive, the difference between different drives became obvious. The only problem is that in real conditions Such tasks are very rare.

Archiving in zip (no compression, seconds, less is better):

We left two tests for last in which no benefits from using a RAM disk were identified.

Launching Ubuntu in VirtualBox (the image was located on a HDD, SSD and RAM disk) showed that the type of drive used does not affect the OS boot speed (~40 sec +/-1 sec), and everything is again limited by the speed of the CPU.

Loading times for game levels were simulated using popular benchmarks. Considering that individual tests in them take about ten seconds to load, and sometimes more, the comparison seemed appropriate, but RAM disks did not improve this indicator. Apparently, everything once again boils down to the fact that the main load falls on the processor, and the amount of loaded data both in these benchmarks and in real games is not so great that the difference in speed is noticeable.

Used in testing: Heaven DX11 Benchmark, 3DMark 06, 3DMark 11, Call Of Pripyat Benchmark.

Which is better, SSD or RAM disk?

Price
In terms of one gigabyte, an SSD is cheaper. Starting from 500 UAH, you can buy 16 GB of RAM for a PC, but for the same money you can get a good 64 GB SSD, and if you want to save money, then a 32 GB drive is easy to find for 400 UAH.

RAM disk
A RAM disk, by and large, has only one advantage - speed that is several times (sometimes an order of magnitude) higher than the speed of an SSD, but this potential cannot be revealed in all tasks.

Disadvantages: necessity additional settings some programs; small volume; volatility (the contents of a RAM disk can be periodically written to an image file, but this is not a complete replacement for non-volatile memory cells).

SSD
Solid State Drives speed up all programs installed on the disk, including the operation of the OS.

Flaws
Under intense loads, the performance of the SSD will be lower and in this case it will wear out faster.

As you can see, in certain situations, RAM disks can not only compare with SSDs in performance, but also noticeably outperform them. If you are faced with a choice: SSD or additional memory, once again weigh all the pros and cons of each decision.

To configure programs so that they open and work with one click, the most common advice in this situation is to install a fast solid-state drive.

However, what to do if this is not possible. How to speed up Windows operation without financial investments in the form of purchasing additional components? How to boost the system without replacing the media? By the way, you can follow the optimal path: replace old hard disk to a solid state drive and at the same time use the tips in this article. This way you'll get the most out of both methods - and the fastest Windows possible.

Maximum system acceleration is achieved using the so-called RAM disk. Such an electronic drive is faster than any SSD, since it acts as virtual hard disk located entirely in RAM. Modern computers often equipped with RAM of 8, 16 and even 32 GB. This way, there is always enough memory left over even for several RAM disks, which you can customize individually to suit your needs.

Program AMD Radeon RAMDisk will help in creating such virtual turbo drives that will even receive their own drive letters from Windows. Thanks to this, the system will perceive them as completely normal disks, and you will be able to copy files there and create folders there. Unlike built-in SSDs, the RAM disk is accessible only when the system is running and the corresponding software is running. In addition, by default, all data stored on such a drive is destroyed when the computer is turned off, since the RAM is also turned off. However, such loss can be easily avoided by first copying the contents of the RAM disk to the HDD or USB drive, and then loading it back again the next time the system starts.

Installing AMD Radeon RAMDisk is very quick and easy: just start the process double click from the file “Radeon_RAMDisk 4.4.0.RC36.msi”. When prompted by User Account Control, answer “Yes” and then agree to the license agreement.

After launching the program, it will analyze your hardware, in particular, from which manufacturer the video card is installed. If it is not AMD, then the utility will warn that the free
version, you can create a virtual disk of no more than 4 GB.

If you need more, you'll have to shell out for a full license. Select "No Thanks". Now you can start setting up the RAM disk.

Creating a simple RAM disk

The program interface is quite simple and contains all the necessary options for quick configuration virtual disk in RAM. The lack of localization of the menu may cause some difficulty, but even basic knowledge of the English language will be quite enough to understand the general logic of the software.

In the Settings tab, you will see the letter “Z” in the drop-down menu on the right. Here you can set any letter for your drive. Above in the “Basic Setting” section you can immediately specify the size of your virtual disk. The default is “40 Mb”, and below the warning is “Max 4092 Mb”. Set the value to “2046” and click the “Start RAMDisk” button.

If you use an SSD drive as the system drive, and an additional hard drive for data storage, then configure the program so that it writes backup files to the latter. To do this, go to the “Options” tab and check the “Allow Image files to be saved in non System Drives” checkbox.

Here you can also change some other standard parameters, specified by the program default. After starting the installation of the virtual disk, the program will display a window asking you to install additional software. Agree to this operation. Next, the program will automatically open Windows Explorer, where the still empty new virtual disk will be displayed. All files that you transfer to it will be located on the RAM disk, and after the first copying process they will open noticeably faster than usual.

However, do not forget that all information located on such a drive will be lost when the computer is turned off. RAM disks are great, for example, for quickly running portable programs that do not require installation, which you then want to completely delete along with all the data created, or speeding up individual applications.

Speed ​​up Firefox with RAM disk

A RAM disk is not just a fast intermediate storage for files that will later be deleted. First of all, it is suitable for speeding up frequently used programs such as Firefox.
This browser works with a local cache, which stores elements of previously found web pages, as well as downloads that have started. On your next visit Firefox pages first checks whether the stored data is current. If the result is positive, the browser downloads information from local memory rather than re-downloading it from the Internet. A RAM disk speeds up this process.

Since you have already created a virtual disk of 2046 GB in RAM, all that remains is to configure the Firefox browser to store the cache on the created disk. To be able to access cache files when restart or restarting the computer, arrange to save the RAM disk image to your hard drive.

To do this, on the “Load/Save” tab, in the “Save Options” section, check the “Save Disc Image at Shutdown” checkbox. You can later load the saved disk image if the need arises.

Now open Firefox and enter “about:config” in the address bar. In response, the advanced browser settings will open. Agree to the risks when prompted for security and right-click the empty box in the window. Select in context menu"Create" and then "String". For the name, enter “browser.cache.disk.parent_directory”. Click on “OK”, and then specify the letter that was previously assigned to the RAM disk - in our case it is “Z:\”.

Click on "OK" again. After reboot Firefox browser will use a fast RAM disk for its cache.

RAM disk for Windows temporary files

Another useful scenario for using a RAM disk is storing temporary files on it operating system. For this purpose, you can also use the virtual drive we created earlier.

Default AMD program Radeon RAMDisk starts with Windows, and the RAM disk is installed automatically.

In order for temporary files to be written specifically to the temporary virtual disk, you need to change the Windows environment variables. The principle of operation under Windows 7, 8/8.1 and 10 is the same: press the key combination “Win+Pause” and click on the line “Advanced system settings”.

On the "Advanced" tab, click on the "Environment Variables" button. Select the "TEMP" variable and click on the "Edit" button. Specify the path to your RAM disk, in our case “Z:\”. Repeat the procedure for the "TMP" variable.

Confirm the changes by clicking “OK” twice. Now temporary files will always be on a fast RAM disk, and when you turn off the computer, they will be automatically deleted

Using RAM disks is simple but extremely effective way overclock Windows. However, you can not stop there and further restore order to the system by clearing it of junk and extra files. One of the best and most popular cleaning products for Windows is considered.

How to optimize Windows performance by using RAM -disk – a virtual disk created by third-party software that functions due to excess RAM? Below we will talk about carrying out basic operations for the purpose of such optimization. Let's take a closer look at how to create RAM-disk and transfer the contents to it system folders "Temp" .

1. Creating a RAM disk

To create RAM-disk in our case the program will be used. It was chosen because of its ease of use, support for the Russian language, but most importantly - due to the ability to save data RAM-disk on hard drive. Let us remind you that RAM can work with data within one session of working with a computer. After the system is rebooted, stored on RAM-disk data disappears. To solve this problem, the developers of some programs to implement RAM-disk equip their products with mechanisms for storing data in special file on your hard drive. When the system is restarted, the saved data is accordingly retrieved and takes its place on RAM-disk. The ability to save data is an optional condition for a program that implements on a Windows system RAM-disk, if the latter will be used only for storing temporary files (contents of “Temp” folders, browser cache and temporary data of other programs) . But if on RAM- the disk will be stored portable programs, profiles and working directories of browsers, other programs and games, the presence of a function for saving data on the hard drive will be of fundamental importance.

– a paid product, at the time of writing the article the cost is $29 . But the developers of this program offer to test the fully functional trial version for free for a whole month. This period is more than enough to understand the effectiveness of such optimization and, accordingly, make a choice - RAM-disc or SSD .

So, let's download and launch the program. Add a new one RAM -disk.

Fill out the creation form RAM-disk. First of all, we indicate the disk size. Important: this size should not exceed the unused remainder of RAM at the time of maximum computer load . It is advisable not to leave the system with less than 6 GB . Next, select any of the free letters for the disk and set the file system format NTFS. Click "OK".

Returning to the main window , click menu "Image" and choose "Create an image". Creating and connecting a format image IMG - this is the very mechanism for ensuring data safety RAM -disk mentioned above. It is in this image will periodically record data so that it is available after reboot Windows, and not just during the current session. What, as mentioned, will happen when implementing RAM-disk programs without support for a data saving mechanism.

In the column you need to write the path to image file – specify the disk partition, folder and come up with a name for the file. If it is planned that RAM- the disk will be used to store some important data, respectively, image file must be created on a non-system disk partition. In the column "Size" indicate the same size that was set for the RAM -disk. For graph "Format", again, select the value "NTFS". Click "OK".

We will receive a notification that the image has been created.

If in the future RAM - the disk will be destroyed for some reason and will take away valuable information; it can be retrieved by mounting the newly created one IMG -image – either with the help of the , or through any other program that works with this format.

So, RAM -disk is created, IMG -the image has been created, now they need to be tied to each other and configured. We return to the main program window. Here in the context menu on RAM-disk select .

A setup window will open. In the column we write, accordingly, the path to the newly created image IMG . Next is an important point - you must check the box "Save content" . Click the button below "Additional".

Below in the column we set the time period through which the data RAM-disc must be written to IMG-image. In our case, the optimal option was chosen - every half hour. If on RAM- the disk is not supposed to store particularly important data; you can set a longer interval. In any case, before turning off or restarting the computer, all data will be saved in IMG-image. Click "OK".

Next, let's return to the previous settings window. Click here below "OK", then in the window that appears, confirm the application of the parameters and launch the associated remount operation RAM-disk.

That's all. will automatically boot with Windows and into background provide work RAM-disk. At any time, the program can be found in the system tray to change settings RAM-disk or not at all delete it. It can be removed very easily– using the option, respectively, in the context menu.

Intentional deletion RAM-disk does not result in the destruction of the associated IMG-image. It will still be in its place until it is removed manually. From periodic automatic saving data in IMG-we can refuse the image and save data manually only if necessary. For these purposes in the window there is a special button.

Created RAM -the disk will now appear in Windows Explorer like a regular disk. The possibilities for its use, in principle, can be anything, as long as everything happens within the framework of the allocated volume. On RAM-disks with small volumes usually redirect storage cache (or entire profiles) browsers, save paths and other game data, working directories of bulky programs. But first of all RAM-disk send temporary storage folders Windows files — "Temp". On the performance of the disk on which system folders are stored "Temp", performance partly depends on how third party programs, and Windows in general.

2. Transferring the “Temp” system folders to the RAM disk

Folders "Temp" located on system disk along the way:

- C:\Windows\Temp,

- C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp.

Their transfer to RAM-disk is carried out by editing the values ​​of variables Windows environments. For some system processes the company Microsoft provided a standard mechanism for changing values ​​- in particular, changing the storage location of folder contents "Temp".

First, create a folder "Temp" on the destination disk - on RAM -disk. Next, press the keys Win + Pause. In the system settings window on the left, select additional parameters. In the window that opens, go down and press the button "Environment Variables...".

The upper half of the window is responsible for the user profile environment variables. Editing values "TEMP" And "TMP" we will change the folder path "Temp" as part of the catalog "AppData". Select a value "TEMP" and press the button "Change".

We carry out the same operation with the value "TMP", specify the same folder path "Temp" on RAM -disk.

Next, we move to the lower half of the variable environment window - to system variables. Here we also select "TEMP" And "TMP", these are the values ​​corresponding to the folder "Temp" in the catalog "Windows". Select the values ​​one by one "TEMP" And "TMP" and for each of them press the button "Change". Instead of the current path, write a folder "Temp" on RAM -disk. In the end it should work 4 changed values.

After editing the environment variable values reboot Windows.

Moving folder contents "Temp" on RAM The disk also makes access to them convenient. Which will come in handy for cases of allocation under RAM-small volume disk RAM. Folders "Temp" It is necessary to periodically clean them, because they often grow to incredible volumes. You can also clear folders "Temp" according to their previous path on disk WITH to free up extra space on it.